Metro

Patients Knock Rivers Hospital Over Alleged Food Extortion

Published

10 months ago

November 30, 2024

Patients seeking medical services at University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, River state, have accused the hospital of forcing them to purchase food.

They also expressed concerns about power outages, the reported poor condition of the hospital’s toilets and bad water.

But the hospital dismissed the claims, describing it as untrue.

According to some of the patients, they were forced to pay for food and had to endure the unbearable smell in their wards, which emanated from the toilets.

In a viral post, an X user, Baridueh Badon (@BadonB), criticise the hospital service.

He described his mother’s six-month stay at the hospital as one of the worst healthcare experiences he ever had.

Narrating the ordeal, he stressed, “The first shock was compulsory feeding. Every patient was forced to eat hospital food. You can’t opt out of it. This food is worse than what people in prison eat. The cost was N2,000 per day. I could not understand why a hospital would force patients to eat their food.”

Also speaking about her experience, a patient at the hospital, Maureen Ikeaguchi, commended the UPHTH on its medical services, even as she said some of its financial bills were needless.

“I was treated well, even when I was in emergency. There was a swift response from them to take care of me. They didn’t even ask us for money for surgery. They had to take care of me first,” she noted.

However, Ikeaguchi said she was handed a food bill of N7,000 that she knew nothing about.

He said, “On the day we were about to leave the hospital, they gave me a bill of N7,000. They said it was for my feeding for the seven days I spent. I never ate their food. We argued but I ended up paying that money. That is one of the unnecessary bills I paid. Patients shouldn’t be forced.”

She further complained about the hospital’s water and toilet facilities.

Speaking with The PUNCH on Thursday, a briefed father, Tony John, who said he lost his son at the hospital, also attested to the good standard of the hospital, though he criticised some of its medical services.

John claimed that the hospital’s staff spent over three hours before a file was opened for his son, just as he condemned what he described as dirtiness and bad water in the hospital.

“Poor electricity was a very serious issue. At the ICU, on the day my boy passed on, I bought 10 litres of fuel for them with a keg.”

Meanwhile, the acting Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Elabha Meni, denied all the claims of the patients and others, stating they were not correct.

Meni said the hospital didn’t experience power outages, just as the emergency areas never shut down.

“Power doesn’t disrupt our services in any way. How can power disrupt surgical procedures when operations are going on? Most times, people base their reports on social media, which isn’t correct,” Meni said.

Justifying the food charges by the hospital, Meni said, “There is inpatient feeding for every patient admitted for diabetes, and the food we give them goes with the treatment. As for the cost, I don’t know what it is. Every hospital has its policies. That is our policy, and they will have to follow it. It is for treatment, and people have to eat certain things.

“If anybody is found wanting on these allegations, through an investigation by the hospital, a decision will be taken because we deal with life. Life can’t be bought, and the management values life.”
PUNCH

Metro

Police Arrest Siblings Over Communal Clash In Ondo

Published

1 hour ago

September 14, 2025

Editor

Ondo State Police Command has arrested two brothers, Ogunsemore Gbadebo and Michael Ogunsemore for their allegedly involvement in a violent communal clash that occurred in Eki/Oboto Community of Ilaje local government area of the State.

LEADERSHIP gathered that the suspects had been locked in a prolonged land dispute with the monarch of the community, Oba Oyetayo Ofoaye of Aboto.

According to the. state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Olusola Ayanlade, the matter was first taken to the Okitipupa High Court, which ruled in favour of the monarch.

However, not satisfied with the verdict, the siblings filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal in Akure, where the appellate court again upheld the Oba’s position.

The PPRO alleged that the brothers resorted to self-help thereafter, recruiting armed thugs to unleash violence on the community rather than accepting the judgement of the Appeal Court.

It was learnt that the attack reportedly perpetrated by the suspects and their gangs, displaced residents, destroyed huts, palm produce, and other valuables, while one Jeremiah Okuntimehin sustained machete injuries in the fracas.

“This criminal escalation turned a civil dispute into a grave security threat, prompting swift police intervention,” the PPRO said.

According to the police spokesman, the police launched a coordinated operation that led to the arrest of the brothers – Gbadebo and Michael, who have since been arraigned in court.

He added that efforts were ongoing to track down other fleeing members of the group who took part in the unrest.

Ayanlade stressed that the arrests marked a decisive step in restoring peace to the affected community, warning that communal violence will not be condoned under any guise.

Commissioner of Police in the State, CP Adebowale Lawal cautioned individuals and groups against undermining judicial decisions or taking the law into their own hands, warning that such acts would attract the full weight of the law.

He assured residents of Eki/Oboto and Aboto of adequate police presence and urged them to remain calm, law-abiding, and cooperative with security agencies.

The CP also emphasised that dialogue and peaceful engagement remained the only sustainable means of resolving communal disputes.

Metro

Foreign Currency Found On Beggars As 40 Evacuated In Kwara

Published

2 hours ago

September 14, 2025

Editor

The Kwara State government has again evacuated another set of 40 beggars from the street of Ilorin, the state capital.

The evacuation of beggars was carried out by the officials of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Development in collaboration with operatives of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCS), Kwara State Command.

During a search conducted on the beggars, a foreign currency (US dollar) was found on one of them, Musa Mahmuda, who claimed to be from Kano State.

A sharp knife was found in the possession of another beggar.

Seven of the evacuees were second term offenders, having been arrested during a previous evacuation excercise but they returned to the streets again.

The operation was conducted at Tipper Garage in Tanke, Offa garage and Garin Alimi areas – all in Ilorin metropolis.

The Commissioner for social Welfare and Development, Dr Mariam Imam, expressed delight that the excercise was yielding the desired results, saying the number of those evacuated from the streets in the latest exercise has “dratically reduced from 94 arrested during the last time to 40”.

She said the ministry’s evacuation team was changing its “strategy as the beggars too were changing their tactics and locations to evade being evacuated from the streets.”

She implored those patronising the beggars to stop doing so and channel their offerings through religious organisations, orphanages and places of worship, reiterating that street begging has been outlawed in the state.

The head, Non-custodian Centre, Nigerian Correctional Services, Kwara State Command, Adebayo Okunola, said the appropriate punitive measures will be meted out to the arrested beggars to serve as deterrence to them and others.

“We will make sure that they clean the streets, they will sweep the streets so that they will know that there is dignity in labour,” he stated.

Metro

NDLEA Arrests Indian Businessman, 3 Others Over Alleged Trafficking Of N3.9bn Tramadol

Published

2 hours ago

September 14, 2025

Editor

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested an Indian businessman, Gupta Ravi Kumar, alongside three Nigerian accomplices in connection with the seizure of 2,248,000 pills of tramadol 200mg/225mg.

Kumar was apprehended alongside Ogunlana Noah Olanrewaju, Olushola Idrees Kayode and Bakare Korede Muheeb at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos.

The tramadol shipment worth N3,990,000,000 in street value was imported from Delhi, India, disguised as multi-vitamins in 114 cartons and arrived the import shed of the Lagos airport on an Ethiopian Airline flight on Monday 8th September 2025.

NDLEA’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi said a team of NDLEA officers who had put the consignment under surveillance, swooped on a clearing agent and two drivers who were trying to move the shipment out of the airport in two trucks on Thursday, September 11th.

Babafemi said a follow-up operation the following day, Friday, led to the arrest of the Kumar, when he was trying to take delivery of the consignment.

At the Terminal 2 departure of the airport, NDLEA operatives on Sunday, September 7, intercepted a passenger Onyeganochi Stanley Ifeanyi while travelling on a Qatar Airline flight to Doha.

“A search of his bag led to the recovery of 900grams of skunk, a strain of cannabis concealed in crayfish. As a first-time traveler, Onyeganochi claimed the bag was given to him to help take to Doha by a Qatar-based Nigerian Ohaodiegwu Anthony Uchenna who actually followed him to the airport.

“His confession led to the arrest of Uchenna who was still within view. Operatives who later conducted a search of Uchenna’s hotel room in Ajao Estate discovered additional 200grams of the same psychoactive substance.

“He claimed he was to return to Doha days later and pick the bag from the unsuspecting Onyeganochi if he had succeeded in escaping security checks,” the NDLEA said.

Meanwhile, at the Tincan Port in Lagos, a total of 161 parcels of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 81.7kg and 1.2kg hashish oil were recovered from a 40ft container of vehicle spare parts and used vehicles imported from Montreal Canada during a joint examination of the shipment on Tuesday 9th September.

Two suspects including John Ochigbo, 53, and Okeke Kingsley, 26, were arrested in connection with the seizure.

Another shipment of Canadian Loud with a total weight of 65kg was tracked from the port to Third Mainland bridge where NDLEA operatives intercepted a Toyota Sienna vehicle conveying the consignment, recovered it and arrested the driver Abubakar Ibrahim, 42 on Thursday 11th September.

Two separate shipments of methamphetamine concealed in picture frame and Loud, hidden in video players were seized at two courier companies in Lagos on Monday 8th and Thursday 11th September respectively by NDLEA operatives.