Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Operatives of the Rivers State Police Command have been mobilized for the rescue of Dr Steven Bagshaw, a Senior Medical Doctor working with the University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital, UPTH who was abducted last Saturday evening.
It was learnt that the CP Effiong Okon, Commissioner of Police in Rivers State ordered the tactical units and other undercover operatives to trail the abductors of the medical doctor.
Dr. Bagshaw was kidnapped from the gate of his residence, close to GTB Rumuokoro in Port Harcourt on his way back from work on Saturday evening.
SP Grace Iringe-Koko the Spokesperson of Rivers Police Command confirmed that a tactical team has been deployed to ensure the unconditional release of the doctor.
She appealed to the public to assist the command with valuable information to track the perpetrators.
The Rivers State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association ,NMA, has threatened to shutdown all health facilities in the state in protest against the kidnap of the Senior Colleague.
Secretary of the Nigerian Medical Association in the state, Dr.Hope Owhonda, who made this known, said the abductors have contacted the victim’s wife to demand ransom.
The NMA Secretary explained that the association is mobilizing members to implement its anti-kidnap protocol to draw the attention of the government and security agencies to the fact that they cannot be rendering service, while their colleague is held in kidnappers’ den.
He said the action of NMA will lead to a total shutdown of all medical facilities in the state.
