Activists at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric hospital in Calabar, Cross River State, were on Wednesday disrupted with the protest of the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI).
The union protest was against the undue interference of the management of the hospital in its affairs.
The protest which was at the behest of the union’s National Executive Committee (NEC), was led by the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) chapter’s chairman, Com. Dominic Effiong.
Speaking during the protest, Effiong said that the exercise was in solidarity with the Psychiatric hospital chapter where the hospital’s management has been at loggerheads with the union.
He explained that the crisis assumed a worrisome dimension when it national chairman who is also a staff of the hospital, Com. Ken Bassey, was “unlawfully” arrested by the anti-robbery unit of the Cross River State Police Command.
Effiong alleged that the arrest of Bassey, also former chapter chairman of the SSAUTHRIAI of the hospital on thrump up charge on 25th July, was masterminded by the hospital’s management.
“We discovered during efforts to secure his release, that his arrest had to do with the issue of handing over of a vehicle of the union which management had no business interfering,” he stated.
The UCTH chairman alleged the Psychiatric hospital management of frustrating attempts by the union to conduct an election for the hospital chapter of SSAUTHRIAI.
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He further noted that the management had also refused to recognise the caretaker committee set up as a result of the non-conduct of the union’s election.
Corroborating Effiong’s position, Ken Bassey, explained that his ordeal started shortly after he was elected the national chairman of SSAUTHRIAI.
“My election as national chairman came while I was still serving as the Psychiatric hospital chapter chairman and I had to relinquish one for the other since I can’t be holding two positions at the same time.
“I decided on the 1st of May 2023, to relinquish my position as branch chairman to the vice chairman who became acting chairman.
“The branch election was supposed to hold on the 23rd of May but we suddenly discovered that the two candidates running for the position of chairman were from the same unit, which is against the union’s constitution.
“When both candidates refused to step down for each other, the NEC in its wisdom disqualified both of them from contesting the election,” he explained.
Bassey stated that this is where his ordeal began as the disqualification did not go down well with the management who was sponsoring one of the disqualified candidates.
He noted that it was as a result of this that the management dissolved the executive in place and suspended the union’s activities, I’m addition to its refusal to recognise the caretaker committee subsequently put in place by the NEC.
On the issue of vehicle that led to his arrest, Bassey explained that he was duly authorised to go with
the vehicle as a parting gift.
“The vehicle is still impounded by the police even after I presented the documents that transfer the ownership of the vehicle to me,” he said.
On his part, the caretaker committee chairman, Com. Dennis Ekpo, said that the hospital’s management had refused to acknowledge its legitimacy and also prevented them from peacefully conducting the affairs of the union.
“Their reason is very flimsy. That the letters we got constituting the committee were doctored and gotten from somewhere in Calabar.
“We made efforts to reach out to some top management members who did not agree with the position of the Acting Medical Director.
“The medical director singlehandedly refused to recognise the caretaker committee. It has not been easy for the caretaker committee but we have kept the peace,” he said.
Meanwhile, the management has described SSAUTHRIAI leadership allegations as baseless, adding that all that is necessary to ensure peace reigns in the hospital will done.
The hospital’s acting Chief Medical Director, Dr Theophilus Osim, said that he only stopped the desperation of certain persons to throw the hospital into chaos.
“Their desperation to install their stooges into position would have thrown the hospital into crisis that the management had to step in to avert such crisis,” he stated.