War at FMC, Abeokuta! Stakeholders Call For MD’s Sack as Reps Visit

By Fijabi Ajeigbe

Fresh trouble may be brewing for the embattled Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Prof. Adewale Musa-Olomu as some critical stakeholders, civil society groups and staff members of the health institution have stepped up pressure for his sack over alleged financial misdemeanour, high handedness, and “absolute disregard” for the governing board and extant civil service rules in running the institution.

All of these, the gladiators, insist, have reduced the hitherto revered medical facility to a mere consulting clinic. For this, they say power must change hands.

The planned agitation against Prof. Musa-Olomu comes on the heels of a proposed oversight visit by the House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions to the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, among others.

The House of Representative Committee had written a letter dated July 6, 2022, to the Chairman of the Management Board of the centre intimating it with the oversight visit scheduled to begin on Tuesday, July 19, 2022.

The letter by the Reps mandated Musa-Olomu to invite the Chairman of the institution’s Governing Board, Dr. Abdulaziz Labo Mahuta, Deputy Chairman, Comrade Benedict Godson, and Secretary to the Board, Mr. A.O. Vanghan for the meeting.

The letter, signed by Mr. Abbas I. Hakilu, the Assistant Director (Legislative) Clerk in the House of Representatives, stated categorically that “The visit is part of the Constitutional responsibility of the Committee Members, to afford them the opportunity to see things for themselves as well as meet with your Management Staff and Leaders of the various Labour Unions in your institution.”

Already, the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, is abuzz with activities to receive the House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions. Prof. Adewale Musa-Olomu and his team are reportedly dotting the ‘i’s and crossing the ‘t’s, in a frenetic effort to impress the august visitors.

However, unknown to the Medical Director and his team, a thick storm is gathering around him as aggrieved stakeholders and concerned Non-Governmental Organisations, NGOs, prepare to open a pandora box which they say he has been struggling to bury for some time now.

For instance, one of the NGOs, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, has firmed up plans to present before the House Committee a petition calling for “diligent investigation” of Prof. Musa-Olomu.

The crux of the matter?  Alleged falsification of age, mismanagement of the institution’s funds, gross abuse of office, nepotism which, staff members of the hospital say he reportedly manifested by employing his son and granting him study leave with full pay in a European country-all within the first year of his employment.

“Yet, in this same institution,” an aggrieved senior staff member told The Crest, “there are very senior people who have spent almost a life time in the hospital, yet, they have never been considered for one-week training even in the remotest part of Nigeria, let alone going abroad.”

Of a truth, CACOL has taken the case against the Medical Director to the highest level of bureaucracy in the land, the legislative arm of government, anti-graft agencies as well as the Nigeria Police High Command.

On July 4, 2022, CACOL submitted petitions signed by its Chairman, Comrade Debo Adeniran, against Prof. Adewale Musa-Olomu, to the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Folashade Mejabi Yemi-Esan; Minister of Health, Prof Osagie Ehanire, President of the Nigerian Senate, Dr. Ahmed Lawan; Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila; Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN.

The petitions seek one thing: “diligent investigation” into the alleged infractions. Levelled against the MD.

Of a fact, CACOL had earlier, on May 9, 2022, submitted a two-page petition to the ICPC, which the anti-graft agency officially received on May 11, 2022.

Another anti-corruption non-profit organisation, the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) is also neck deep in the matter. Like CACOL, it also petitioned the Minister of Health, Prof. Ehanire, demanding suspension or ouster of the Medical Director.

This, HEDA argued, had become expedient, in order to provide a conducive environment for in-depth investigation into the allegations against him.

HEDA hinged its complaint on a suit instituted against the Medical Director by a group, the All Youths Reoriented Initiative of Nigeria, AYRION, accusing him of alleged age falsification, mismanagement of funds and employment of his biological son and granting him study leave in a European country with pay, within a year of employment.

The suit, numbered FHC/AB/FMC/100/2, referenced by HEDA, was filed on November 5, 2021, at the Federal High Court, Abeokuta.

HEDA chairman, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraj, insisted, in a statement, that his organization would not rest on its oars until Prof. Musa-Olomu was suspended from office and all the allegations against him were “diligently investigated”.

Not only that, Suraji also assured that HEDA would monitor developments closely with a view to protecting and promoting the universally recognized human rights of people, accountability and environmental justice in Nigeria and Africa, in sync with international best practices.

“We demand that the Honorable Minister of Health suspend the Medical Director of Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Prof. Adewale Musa-Olomu, and conduct a thorough investigation,” Suraji said seriously.

“We want to state clearly that if no action is taken, we will not hesitate to take further actions, including but not limited to reporting to higher authorities, litigation, media briefings, among others.”

Indeed, trouble does not rain for the embattled Chief Medical Director, it pours. The Crest recalls that the former Second Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, also Chairman of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL), Dr. Monday Ubani, had once threatened to sue the Federal Government for renewing Prof. Musa-Olomu’s appointment despite an alleged indictment against him.

Ubani had argued that Prof. Musa-Olomu, who was appointed as MD of Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, in 2017, ought not to have had his appointment renewed in the face of an alleged indictment against him by the institution’s Governing Board, for alleged age falsification, gross misconduct, and abuse of office.

Ubani had, at a press conference in Lagos, decried Prof. Musa-Olomu’s continued stay in office despite being investigated by the police and was at some point on administrative bail. Ubani had regretted that rather than being asked to step aside according to extant civil service regulations, the Federal Ministry of Health “rewarded” Prof. Musa-Olomu with renewal of his appointment.

This, according to Ubani, contravened the spartan principles on which the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration thumbs its chest for and claims to stand.

As the FMC Abeokuta prepares to receive the House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions from Tuesday, July 19, 2022, it is unclear where the pendulum would swing in the roiling crisis that has engulfed the institution even as relevant stakeholders are threatening fire and brimstone.

Efforts to get Prof. Musa-Olomu for his side of the story were fruitless and the Chairman of the institution’s Governing Board, Dr. Abdulaziz Labo Mahuta, was unavailable for comments.