Tension In Plateau Government Hospital Over Terrorists’ Plot To Abduct Doctors, Other Workers

By: Abudu Olalekan

This is about as chilling as it gets.

There is full blown panic across health facilities in Plateau State right now.

Reportersroom has obtained an official internal memo from the Plateau State Specialist Hospital, warning all staff of a confirmed and active plot by armed groups to abduct medical workers.

This is not a general security warning. This is specific intelligence.

The memo was sent to all heads of departments and all staff on Tuesday. It is signed by the hospital’s Director of Administration, Jina Leah.

I have read dozens of these generic security memos over the years. This one is different. You can tell they are not messing around.

And the motive is not ransom. That is the part that has everyone so shaken.

The groups intend to kidnap doctors, nurses and auxiliary staff and force them to treat their own fighters who have been wounded in clashes with security forces.

That is an entirely new tactic. Nobody has seen this on this scale before.

The memo describes it as a deliberate permanent shift in how these groups operate. Up until now they have mostly kidnapped people for money. Now they are looking to kidnap skills.

The risk is highest for staff working in rural clinics and hinterland areas where there is almost no permanent security presence. But the memo makes very clear that no health worker anywhere in the state is safe right now.

All staff have been ordered to immediately increase both their personal and workplace security. Every single hospital, clinic and health centre in the entire state has been told to brief all their staff on this threat before the end of the week.

They have been told to report absolutely any suspicious person or movement immediately to security.

The memo says security agencies are aware of the plot and are taking action to stop it. It does not give any details at all about what that action is.

Nobody else has given any details either.

This warning is the clearest sign yet of how the entire security crisis across northern Nigeria is evolving.

For ten years these groups attacked villages. They attacked buses on highways. They kidnapped anyone they could find for ransom.

In the last two years that has changed. They started targeting teachers. Then aid workers. Now doctors.

Analysts have been warning about this shift for almost a year now. As the groups have established more permanent camps further away from any government presence, they have no way to get medical treatment for their wounded.

Kidnapping a doctor and forcing them to work for you is far more valuable to them than any ransom they could ever get. And once they take someone, they will almost never release them.

There has been no official public statement from the Plateau State government, the hospital management or the police as at the time of writing.