FEMI ATOYEBI and BOLA BAMIGBOLA
The Chairman, Medical Advisory Council of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile Ife, Osun State, Prof. Jerome Elusiyan, was Friday evening attacked and killed by some unknown gunmen in Edo State.
Kemi Fasooto, the Public Relations Officer of OAU Teaching Hospital, confirmed his death in a chat with Sunday PUNCH.
It was learnt that the late professor was in Edo State to supervise an examination.
He was said to be travelling from Ekpoma to Benin, where he had planned to spend the night, when his vehicle came under attack by some yet-to-be identified gunmen.
His driver, whose name could not be ascertained at the moment, was also shot in the attack.
He was, however, said to be receiving treatment following injuries he sustained during the attack in a hospital.
Fasooto said, “He (Elusiyan) was attacked while travelling from Ekpoma. He went to Ekpoma for an examination. His vehicle was attacked between Ekpoma and Benin.”
A professor of Paediatrics and Child Health, Elusiyan on November 24 delivered the 345th OAU inaugural lecture, entitled ‘Between too little and too much: Unravelling the mystery and misery of endocrine disorders in children.’
The lecture was delivered at the Oduduwa Hall of the university.
Reacting to the incident, the Secretary of the Nigerian Medical Association in Osun State, Taofeek Akinniyi, said in a statement that Elusiyan was returning from Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital where he had acted as an external examiner at the just concluded paediatrics clinical examination of Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma.
Akinniyi said Elusiyan’s demise would create a huge vacuum in the medical profession in Nigeria and at the Osun State chapter of NMA.
The statement read in part, “The Nigerian Medical Association, Osun State branch, expresses our dejection over the untimely death of one of our members whose exit had created monumental vacuum in the medical practice.
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“We want the government to not only fish out the reckless orchestrators and perpetrators of this dastardly act, but to also subject them to face the consequences of their deed, as well as formulate appropriate policies that will secure our highways, guarantee protection of lives and property and redeem the diminishing hope for good governance in order to prevent lawlessness and anarchy in this respect.”
Akinniyi said after Elusiyan’s vehicle was shot several times, the driver succeeded in driving away from the scene to a police checkpoint, where it was discovered that Elusiyan was already dead.
PUNCH
