By Adadainfo
Nkpologwu community in Aguata local government area of Anambra State has denied the news making the rounds that four babies were Wednesday stolen from a hospital in the town by unknown gunmen.
The Anambra State Police Command has also dismissed the information as mere rumour.
Mainstream and online media went agog on Thursday, December 8, that babies were abducted from certain National Medical Center, a hospital in Nkpologwu, in the late hours of Wednesday, December 7. The information generated tension and concerns across the state.
But the Anambra police command, in a statement by the state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ikenga Tochukwu, said that the command was not aware of any such incident, where four babies were stolen from any hospital in the state – not even in Nkpologwu.
The statement urged the general public to discountenance the information, and go about their normal businesses.
Also in a swift reaction, the president general of Nkpologwu Progressive Union (NPU), Dr Ferdinand Ezeiruka, described the news as a fallacy that has no basis.
According to the PG, “Such thing did not happen in my community. Nkpologwu is a small town; any such thing that happens will spread quickly. So, it did not happen.
“Nkpologwu is a peaceful town. This kind of rumoured development does not happen here. The medical director of the said hospital is my friend. There is no way such thing would happen without him relaying the information to me.”
He expressed worries that people could fabricate a story, and spread it on the media without verifying its authenticity.
The chief medical director of the National Medical Center, Nkpologwu, Dr Stanley Izuehie, also debunked the rumour. He described it as the handiwork of mischief-makers, who do not wish Nkpologwu community and the society well.
He, however, said that an incident happened two weeks ago when robbers came to the hospital, and were snatching handsets from patients. He said that the robbers quickly ran away when they sighted security operatives advancing towards the hospital.
“This information making waves that armed robbers stormed National Medical Center and took four babies is unfounded, untrue, and malicious,” he said.
