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By Victor Osula, Abuja
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, spoke to the press on Thursday about the death of Miss Mary Habila at her home, describing her “like a daughter”, and her parents, “a friend of the family”.
According to Umahi, the deceased had a medical condition that made him spend $2 million in a Turkish hospital in Nigeria recently, adding that she complained of nosebleeds during a telephone conversation with her boyfriend shortly before she was found dead.
“She has her medical records at the Turkish hospital, paid for by us. The last one was on April 5 and it cost me 2.2 million naira. The medical records are there. I paid 2.2 million naira,” he said, adding that, “My lawyers spoke on my behalf. But one piece of information I want to correct is that the lady in question was like a daughter to me. She had stayed with me for three years. She was a staff member of the Federal Medical University. She was a nurse and not a physical therapist. And her family and my family are like family.
The minister also spoke about Habila’s death.
He said: “She spoke to her boyfriend at the time of her death and complained that she was bleeding from her nose. The boyfriend said: ‘No, you have to report it.’ He said he had stopped. The boy then said, “Listen, I’m not going to continue this conversation because you’re bleeding.” It will increase the bleeding.’
“He told the guy, ‘Don’t drop the call.’ The boyfriend ended the call. Three minutes later, the boy called again. She didn’t answer. Even in the morning she had told her boyfriend that she was going to take a bath because she had locked the door. When they discovered something was wrong, they broke down the door and found her dead. The tap was still open.”
Umahi further revealed that the guest house where the deceased died was located far from his personal residence, meaning he was unaware of what could have led to his death.
“What baffles me in this country is that everything becomes an opportunity. There is a guest house where she and other medical staff have stayed, and it is very far from where I stay. Does that mean that if someone dies in the Ministry of Works, the minister must be responsible?” he asked and warned,
“People should be careful when they want to exploit the unfortunate death of a young girl for political purposes. If we have a role in the murder, it will fall on our families and us. But if we don’t have a role and jump into it, be careful. Life is spiritual,” he said, adding that, “It is very painful for me that the girl is dead. It is very difficult to replace her. She was one of my best workers. We begged the parents to allow an autopsy. They said it is against their culture, but we insisted through our lawyer that an autopsy take place and I ordered that the body could not be removed until the autopsy had been carried out.
He said he had reported to the Inspector General of Police to transfer the case to Abuja.
“They ask the family to do an autopsy. I also ask the family to meet the inspector general so that he can convince them,” he said.
She further revealed that Habila had a history of nosebleeds, quoting her boyfriend: “The boyfriend also told us that when we were in Lagos, she called him and said she was bleeding from the nose. He advised her to come to me so that I could send her back to the hospital, but she didn’t want to stress me. He then told her to find a hospital nearby and get treated.”
He urged the police to look for phone records between the deceased Habila and her boyfriend.
“They should go to the boy’s call log and the girl’s call log, and they will listen to the last conversation the girl had with the boyfriend at the time of her death,” he said, absolving himself of any foul play.
“I suspect there is no foul play because the other lady who stayed with her was sleeping in the same bed. Her room was still locked and the door had to be broken down before they discovered the body. The tap was still open because I think she was going to take a bath,” he said. He blamed the police for taking photos of her corpse at the morgue and circulating them, saying that: “When they took her to the morgue, that’s where the police took the photo. They didn’t dress her at the morgue before taking the photo and sending damaging information.”
Umahi said he would take legal action against media outlets believed to be involved in what he called “spreading false information and cyberbullying the deceased.”
“I have instructed my lawyers to contact people involved in cyberbullying on this matter. We will test the law on this,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Physiotherapy Organization of Nigeria had denied knowledge of Habila’s membership, saying they had not found such a name in their register.
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