‘No space in mortuary’ — decomposing bodies of soldiers, NNPC staff pose epidemic threat at UNIMAID

Some of the corpses of the victims of the Boko Haram attack in Magumeri local government area of Borno state are currently decomposing at the mortuary of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH).

A senior official of the hospital who disclosed this to TheCable, said staff are worried that the situation could lead to the outbreak of an epidemic.

The official revealed that 35 bodies were currently being unattended to because the morgue had been overstretched.

The source added that the hospital had to release the corpse of a civilian JTF member identified by his relatives, in order to reduce the number of corpses.

“As I am talking to you now, about 35 corpses are lying down here in the mortuary, without any reservation,” he said.

“The victims include 12 soldiers, five university lecturers, 13 civilian JTF from Magumeri, two NNPC staff and some that were brought yesterday by the military.

“Even the corpse of Dr J.V Militus, the senior lecturer at UNIMAID, is rotting away, with no one to claim it. The whole hospital is smelling. Everyone is worried… we are scared of an outbreak of disease.”

Bashir Tahir, chairman of the medical advisory committee and representative of Victims Support Fund at UMTH, is yet to respond to a text message which TheCable sent to him concerning the issue.

On Tuesday, Boko Haram fighters laid an ambush for a team of geologists who were on an oil exploration exercise in Lake Chad basin.

The team comprised staff of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and those of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID).

The oil experts, as well as soldiers and members of the civilian joint task force (CJTF) who provided security for them, were killed in the attack.

The casualty figure has not been confirmed.

The army had initially said it rescued all the oil workers that were abducted by the sect, but at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, said he could not confirm the claim of the military.

TheCable had reported that five staff of UNIMAID were killed, while four were declared missing.

At a briefing in Maiduguri, Danny Mamman, chairman of the UNIMAID chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), corroborated the report, blaming the army for misleading the public.

“We were first elated when we heard that the military rescued the victims. But, to our dismay we discovered that they were all killed,” he said.

“Our initial hope to see them alive was dashed. The soldiers brought only dead bodies.”

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has ordered service chiefs to relocate to the military command control centre in Maiduguri.