By Sunday Ani
The South East Zone of the Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO) has condemned the suspension of Dr. Anthony Ugwu of the Department of Radiography, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka Anambra State, by the Radiographers Registration Board of Nigeria (RRBN), saying it did not follow the due process of law.
In a statement signed by the zonal chairman, Comrade Aloysius Attah, CLO wants the governing board of the RRBN to be dissolved and the chairman of the board as well as the RRBN registrar punished for embarrassing the board by their actions.
The human rights body alleged that the board suspended Dr. Ugwu over an altercation he had with a colleague on a WhatsApp platform, wondering how such action could be seen by the Radiographers Board as constituting a professional misconduct.
Dr. Ugwu was said to have incurred the wrath of the Board when he failed to honour invitations by the Investigative Panel and Disciplinary Committee of the Board that wanted to look into the complaints that he was posting derogatory remarks about the Board, and his fellow senior colleague. The panel also wanted to look into allegation that Dr. Ugwu circulated an official letter of the Board which was not addressed to him on social media; acts the Committee found to be disrespectful, abusive, insulting, unwholesome and unbecoming of a professional.
According to the CLO, Dr. Ugwu, a lecturer in UNIZIK and proprietor of St. Michael Diagnostic Center, Nnewi, Anambra, was equally fined N1 million to offset the incidentals incurred by the Board having been ‘found guilty of various acts of unethical behaviour, unwholesome acts and infamous conduct in contravention of the code of conduct and ethics of the board.’
The CLO stressed that having gone through the Act establishing the RBBN and its powers with special emphasis on Section 26(3) Part 1V Section 22, 23 as it relates to discipline and punishment of offenders, Dr. Ugwu was not indicted for any professional misconduct and could not have been suspended for committing no offence.
The CLO said Ugwu’s suspension was arbitrary, and a desperate move to nail him at all cost, describing it as an exercise in futility because it would not stand.
It, therefore, called on the Minister of Health, the Attorney General of the Federation and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to take appropriate actions and sanction the Registrar and the Chairman of the RBBN Board over the embarrassing action.
“If the colleague felt that she has evidence of defamation against Dr Ugwu, she should have channeled her complaints to the law enforcement agents for criminal proceedings or a civil suit to that effect and not a petition to a health related professional body that has no business with the subject matter.
“While calling on the Health Minister to set up a high level panel to investigate all the allegations against the principal officers of the board, the Governing Board should be dissolved forthwith and the Registrar suspended to avoid influencing the outcome of investigations.
“We advise all the actors in this inordinate ambition to crush Dr. Anthony Ugwu to retrace their steps for the last time or risk sinking into the mud of professional infamy,” CLO noted.