Suspended Strike: The President, Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Kayode Obembe, resigns

President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Kayode Obembe

The President, Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Kayode Obembe, has resigned.

In a letter signed and dated August 8, 2014, Obembe said he was resigning following the controversies that trailed the suspension of the over-one-month-old doctors’ strike.

“There has been a request for clarification about the two postings by the NMA Secretariat on the NMA blog. I want to make it categorically clear that I stand by every letter of the document I signed, that the strike was suspended,” the statement read.

“And since upon my integrity and honour I cannot continue to drive the doctrine that ‘strike continues,’ I hereby tender my letter of resignation as NMA President. What I have written, I have written.”

The NMA on Thursday suspended its nationwide strike with immediate effect. The union, in a communiqué, after its emergency delegate meeting in Abuja, had cited the recent outbreak of Ebola virus as part of the reasons for its action.

Obembe, who signed the communiqué, had said the need to attend to victims of insurgency, especially those affected by the incessant bomb blasts, also informed its decision. The doctors had also acknowledged the personal intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan in the matter since the strike started on July 1.

When contacted, Obembe’s mobile number could not be reached while a text message sent to him had not been responded to as at press time.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Kwara State Chapter of the body, Dr. Ayinla Abubakar had said that doctors in the state under the NMA would continue their strike.

In a telephone interview with our correspondent in Ilorin on Friday, Abubakar claimed that he was not aware of the national leadership of the body calling off the strike as widely reported, therefore the action continues in Kwara.

He said, “A meeting was held in Abuja. The resolution of the meeting is that the strike continues. The strike continues in Kwara because that is the resolution we came back with from the national meeting.”