Nigeria’s House of Representatives has called for the immediate suspension of Prof. Ikpeme A. Ikpeme, Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) in Cross River State, pending a full investigation into serious allegations of ethnic discrimination in recruitment.
The motion, moved by Rep. Iduma Igariwey (from Ebonyi State) and unanimously adopted during Thursday’s plenary (presided over by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen), urges the Federal Ministry of Health to suspend him to prevent any interference with the probe by the House Committee on Health Institutions.
Key details of the allegations:
Prof. Ikpeme reportedly rejected a list of 17 newly graduated medical doctors posted by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) for their mandatory one-year housemanship/internship.
15 out of the 17 are of Igbo extraction.
Despite interventions from the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) UCTH chapter and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Cross River branch, the CMD allegedly refused to accept them, citing the high number from that ethnic group.
Lawmakers described this as a clear violation of the 1999 Constitution, which prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity, tribe, or place of origin, calling it a threat to national unity in federal institutions.
Share this content:
