By Chibuike Nwabuko
ABUJA (PRECISE POST) – Human rights activist Aisha Yesufu has sounded a grim national alarm over what she described as a worsening wave of targeted attacks against doctors across Nigeria, warning that the country’s fragile healthcare system is on the brink of collapse.
Reacting to the abduction of a young medical doctor and the killing of his brother in Auchi, Edo State, Yesufu said Nigeria has become “one of the most unsafe places in the world for doctors to live, work and serve.”
In a strongly worded statement released on her X handle on Friday, Yesufu lamented that doctors, those entrusted with saving lives, delivering babies and healing the sick, are now being hunted by criminals with little or no consequence.
The latest incident occurred on January 2, 2026, when Dr. Abu Babatunde, a doctor at Edo State University Teaching Hospital, was abducted alongside his younger brother at the gate of their residence in Auchi.
When the family reportedly failed to meet the kidnappers’ ransom demands, the younger brother was brutally killed. Dr. Babatunde remains in captivity.
Just a day earlier, another doctor, Dr. Osamaye, a resident doctor at Irrua Specialist Hospital, was kidnapped from his street, further deepening fears among healthcare workers in the state.
“These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a dangerous and growing pattern,” Yesufu warned.
Citing data published by PUNCH Healthwise and the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, Yesufu noted that over 100 healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, dentists and pharmacists, have been kidnapped in Nigeria in the past five years, while at least 17 have been killed.
According to the figures, 35 health workers were kidnapped in 2024 alone across 15 incidents, up from 24 in 2023. Victims were abducted from hospitals, clinics, their homes, and while commuting.
In 2025, attacks continued in Edo, Anambra, Abuja, Kaduna and other states, with the Nigerian Medical Association reporting over 10 cases of kidnappings or violent attacks against doctors in Enugu State within just two months.
Yesufu stressed that the attacks are increasingly targeted. She referenced statements by the Association of Resident Doctors indicating that some doctors are abducted not only for ransom, but to be forced to provide medical care for criminals and wounded fighters in captivity.
“Every time a doctor is kidnapped or killed, Nigeria’s already weak healthcare system weakens further,” she said, warning that the country’s dangerously low doctor-to-patient ratio is being pushed closer to collapse.
In a blunt assessment, Yesufu accused the state of failure, saying repeated security assurances have translated into “more kidnappings, more funerals, and more families forced to raise ransom while perpetrators roam free.”
She described the situation as a national health security crisis rather than a routine law-and-order problem, warning that when doctors flee for safety, the sick, pregnant women, children and the elderly are left to die.
“A country that cannot protect its doctors cannot protect its people,” she said.
Yesufu issued a series of demands to the government and security agencies, including the immediate and unconditional release of all kidnapped doctors, concrete and verifiable security measures for health workers nationwide, justice for victims and their families, and accountability from those entrusted with protecting citizens.
“Doctors are not expendable. They are national assets,” she declared, vowing that Nigerians must not normalize what she described as growing evil.
“We will not be silent. We will not stand by while those who give life are treated like prey,” Yesufu said, amplifying calls under the hashtags #StopKillingOurDoctors, #ProtectOurHealers, and #NigeriaTooUnsafeForDoctors.
