Nigeria’s Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has broken his silence over the death of Mary Habila, a staff member attached to the Federal Ministry of Works, who died while staying at his residence in Ebonyi State.
Speaking during an inspection of the Calabar–Ebonyi–Benue–Nasarawa–Abuja Super Highway, Umahi dismissed allegations of a cover-up, insisting that the incident was handled transparently from the moment it occurred.
He said Mary was a worker at the David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital who had been seconded to the ministry, adding that another woman with her was also a physiotherapist from Benue State on secondment.
“It’s giving, you know, as if wrong girls were transported to, you know, our residence. And that’s the impression, you know, the person, you know, the lawyers have been briefed. And they will take on the people that are evil and say they are fighting for the freedom of the country. Because if you intentionally did it, the death of the young lady will be far, far better than yours.
“That lady was a worker of Federal University Teaching Hospital. That lady was second to the ministry. The second lady is also a physiotherapist from Benue State, seconded also to the ministry, a worker in Federal Teaching Hospital. And so it’s unfortunate that she passed on.”
Umahi accused some individuals of using the tragedy to create misleading online content and said he had directed that an autopsy be carried out to determine the exact cause of death.
“When you use the death of people to curate content and deceive people, it means your time is up. So I ordered that there must be autopsy.”
He explained that Mary’s family alerted authorities after becoming concerned, saying they forced open her room, invited doctors who attempted to revive her, and later informed the police.
“The family reported to the hospital when they noticed this. The family also reported to the police. So where is the secrecy?… The same moment it was discovered, her door was broken… the doctors came, did everything to revive her, but it wasn’t possible… they invited the police. So where is the secrecy in it? If not that people are evil and so shall evil follow them,” he said.
