Habila was part of a medical team accompanying Umahi to his hometown in Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area, where she was allegedly found dead within his residential compound.
A photo combo of Umahi and Mary Habila.
The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has dismissed any “foul play” in the death of Nurse Mary Habila, warning against the politicisation of the matter.
Umahi, who spoke in a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, said both of them had worked together for three years.
“What baffles me in this country is that everything becomes an opportunity. There is a guest house where she and the second medical person stay, and that is very far from where I stay. Does it mean that if, God forbid, somebody dies in the Ministry of Works, the minister must be accountable? Is that what they are saying? Are they saying that somebody cannot die? Have they checked the medical records of the lady? Do they know that this lady was like a daughter to me?
“Everything goes into politics. But what I say to people is, be careful; life is spiritual. When you want to use the unfortunate death of a young girl to play politics, if we have hands in the killings, let it follow us in our families. But if we don’t have hands and you are jumping into it, behold, this is David—I am a man of full grace. You don’t tackle me anyhow and go free. So be careful when you want to use the death of that young lady—one of my best workers, a nurse, and a federal staff.”
The minister said Mary was “like a daughter” to her and provided an insight into her last moments.
“The lady in question was like a daughter to me. She had stayed with me for three years. She was a staff of the federal medical university. She was a nurse, not a physiotherapist. Her family and my family are like one, and she has her medical records in Turkish Hospital, with her treatments paid for by us,” the former governor of Ebonyi said.
“She spoke to her boyfriend at the hour of her death, complaining that she was bleeding from the nose. The boyfriend said, ‘No, you have to report it. See, it has stopped.’ He then added, ‘Listen, I will not continue this conversation, since you are bleeding, it will increase the bleeding.”
“She told her boyfriend not to cut the call, but he cut the call anyway. Three minutes later, the boyfriend called again, but she was not responding. Even in the morning, she had told her boyfriend she was going to take a bath. Because she locked her door, when they discovered her in the morning, they had to break the door. They found her, and the tap was still running.”
Habila was part of a medical team accompanying Umahi to his hometown in Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area, where she was allegedly found dead within his residential compound.
