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Eben Enasco

“Was it not Friday last week i got a call while in the office, that at the Back gate, some people were shooting. I was not sure it would be one of us in the Physiotherapy department”.

“Yes it was Alex Ogunbiyi a bystander who had gone out to eat and was hit by a bullet shot at a car perhaps conveying their targets”.

“I quickly directed that a life should be saved while i advanced to see him on the bare floor. Our team did everything but it was too late”.

These were the words of a devastated Professor Darlington Obaseki, the Chief Medical Director, CMD, of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital who described the act as idiotic and evil.

At the memorial service of the late Alex Ogunbiyi held at the sport complex of the Teaching Hospital, on Wednesday, Professor Obaseki, described him as an innocent person who came to work to do his job and died in the manner that is painful.

The heartbroken Professor Obaseki said, “as the CMD of the Teaching Hospital my job is very hard, but when i am here to Speak of somebody who is dead at this moment, my job becomes harder”.

While consoling the Teaching Hospital community, the Family, he urged all to take solace as there would be no hiding place for the killers, calling on security operatives to fish them out.

Various speakers, including the Acting Head of Department, Physiotherapy department University of Benin, Dr. Chigoze Obaseki, Representative of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy, and others at the memorial service voiced their concerns over his death.

They described him as a decent professional who was employed in March 2024, into the University Teaching Hospital’s community where he has become a household name.

A family member, Felix Ogunbiyi, said the deceased 14 years ago, lost his mother and only has a father who is sick, saying now his has lost his life to worthless cult groups, calling his death a vacuum that would hurt the entire family for a long time.

May 8, 2025, Alex Ogunbiyi, A Physiotherapy staffer of the UBTH, would have been 28 years old but his life got cut off because of an error of fleeing cultists who were reportedly chased by those hunting them.

The death of Alex Ogunbiyi is a tragic reminder of the devastating impact of cult-related violence despite some proactive steps taken by the Edo state government.

The authorities must take more concrete steps to address this issue and ensure the safety of citizens.