Minister of Works David Umahi has disclosed that Mary Habila, the nurse who died at his residence in Ebonyi State, complained of a nosebleed during a phone conversation with her boyfriend shortly before her death.
Umahi made the disclosure on Thursday, July 16, during a press conference in Abuja convened to provide updates on road projects recently approved by President Bola Tinubu.
The minister described the deceased as “like a daughter,” saying she had worked with him for three years and was a staff member of the David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital. “There is one piece of information I want to correct. It is that the lady in question was like a daughter to me,” he said.
“She had stayed with me for three years. She was a staff member of the Federal Medical University. She was a nurse and not a physiotherapist. And her family and my family are like one family. She has her medical records in Turkish Hospital, being paid by us.”
Umahi also said he had previously sponsored Habila’s medical treatment at a Turkish hospital. Providing his account of the events preceding her death, the minister said Habila informed her boyfriend during a phone call that she was bleeding from the nose.
“She spoke to her boyfriend at the hour of her death and complained that she was bleeding from the nose,” he said. “The boyfriend said, ‘No, you have to report it.’ She said it had stopped. The boyfriend said, ‘Listen, I will not continue this conversation since you are bleeding. It will increase the bleeding.’
“She told the boyfriend, ‘Don’t cut the call.’ The boyfriend cut the call. Three minutes later, the boyfriend called again. She was not responding. When they broke the door in the morning, the tap was still running.”
Umahi said he had directed the police to retrieve the call records between Habila and her boyfriend as part of ongoing investigations into the circumstances surrounding her death. He also accused some police officers of leaking photographs taken of the deceased at the mortuary, alleging that the images were circulated to create what he described as misleading narratives about the incident.
Habila, an employee of the David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital, died on June 27 while attached to the minister’s medical team. Her death has attracted widespread public attention, with civil society groups and members of the public calling for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Earlier on Thursday, the Ebonyi State Police Command announced that it would proceed with an autopsy despite objections from some members of the deceased’s family. Umahi said he had also written to the Commissioner of Police in Ebonyi State requesting that an autopsy be conducted as part of efforts to establish the cause of death.
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