The trending video raising concerns over an incident that occurred at the Damaturu General Hospital, which has gained widespread attention on social media, deserves a calm, factual, and responsible response. According to reports, the unfortunate incident involved certain individuals verbally and physically abusing medical personnel following an alleged refusal or delay in attending to a critically ill patient brought to the hospital. A member of the public who either witnessed the incident directly or received reports and footage of what transpired later recorded a video expressing his concern and outrage over the situation.
It must be clearly stated from the outset that the concerns expressed in the video are valid. Any situation where a patient is perceived to be neglected in a public health facility raises serious questions and deserves scrutiny. No citizen should be denied medical attention, and no healthcare system should be beyond questioning. At the same time, no medical professional should be subjected to abuse, intimidation, or violence while carrying out their lawful duties.
Nobody is above the law.
On the other hand, it is important to acknowledge the intense emotional pressure that accompanies moments when loved ones are critically ill. Fear, panic, and helplessness are natural human responses in such situations. However, emotional distress, no matter how severe, cannot justify a lack of self-control, harassment, or abuse of healthcare workers. Two wrongs do not make a right, and justice must always be sought through lawful and civil means.
In this context, the call for the Yobe State Ministry of Health to immediately investigate the incident is appropriate and represents the correct due process. Any negligence, lapse in duty, or misconduct—whether by medical staff or members of the public—must be objectively established through a transparent investigation and addressed in line with the law.
What is deeply concerning in the aftermath of the video, however, is the attempt by some commentators to escalate this single incident into sweeping propaganda and untruthful insinuations against the entire healthcare system of Yobe State. Claims that hospitals in the state have no equipment, that health facilities are mere buildings erected for ribbon-cutting ceremonies, or that the state’s healthcare sector is a complete failure are misleading, inaccurate, and grossly unfair.
Such assertions do a disservice to the truth and distort public understanding.
Since assuming office in 2019, Governor Mai Mala Buni, CON, has made healthcare a central pillar of his administration, with visible, verifiable, and statewide investments across primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of care.
Key achievements in the health sector under his administration include:
Primary healthcare revitalisation through the construction, renovation, equipping, and staffing of modern Primary Healthcare Centres across wards in all local government areas, ensuring access to basic healthcare services at the grassroots.
Upgrading of several Primary Healthcare Centres to General Hospitals, alongside the expansion and modernisation of existing General Hospitals to improve capacity, service delivery, and patient outcomes.
The construction and commissioning of the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Complex in Damaturu, a major referral facility equipped with hospital beds, modern labour and delivery suites, operating theatres, neonatal intensive care units, oxygen plants, blood banks, diagnostic laboratories, ultrasound machines, incubators, and specialised maternal and child health wards.
Strengthening of the Yobe State University Teaching Hospital with new infrastructure, specialist units, modern laboratories, advanced diagnostic equipment, isolation wards, and infectious disease response facilities.
Implementation of the Yobe State Contributory Health Management Scheme, providing thousands of civil servants, women, children, vulnerable persons, and informal sector workers with access to affordable and structured healthcare services.
Recruitment and deployment of medical personnel including doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, radiographers, and health technicians, as well as sponsorship for specialised medical training and capacity building.
Procurement and deployment of modern ambulances, emergency response vehicles, hospital beds, patient monitors, defibrillators, ventilators, suction machines, oxygen concentrators, laboratory analysers, X-ray machines, ultrasound scanners, pharmacy supplies, and essential drugs across health facilities in Damaturu, Potiskum, Gashua, Nguru, Geidam, and other parts of the state.
Sustained partnerships with development agencies and health institutions to strengthen immunisation coverage, disease surveillance, public health response, maternal and child health programmes, and community healthcare outreach.
These are not imaginary or paper projects. They are visible facilities, functioning systems, and ongoing investments that directly contradict claims of total collapse or deliberate deception.
It is also important to correct a recurring misconception in public discourse: governors are not spirits. Governance operates through institutions, systems, professionals, delegates, reports, and established chains of responsibility. A governor leads through policy direction, supervision, and accountability, not by physically sitting in hospitals, motor parks, markets, or sports centres waiting for isolated incidents to occur.
Governors work with verified reports, data, and institutional feedback, not emotions amplified on social media. By all accounts, when facts are presented, Governor Mai Mala Buni has consistently stood by the truth, regardless of who is involved, guided by his commitment to the welfare of the people and the development of Yobe State.
Calling for justice when a system fails is the right of every citizen. Demanding accountability is lawful, necessary, and patriotic. However, stretching emotions into baseless generalisations and unfounded claims neither advances justice nor improves healthcare delivery. It only deepens division and mirrors the very lack of restraint that contributed to the incident in the first place.
Yobe State, like Nigeria as a whole, needs responsible advocacy, balanced judgment, and fact-based engagement. The way forward lies in investigation, corrective action where necessary, institutional strengthening, and truth-driven public discourse.
Anything less distracts from real solutions and undermines collective progress.
