The attention of the Management of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatry Hospital, Budo-Egba, Kwara State has been drawn to an image-shattering publication on an online news platform FIJ.NG with the above caption, and we deem it necessary to make clarifications on the damaging story for the sake of the unsuspecting members of the public who might have been misinformed and, for record purposes.

The supposed investigative news item, published on the 25th of April, 2023, by the medium, was premised on a single narrative without efforts to seek alternative facts from the other concerned party, and we believe that the refusal of the publisher to do due diligence before going ahead with the publication as required by the ethic of his job was aimed at damaging the image of our budding hospital.

To set the record straight, the actor in the blog’s detrimental news piece, Emmanuel Dare, indeed participated in the recruitment process conducted by the hospital on the 16th of January 2023 and was subsequently recommended for employment, however, he was undecided about his availability to join the services of the hospital because he is still working with a Kaduna based company that deals in fast-moving foods, snacks and drinks which is paying him well, as confessed by him.

The above reasons as he voluntarily admitted made him not pick up his appointment letter until the 1st of March 2023, the day of IPPIS biometric capturing.

The way biometric capturing is done is that the database of all staff would have been collated in an Excel spreadsheet template and shared with the IPPIS officials before the date of capturing or immediately before the commencement of the exercise. Mr Dare was, however, not seen until late evening of the said day around 7:30 p.m., 1st March 2023, though, around 2:00 pm he was said to have gone to the HR office to pick up his appointment letter which had been printed since 20th February. He was also given a structured acceptance of an appointment form which he filled out but did not submit to any officials of the Hospital.

The Senior administrative staff of the hospital and IPPIS officials who signed the form did so as part of the process of ensuring that the credentials presented by the candidates were genuine. This was done for all the other candidates as well. Thus, the staff of IPPIS have done no wrong in the process. It must be reiterated that Dare was the last person to enter the capturing hall at about 7:30 pm as earlier mentioned but because his record was not initially captured by the HR office due to his late resumption, there was no way he could be captured by IPPIS. As it stood, only Dare’s data was not recorded.

He was subsequently informed about his mistake of not coming earlier and was advised to exercise patience with the hospital until another capturing opportunity comes but that he should keep his appointment letter because he is still a prospective staff member.

The claim that his appointment slot was sold was baseless. Would he still be holding his appointment letter if that had happened? Why is he still holding on to his acceptance letter which is a prelude to the entry of his data into the hospital record? These amongst other questions ought to have been asked by the publisher of the story in deference to the ethics of journalism.

We want to make it clear that: Indecision. Lies. Lateness to present himself to his new employer for documentation, and, non-acceptance of the employment offer in due time constituted the reasons why he lost the opportunity to be captured as at then.

For the avoidance of doubt, quoted below are some of Mr Dare’s messages to the staff of the hospital through his mobile number +234 806 247 4175, having seemingly, regretted his actions, particularly the online blackmail.

“The truth is I have always loved peace in my life, I don’t like causing a stir.”

“Concerning what happened, it’s now that I had to look for how to get to their website. I saw everything that was posted..”

“I didn’t call them, a friend of mine did everything. Though he already told me about them before I never bulged…”

“I have already called my friend, sorry for the inconvenience.”

“They called me in the morning yesterday, introduced themselves and asked some questions which I answered. I never knew they will go to this length…”

What he ought to have done (and can still do) was to present himself to the hospital management rather than resulting to the Internet and social media blackmail.

Signed:
Office of the Public Relations Officer,
Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Budo-Egba,
Kwara State.
30th April, 2023