The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Ondo State has appealed to residents of the state to donate blood to help save the lives of survivors of the mass shooting which occurred earlier today, Sunday, inside a Catholic Church in the South-western state.
The Chairperson of the NMA in the state, Stella Adegbehingbe, made the appeal while speaking with newsmen on the situation in Owo where the shooting took place.
Mrs Adegbehingbe said doctors have been overwhelmed at the Federal Medical Centre in Owo because of the number of victims.
“They need blood,” she said.
“So we are telling the public to please go to the teaching hospital in Akure. We are collecting blood from the public so that we can quickly send it to them. They need blood!”
Mrs Adegbehingbe said the hospitals in Owo need urgent supplies of surgical tools, apart from blood donation.
She said some medical personnel were having difficulty getting to hospitals in Owo because of many security checkpoints.
From Akure to Owo should be 35 minutes if there is not much traffic on the road, she added.
Scores of worshippers, including children, died on Sunday when some gunmen invaded St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, and started shooting indiscriminately.
President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the killing in Ondo, saying Nigeria will never surrender to “evil and wicked people”.
“No matter what, this country shall never give in to evil and wicked people, and darkness will never overcome light. Nigeria will eventually win,” Mr Buhari was quoted as saying in a statement from his media aide, Femi Adesina, on Sunday.
The governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has condemned the killing, and vowed that those behind it would be hunted down and made to pay for it.