officers of the Nigeria police has caused brain injury to a young
mother and left permanent scar on her daughter, writes Chiemelie
Ezeobi
A visit to the surgical ward of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital
(LUTH), Idi Araba, Mushin, last Saturday by this reporter was
revealing. A woman had lain in bed writhing in pain. She had lost
everything. With her sunken appearance and disorder speech, Mrs.
Taskirat Eletu's future and that of her baby are threatened. Mrs.
Eletu and her baby are victims of police recklessness and brutality
that has continued in the country unabated.A police Corporal, Friday
Azuka had caused a fatal damage to thepelvic bone and faces of Eletu
and her daughter.
A mother-of-three who had prepared herself for life early as a
graduate of Mathematics and Economics from the University of AdoEkiti,
Ekiti State, Eletu woke up on June 23, 2013, without a premonition of
imminent danger. Like any normal day, she did her chores and got ready
for the day.
Garbed in her hijab with her eight-month-old daughter, Ammarrah,
strapped to her back, she set forth for an Islamic programme at the
Muslim Congress Dawah Centre in Ijesha Bus Stop, along the
Oshodi/Apapa Expressway, where a national health talk was ongoing.
Her calm mien was soon shattered a few moments later when she tried to
disembark from a commercial bus. A police vehicle with excessive speed
hit her from the back. According to eyewitnesses, the impact was
great. First, the baby fell off and hit her jaw on the hard concrete,
tearing her cheekbone horribly.
And whilst attention was focused on the baby, because of the physical
state of her injuries as compared to her mother, nothing prepared
those who gathered to rescue them, when they tried to lift up her
mother and found out she couldn't move.
The victims were rushed to a nearby clinic where Taskirat was
diagnosed with compound and severe fractures to the pelvic bone. Also,
the baby's jaw was sowed, albeit horribly.
Although sources claimed the police had been responsible for expenses
of the victims in the hospital, it turned out to be a lie, whenTHISDAY
visited LUTH where the woman and her daughter are currently receiving
treatments. Asides the initial N70,000 spent by Corporal Azuka,
THISDAY authoritatively gathered that the policehave abandoned the
victims in their unfortunate situation.
Eletu whose ordeal has indeed taken a toll on her, both physically and
mentally, on sighting this reporter said, "I don't know you" which led
to an explanation by the reporter. Following the explanation, she
beckoned on the reporter to come nearer.
But a few seconds later, in one breath, she asked more probing
questions, "who are you?"; "Are you the doctor?"; "Are you here to
treat me?"
And after a few moments of confusion, it finally dawned on the
reporter that the victim might be suffering from temporary amnesia.
The husband, Suleiman Oladipo Eletu, however clarified that a few
minutes into the interview with him after feeding her wife and giving
her some medicines, obviously to calm her.
Mr. Eletu explained that her wife wasn't suffering from amnesia,
rather the accident had caused damage to her brain.
Mission to Kill
According to reports, Corporal Azuka had sped dangerously against the
flow of traffic on the one-way lane along the ever busy Oshodi-Apapa
Expressway, when he hit his victims.
It was gathered that Azuka was under the instruction of an
off-dutysenior police officer, the FESTAC Divisional Police Officer,
CSP Ibrahim Zango, to carry his two female visitors to the airport in
good time when the incident occurred as a result of excessive speeding
and flagrant disobedience to traffic rule.
Eyewitnesses told THISDAY that the corporal who drove the vehicle was
using one hand to drive and using the other to commandother motorists
to leave the road on the one-way lane in which he was speeding when he
hit Taskirat.
A Tale of Anguish
Mr. Eletu said he has been trying to juggle taking care of the other
two kids and their mother and sister in the hospital at the same time.
He said: "I was at home when I first got the call about the incident.
I asked for directions and went to the clinic from where wewere later
referred to LUTH. It was a shock when I first saw them and it has been
hectic.
"Financially, we have spent over N500,000 on both mother and childbut
mostly on her because of the nature of injuries she sustained.
Atfirst, it was only the multiple pelvic fracture, but four days
later, the erratic and irrational behaviour started.
"We have been battling with it since then. The doctors have carried
out many scans and they attributed her behaviour to injury in the
brain. As for the physical bruises, they are optimistic that she
wouldrecover but brain injuries are often unpredictable. I am not
happy seeing my wife like this."
…And Taskirat Speaks
Although many might dismiss her off due to her erratic behaviour,
Taskirat in her lucid moments while the reporter was with her at LUTH
showed some semblance of brilliance that obviously saw her through her
four years in the university studying two tough combined courses of
mathematics and economics.
During the interview with her husband at the lobby, she strolled in
and again asked if THISDAY was truly sent by her brother, the point of
earlier explanation given by this reporter. At the affirmative nod,
she suddenly lurched and grabbed the THISDAY Identity card on the desk
and scrutinised it carefully.
After some seconds, the flash bulb went off in her brain and she
whispered, 'you are a newscaster'. She soon picked up again whenshe
heard the mention of the corporal. She immediately pleaded that the
authorities be lenient since he showed remorse.
After that, she pleaded that she should be taken home as she was tired
of the hospital and constant pain.
She said: "Please tell them to take me away from here. They are not
treating me well here because we have not paid."
Despite the pains the fractured pelvic must have been inflicting on
her and the brain injury, one thing was however obvious, she was deep
in her faith. In the course of the interview, she constantly kneltand
bowed in prayer even though such motion would have sent jarring pains
to her waist.
FESTAC DPO's Lackadaisical Attitude
Eletu expressed his dissatisfaction with the attitude of Zango, the
FESTAC DPO who had sent Corporal Azuka on the death mission. He said
despite inflicting his wife and kid with such pains and leaving the
young family scattered, the DPO is yet to visit the hospital or even
contributed to the medical bills.
According to Eletu when he visited the DPO in his office at FESTAC to
complain, he merely offered paltry sum of N10,000 with sheer arrogance
of a police boss.
He said: "I am not happy with the DPO. I went to his office and
expressed my displeasure that he sent someone on an errand and heard
the resultant effect and yet couldn't visit the victims. He gave me
the excuse that he was busy.
"He promised to come and visit us later in the hospital but he didn't
come. In fact, he did not call us again not until the story went to
thepublic glare. Even at that, he called that he wanted to see me in
his office instead of him to come to the hospital."
Our Demands
The family demanded that the police authorities must intervene to save
the lives of the victims first by providing required money to fly the
victims abroad for adequate medical support that can quickly bring
them back on their foot.
According to Eletu, the family had spent over N500,000 from its scarce
resources with yet an outstanding bill waiting to be cleared atLUTH.
THISDAY gathered that on Friday, the family had to discharge the baby
from the hospital after the stitches had been removed because they
could not afford to carter for medical expenses for bothmother and
child at the same time.
Lagos State Police Command Reacts
THISDAY authoritatively gathered that appropriate sanction would be
applied to the FESTAC DPO after investigations must have been
concluded.
A source at the command told THISDAY that the DPO actually sent the
driver on an unofficial assignment when the incident happened.
It was also exclusively gathered that the corporal in question was not
trained as a police driver rather was deployed to the armoury ofthe
division where he had worked for years before the DPO co-opted him for
the unofficial assignment.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi
Braide, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident
although she said the police would like to engage with the affected
family.
Although she would not divulge whether the police would take over the
medical bills of the victims, she however said the corporal was
already in detention pending the conclusion of investigations.
She said: "Investigations are ongoing and the corporal is already
indetention. The DPO would also be investigated because he sent the
corporal on an unofficial assignment. Asides that, I am not sure about
any financial compensation for now."
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