The continued disregard for traffic rule and excessive speeding by 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 the pelvic 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 Ado Ekiti, 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, when THISDAY 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 police have 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-duty senior 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 command other 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 we were 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 child but mostly on her because of the nature of injuries she sustained. At first, 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 would recover 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 when she 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 knelt and 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 the public 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 at LUTH.
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 both mother 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 of the 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 in detention. 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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