Igwe M.O.P
The Chief
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Knowledge Flows From The Man Who Knows...M.O.P
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« on: May 01, 2010, 09:01:02 AM » |
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THIS is getting out of hand, believe me. Our
men are becoming uncontrollably reckless with
fire arms and this calls for great concern. We
have to tell ourselves the truth. The other
day, it was a violent protest in Ajegunle over
the killing of a defenseless young boy by a
police Corporal who was on illegal duty.
Three days later, another trigger-happy police
man attached to MOPOL 49, Lekki who was on
a special duty at a bank on Marina ,
unwarrantedly shot dead a bureau d ’ change
operator while he alleged attempted to defraud
an old woman.
The matter is still on as I speak with you..
Then just last Thursday, another one opened
fire on another young boy at Lekki Phase 1;
claiming that the victim was hysterically
laughing at him. Can you imagine that? In
those days, it used to be accidental discharge,
but we are no longer confronting accidental
discharge today. It is now willful shooting of
innocent persons. ” These were the words of a
senior police officer at ‘Area A’, Lion Building
Lagos.
Perhaps, the above reaction of a senior police
officer who craved anonymity aptly summed
the unprofessional and reckless attitude of
some of our policemen, especially the rank and
file on the street today. Their latest victim is
27-year-old Udeme Akwa-Jackobson, an
Akwa-Ibom state born construction worker.
It is only a medical miracle that would prevent
the promising young man from being
amputated as he has since been moved out of
the private hospital he was being treated for
lack of funds. He has resorted to traditional
herbal treatment for now pending when police
authorities or other kind-hearted Nigerians,
might come to his aid.
How it all started.
Visibly writhing in pains at his Shell estate one-
room apartment, in Lekki Phase1, Udeme
whose bandaged but swollen left leg is already
emitting offensive stench as a result of the
gunshot wounds; was however, able to
muster the strength to speak with Crime
Guard. To him, the incident could not have
been ordinary because, “I was not the only
one there; so how come the police took on
me? I believe there is spiritual undertone. ” He
said, “that day was on a
Thursday, April 15, 2010 and time was about
5.00pm. I was outside in front of my house
chatting with some of my friends about sundry
issues. We were talking about a maid who
desperately needed another job and we
mentioned one lady in the area that might help
her. Just then, the lady we mentioned passed
by and we all laughed at the coincidence ”.
The shooting
Soon after, a bus painted in Lagos commercial
colour popularly called Danfo pulled over and
stopped beside us. Inside the bus were two
mobile policemen. One of them alighted and
came to me, held me by my shirt and asked
why I was laughing at him.
I was confused and shocked altogether; to
say the least. But he was serious about his
allegation because he was violently pulling me
towards the parked bus. All entreaties from
my friends that we were not laughing at him fell
on deaf ears.
We were shocked the more, when another
mobile police man who had long parked his
motorbike by the gutter where we were, came
up to corroborate the allegation. As the
argument raged, one of the mobile policemen
that came with them tried to calm the situation
by saying that we could not have been
laughing at his colleague.
When the argument degenerated into slaps
and blows, a Pastor who lives on my street
came to the rescue and was able to free me
from his grip. But just then, he grabbed a
pistol from the waist belt of his colleague and
tried to hit me on the head and I dodged it and
jumped over the gutter. At that point, he
pointed the gun at me and before I could turn
to react to my friends shout of Udeme, Udeme,
I heard a gun shot.
The police man had shot me on the leg and
blood started gushing out. At the hospital
after the shooting, the Mobile Policeman
disappeared into thin air with his colleagues
while my friends and neighbors rushed me to a
nearby private hospital and later, Mainland
General hospital. But after five days in the
hospital, things did not improve and, of
course, there was no money to procure some
of the prescribed drugs.
So, my wife and some of my friends came and
took me home where they contracted a
traditional herbal healer for the purpose. As
you can see for yourself, it is not improving.
Matter not reported and police not aware
Perhaps for fear of the unknown, the
unprofessional conduct of the mobile police
man was not reported in any police station;
and therefore, the Lagos police command
which jurisdiction the offence was committed is
not aware of it.
“The matter was not reported because one, my
friends are afraid that the police might turn the
whole thing against them. Two, we did not
know the identity of the policeman who shot
me, but the one who was begging him to leave
me alone is a known person.
Though I do not know his name, he is attached
to the Shell estate, ” Udeme said.
But the Command’s spokes person, Mr. Frank
Mba said he was yet to be informed about the
shooting incident. “I am not aware of it. A
policeman shot somebody just because he
claimed that person was laughing at him? I am
not aware, ” Mba maintained.
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