 |
| Roselyn |
“I was outside my apartment, attending
to customers when I suddenly felt something penetrated my stomach. I never knew
it was a bullet. I glanced at my stomach and saw blood flowing. The first
thought that flashed through my mind was that I was going to die. That my kids
would become orphans. I soon started feeling intense pains.”
Those were the poignant words of Mrs.
Roselyn Adewunmi 56, whose stomach was pierced by a stray bullet from the
rifle of a member of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State
Police Command.
When the correspondent visited Roselyn,
she could hardly talk and seems to grow weaker whenever she tries to. The
victim spoke from her hospital bed, at the Intensive Unity of the Hospital
at Ward B 1, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos, Idi-Araba,
where she’s battling to stay alive.
Ironically, Roselyn is a widow of a
policeman.
Residents in the area said that the
operatives were chasing a suspected armed robber and had opened fire, apparently
to force the fleeing robber to halt. One of the bullets went awry and
perforated the stomach of Roselyn on May 1, 2015. The police bullet was said to
have hit Roselyn while she was attending to customers in front of her
apartment, at Community Road, Ijora Badia, Lagos.
 |
| Roselyn's home |
The eldest of Roselyn’s five kids,
Segun Adewunmi 29, revealed that his mother had gone through series of
operation since the shooting. She had also taken seven pints of blood. Doctor
said the gunshot did terrible damaged to her stomach.
The intestines were said to have
been removed by doctors to allow the portion of her stomach injured to heal.
It’s only after the healing, that the intestines would be returned, said her
son.
“Doctor told me that it would take
about a month before the intestines would be returned into the stomach,” said
Segun, almost crying. “Right now, she’s going through a lot of pains. She
hardly sleeps because of intense pains.”
Segun, who described himself as a professional
footballer, said that nurses at the hospital were not cooperating with him as
they had disallowed family members and friends from being with her in case she
needed assistance during the night.
Segun noted: “As the first child of
the family, I’m not financially buoyant. I’m using this medium to beg all good
spirited Nigerians and the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon
Arase to come to my mother’s aid. I alone can’t bear the accumulating
medical bills. The Police are helping somehow, but the police money doesn’t
come on time. Most times, I would have to run around to look for money. I fear
every day that my mother may die.”
He continued: “I’m fed up with the
challenges we are going through now. Since this incident happened, to eat has
become a problem for me and my siblings. It is part of the money I borrowed to
take care of my mother that I still use in feeding my brothers and sisters. We
never bargained for this.”
Investigation revealed that the suspected
robber was with his girlfriend in front of his apartment when he sighted
the policemen moving towards him. He immediately bolted.
Determined to stop the fleeing
suspect, the policemen opened fire. One of the bullets nailed Roselyn as she
was attending to her customers.
Roselyn was rushed to LUTH, where
she went through series of operation.
Segun said: “The policemen were
shooting sporadically as they made their way into the community. I don’t live
with my mum, but I’d gone to visit her that fateful day. Barely a minute after I
left her place, I heard a gunshot. After the first gunshot, the
gunshots became intense.”
Like many other people in the
community, Segun had scampered for safety. When the shooting stopped, he had
tried to crawl out of his hiding place.
Segun said he saw from his hiding
place, his bleeding mother. He noticed that she was bleeding from the stomach region
and held unto a policeman, shouting that the man had shot her.
“I saw my mother and she was bleeding.
She held unto one of the policemen later identified as Mohammed Abubakar. She
was screaming, Oga you don shoot me, you
must take me to hospital,” recounted Segun.
Segun said that he saw the policeman
used the butt of his gun to knock his bleeding mother’s hand away from him.
According to him, his first thought was to rush to help his mother, but he was
scared. He said that the policeman was not only angry and aggrieved, but was
also armed.
Segun further said: “I couldn’t do
anything until the policemen left. They left in a hurry. I rushed her to a
private hospital in the community. We were later referred to LUTH, where she is
presently receiving treatment. My mother has now spent about two weeks at the
hospital.”
According to him, some of the elders
in the community went to SARS to lodge a complaint that Roselyn was shot. Some
of the elders were told that one of their officers, Mohammed Abubakar was also killed
on that fateful day. Segun said that the elders went to SARS three times before
police accepted fault and promised to foot Roselyn’s medical bills.
Segun said: “I was further shocked
when the police told us the cop who shot my mum, Abubakar, died during the
cross fire with the armed robbers. How could Abubakar have died? It was this
same Abubakar that later brought some money to my mother in the hospital for treatment
of the gunshot wound.”
Since the incident, police have kept
to their promise. The police have so far provided N190, 000, but it sadly was
not enough, as Roselyn now needs another surgery and drugs. The hospital is
already telling her to leave until she gets the money for the next surgery.
Segun, who was worried about his
mother deteriorating health in the hospital, said that after some days of
showing care, Abubakar abruptly told Roselyn’s family to stop calling him.
“Abubakar said that I should start
relating with one Peter who was among the team that shot my mother. Abubakar
said that whatever the hospital asked my mother to get, I should call Peter.
Abubakar said he was going on medical leave,” said Segun.
He said: “Personally, I’ve spent
about N70, 000,000 on my mother, while the police have also spent about
N190, 000, 000.”
Roselyn’s neighbour, Ajao said:
“We were planning to celebrate the birthday of a baby that night in the
community when we suddenly started hearing gunshots. My girlfriend, who was
coming for the birthday, ran back when she heard the gunshots. I wondered what
the policemen came to do in the community. But I was later told that they came
to arrest a suspect. How could they have shot an innocent woman selling her
wares? It means nobody is safe! One can be shot or killed even in his or her
home.”
Ajao said that the robber the
policemen came to pick was not known in the community. The suspect was said to
have moved into the apartment with a friend who resides in Community.
Apparently angry, Ajao queried: “Why
didn’t the policemen deploy a new method of arresting suspect? Shooting in
residential community is not good. Innocent people can get shot and killed! This
case should not be swept under the carpet like previous cases where
innocent Nigerians had been killed.”
Another resident, Mama Christian
said: “I was inside my room when I heard gunshots. People started scampering
for safety. When the gunshots were continuous, I tried to run out of my
apartment. I met one Hausa man; he was pointing towards Roselyn. He was shouting.
I wondered what was happening. What I heard was the voice of Roselyn. She
was shouting and telling a police officer that he had shot her.
“I couldn’t move close to the scene.
Roselyn held his cloth. The policeman knocked off her hands and fled. Immediately
the policemen left, I rushed over. We want the Lagos State Government to come
to the aid of the victim. Every one of us in this community is poor. We can barely
survive.”
The Lagos State Police Public
Relations Officers (PPRO), Mr. Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the incident, adding
that a policeman was also shot during the cross fire.
Nwosu added: “We also had a casualty.
One of our officers who went on that operation was hit during the
cross fire with the robbers. The armed robbers opened fire on our men when they
sighted them coming into the community. We have promised the family of the
victim that we are going to foot the medical bills. Even our man, who was shot
on the leg, is still at the hospital, receiving treatment. He didn’t die. He
sustained gunshot wound on the leg. This was why he was asked to go on medical
leave.”
Sounding
quite scared and confused, Segun, on May 20, 2015, said that his mother had
been asked to go home by the hospital, even though her intestines had not been
returned.
Segun explained: “We were asked to
pay N130, 000 for another surgery, but we are still trying to raise the money.
But the hospital is insisting that my mother should go home until we have the
money. I’m alarmed because her intestines are still in the laboratory. How can
she go home without her intestines? Won’t she die? I had already called and
told the policeman named Peter about this development. I and my family need
financial help. We can’t do this alone. Peter said we should collate all the
receipts for the drugs we had bought so far and the surgery. But the hospital
said they can’t possibly collate all the receipts. I’ve tried calling Peter
again, but he has refused to pick my calls. I’m scared for my mother!”
No comments:
Post a Comment