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| Joshua |
It was in the process that he got injured, leading
to loss of his eye sights. According to doctors, Joshua needs approximately
N2.5million for a corrective eyes surgery.
When he was told about the surgery and how much it
would cost, he had felt sure that the company, which he lost his eye sights
fighting for, would come to his rescue.
Joshua’s staunch trust, however, took a devastating
blow. Chi Limited was not as forthcoming as the ASP had expected.
According to him, till date, the company had
abandoned him to his fate. Joshua, almost in tears, said that he couldn’t
imagine groping in darkness for the rest of his life.
Speaking with our correspondent in his house, Joshua
said that Chi Limited, promised to take care of his eyes treatment. Joshua said
that doctors had advised that the operation should be carried out immediately
so that his eyes wouldn’t degenerate retrogressively into complete blindness.
He said: “Right now, I’m slowly going blind.
And if the operation continued to be delayed, my two eyes would undergo
retrogressive degeneration or I may completely go blind.”
Joshua, who wept as he was speaking, said that if
the eyes operation was not performed on time and he goes blind, his children would
be doomed. He said: “They are three of them. They have no mother. I’m all they
have and they are all in higher institutions. They depend on me.”
Joshua narrated: “It all happened on December 31, 2016,
while I was on duty at Ajao Estate environment, around 4am. I received a
distress call from Chi Nigeria Limited, located at 14, Chivita Avenue, Ajao
Estate, Lagos, that some hooligans were looting goods from the warehouse
of Chi Nigeria Limited Company. At the same, the Police Control Room was
calling the Patrol Commander to move immediately. We quickly responded; when we
got there, we saw over 500 hooligans’ busy carrying cartons out of the
warehouse. I instructed my men to surround the place.
“As I moved close to the warehouse, the company
light suddenly went off and the hooligans started shouting, see police! See
police! I was able to gain access into the company premises through the main
gate. The hooligans started hurling objects at us. I believed that they
prepared those objects, just waiting for that moment. There was no doubt in my
mind that they were expecting police. Unknown to me and my team, the hooligans
had already prepared chemical weapons such as caustic alkali. They hurled one
of them at me and it exploded on my head. The chemical solution got into my
eyes that night and I couldn’t see anything.”
He noted that when the crowd of young men noticed
that he was partially blinded, they wanted to snatch his gun from him.
Joshua recalled: “I heard them telling one another,
the policemen had fallen down. Go and collect his gun. I corked my gun and
released shots. They all ran away from me. I was able to struggle and got up; I
staggered out of the company. My men, who were around other places outside,
were able to come over, and assisted me. Some of the company security guards also
assisted because I couldn’t see anything.”
Joshua further recounted that he was taken to the Lagos
State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), where treatment started immediately.
Before he was taken to LASUTH, however, he had earlier been rushed to the
nearest private hospital and he was rejected due to the severity of his
condition. He was in the hospital, when some people from Chi Nigeria Limited,
including a retired army general paid him a visit.
He added: “The retired army general said that the
company sent them so that proper treatment would be given to me. He also
acknowledged that my presence at the warehouse saved the company from being
looted that very day. The doctor told me about the severity of the damage to my
eyes, stressing that the hospital couldn’t manage it.
“That very day, they discharged me; the retired army
general who was representing the company was also there with me and my family
members. He said that I should be taken anywhere, even though it required
flying me overseas. Based on that promise, one of the doctors at LASUTH
referred us to Eye Foundation, located at 27B,
Isaac John Street, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos. From that day, my
family had borrowed up to N1million for drugs and treatment. Chi Nigeria
Limited, which promised me heaven and earth, just managed to send N400, 000 and
since then, had refused to pick my calls or respond to messages sent to them.”
Joshua continued: “An enormous debt still hangs on
my neck, and now the hospital has finally released the bill needed for my eyes surgery.
I have forwarded the cost to the company since August 9, 2017, but nothing had
been forthcoming from them. Someone from the company recently visited and told
me that one of the senior managers said that the company owed me nothing; that
I was carrying out my responsibility as a policeman. The manager said that
whatever happened to me in the line of duty should be the concern of the Nigeria
Police Force, not Chi Nigeria Limited.”
He further disclosed that his Divisional Police
Officer (DPO) had paid several visits to the company on his behalf and that
whenever he called her, she wouldn’t give him any meaningful responses, rather,
she would ask about his health and pray for him.
The Patrol Commander lamented that all his efforts
to see the Lagos State Commissioner of Police has been aborted by his fellow policemen
attached to the CP’s office.
In a voice filled with emotion, Joshua said: “The
policemen at the CP’s office wouldn’t allow me to see him. I have sent several
letters to the CP’s office, without receiving replies. That is why some
policemen in Nigeria do not always dedicate their lives to the service. It’s
because a policeman is always abandoned by everyone whenever he has an accident.”
The Officer of Public Relations firm representative
of the Chi Nigeria Limited, Mr. Ugochukwu Uwajah, when called twice, told our
correspondent twice, to hold on before publishing, insisting that he needed to
make further findings on the matter. After almost a week of waiting for him,
messages were sent to his phone, he still didn’t respond.
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