Stanley Ihedigbo
 |
| CP LAGOS, Zubairu Muazu |
Mrs. Eunice Kole Johnson (60), has narrated how she
suddenly jerked up from sleeping to find a total stranger attempting to stab
her to death.
Johnson is presently asking the Lagos State
Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu, to launch investigation in order to find
out those that hired the stranger to kill her. The stranger would later be
identified as Jonathan Utueze by policemen.
Johnson explained that the stranger attacked her
with a broken bottle. He had already stabbed her hand and was going for her
neck, when she suddenly opened her eyes, saw the descending bottle and used her
hand to block it descent.
The old woman was attacked in her shop at Aswani Market,
Isolo, Lagos State.
Johnson, who still appears shaken, said: “I would
have been a dead person, but for the divine intervention of God. The man was
aiming for my neck with a broken bottle when I woke up. He had already stabbed
me once.”
Recalling the event of that fateful May 7th,
Johnson said that she had been selling in the market for over 20 years and had
never had such a scaring experience.
She said: “I came to the market in the early hours
of the morning and opened my shop. I
have health problem and on that day I was feeling out of sort and decided to
take my medicine. Even after taking the medicine, I still was not feeling well.
I went into my shop and lay on a table. My friend, who has a shop beside
my own, Mrs. Cedi Osaigbovo, asked what was wrong with me. I told her that I
was not feeling well. A few minutes later, I fell asleep.
“Suddenly, I heard a sound and thought that
something fell from the shelf to land on my hand. As I opened my eyes, I saw a
man standing before me, holding a broken bottle. I didn’t even know that
he had already stabbed me on my hand. I didn’t feel the first stab. He was just
about to stab me on the neck, when I opened my eyes.
“I used my left hand to block the descending bottle.
I screamed asking him the crime I had committed against him. I also asked him
who sent him to kill me. I was soaked in a pool of my blood. He had stabbed my
two hands with the bottle. Other traders heard me shouting and rushed to my
shop. The young man ran out.”
Johnson said that she was in shock and pains and
couldn’t explain what transpired when concerned friends started asking
questions.
According to her, when the stranger attempted to
escape, young men in the market chased after him. Traders fashioned bandages
for Johnson’s injuries and took her to the Iyaloja. The assailant was also
caught and taken to the Iyaloja.
Johnson said: “The young man was tied with a rope. I
begged Iyaloja to ask him my offence against him. When Iyaloja noticed I was
bleeding too much, she instructed that I should be taken to hospital. I was
taken to St Emmanuel Hospital, close to Aswani Market. The hospital refused to
treat me, insisting that I must collect card for N10, 000 or deposit N8000.
People that went with me begged them, but they refused.”
Johnson further narrated: “When Iyaloja heard about
the hospital attitude, she told people to take me to Isolo General Hospital. I
was beginning to get weak; I had lost too much blood. I could hardly speak. I
tried to remember if I had offended anyone, but couldn’t think of anyone.”
Johnson said that at the general hospital, she was
attended to after a little delay. The delay was because the hospital was asking
for police report. One of my educated friends challenged them by making
reference to the Lagos State Government law. The law states that hospitals
should treat injure persons without police report. She was put in a wheel chair
and taken to Emergency Unit. Johnson was treated and given three pints of
drips.
“The doctor said that if I had not been treated when
I was, that I would have been dead,” said Johnson. “He said that I had lost a
lot of blood.”
The woman was placed on admission. She was still at
the hospital when she heard that her assailant was at Aswani Police Station.
Johnson was at the hospital when police asked her brother to tell her come to
the station to write a statement.
Johnson said: “I told him that I was in pains. What
I needed was to go home and rest. The Investigating Police Officer (IPO), a
woman, came to me in the car, just as I was leaving, to insist that the Divisional
Police Officer (DPO), wanted me to come to the station at 9am the following day.
I pleaded that they should give me time to recover.”
She was told that if she didn’t come to the police,
it would be taken that she didn’t want to press for charges.
“As I was explaining my condition to her, the DPO
with other senior officers came to where we parked. They took pictures of me
with their phones. Later, the DPO said, woman you must come tomorrow morning.
The following day, I was not myself. I was in pains. Later in the day, the
police woman called me. Two day later, I
was able to go to the police station. And as I was discussing with the IPO, the
DPO came in. The IPO said that she was sure that I had money to make case. I
told her that I didn’t have money. She said that I needed to bring money to
hire Black Maria, which would take the suspect to court. She said that I should
bring N10, 000 to register the case in court.”
Johnson further stated: “I learnt that our market
leaders, who came to the police station, gave them N15000. I told the IPO that it was the responsibility
of government to provide the necessary thing in court for the citizens. The
police laughed at me, saying that people even pay for writing statements at the
police station. The IPO told one of the elders to go and tell the DPO that I was
not interested in making a case anyone. The man left for the DPO’s office, came
back to say that the DPO insisted I should go and look for money. The IPO
threatened to release the suspect if I didn’t bring money.”
Johnson said that she was at the police station
until 1pm, when she started feeling pains. When the IPO was insisting on
Johnson bringing money for a vehicle to court, one of the market leaders went
and hired a tricycle.
When they got to Magistrates Court, Isolo, the IPO
went into and returned to claimed that she had registered the case.
“At the court, I saw the market leader giving the
IPO money. I started feeling dizzy. I complained and the market leader asked me
to go home. The IPO saw me leaving and called me back. She asked where I was
going, I said home. She started complaining that I didn’t want to bring out
money to do case. She said that I was not ready for a case. She said that I
didn’t want to spend money.”
Mrs. Osaigbovo, who was among the people that
took Johnson to hospital said: “My friend is not a trouble person. I’m still in
shock. I don’t understand why that man wanted to kill my friend.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer
(PPRO), Bala Elkana, when contacted about the case, explained that after the
attack, the suspect was arrested and charged to court.
When told about the allegation of police extortion
of Johnson and her friends at Aswani Police Station, Elkana said that it was a
lie.
He added: “Nothing that happened. The DPO provided
the vehicle that took the suspect, Jonathan Utueze, to court. It is the
responsibility of police station to provide vehicle that will convey the
suspect to court. The suspect was arrested and charged with assault.”
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