Fresh details yesterday emerged about the circumstances surrounding the death of a personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) identified as Blessing Akpan by a yet-to-be-identified assailant.
It was learnt that Blessing was stabbed in front of her residence in Piawe, behind the Chief palace, Bwari, an outskirt town in the nation’s capital, in the early hours of Tuesday last week.
The NSCDC officer, who was serving under the Bwari Central Division, FCT Command, was confirmed dead at the Bwari General Hospital by the medical personnel on duty.
Blessing’s friends, who spoke to our correspondent on Monday, said the deceased was rushed to different hospitals after the attack but she was denied immediate treatment because of the absence of a police report.
One of her friends, who did not want her name in print, mentioned the first medical facility Blessing was taken to as Gabriel Hospital, from where she was referred to the St. Theresa Hospital. Both medical facilities are located in Bwari town.
Speaking in a distraught tone, she said the NSCDC officer, a mother of four, lost her life because she had lost a lot of blood before she was attended to at Bwari General Hospital, where she was later confirmed dead.
“It is painful that we lost Officer Blessing, as she was fondly called due to a weak and uncoordinated system,” she said, adding that “someone was dying and you insisted there must be a police report before she was attended to.
“Honestly, this is very sad to say the least. Besides, she’s also a security personnel. We showed them her office identity card, they still didn’t attend to her, hence the reason we were taking her from one place to another until she died.”
How it all happened
Narrating how it happened, the deceased’s son, identified as Jeremiah, explained that his late mother took him outside at about 5:45am last Tuesday to ease himself when an unknown person, who was hiding in a maize farm around the house, dressed in black and wearing a fez cap, hit his mother.
The nine-year-old son said when his late mother tried to protect him, the suspect hit her again on her head and ran away, after which the late officer fell down and started screaming for help.
The deceased’s daughter, also identified as Blessing, similarly narrated that after her mother took her younger brother outside to ease himself, few minutes later, she heard someone screaming for help.
She said when she came out to find out what was happening, she found her mother rolling on the ground.
“I rushed to call our neighbours, to inform them and seek help. She was then taken to Gabriel Hospital, where her pulse was checked and then she was referred to St Theresa’s Hospital, Bwari,” she said.
In the same vein, the victim’s young sister, Mrs Peace, explained that on their arrival at St Theresa’s Hospital, the nurses on duty said that the doctor was demanding a police report before proper treatment could commence.
“I rushed to the police station so as to get a police report,” she said, adding that her sister was already confirmed dead but they tried to distract her by asking her to obtain a police report.
A security official also said that when Mrs Peace got to the police station, she informed them about the situation and that the victim was an officer with the NSCDC.
“Without any delay, a police officer was asked to follow her to the hospital to ascertain the situation and afterwards, she was moved to the Bwari General Hospital for further treatment,” the security official said.
He added, “There, at the Bwari General Hospital, she was officially confirmed dead after her vital organs were checked.
“Afterward, she was then dressed up and taken to the mortuary.”
The security official noted that at the scene of the incident, the suspect’s mobile phone, a kitchen knife, a catapult and matchete were found and they would be useful in the ongoing investigation to get the perpetrators.
What Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act, 2017 says
Enacted by the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Act says that: “Every hospital in Nigeria, whether public or private shall accept or receive, for immediate and adequate treatment with or without police clearance, any person with a gunshot wound.
“Every person, including security agents, shall render every possible assistance to any person with gunshot wounds and ensure that the person is taken to the nearest hospital for immediate treatment.
“Accordingly: {a) a person with 2 gunshot wounds shall be received for immediate and adequate treatment by any hospital in Nigeria with or without initial monetary deposit, and
“(b) A person with a gunshot wound shall not be subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment or torture by any person or authority including the police or other security agencies.
“3. (1) A hospital that receives or accepts any person with a gunshots wound for treatment shall report the fact to the nearest police station within two hours of commencement of treatment.
“3. (2) Upon the receipt of the report under subsection (1) of this Section, the police shall immediately commence investigations with a view to determining the circumstances under which the person was shot.
The police shall not invite any person with gunshot wounds from the hospitals for the purposes of investigation unless the Chief Medical Director of the hospital certifies him fit and no longer in need of medicare.
Police, NSCDC, hospital silent
When contacted, the spokesperson of the Nigerian police in the Federal Capital Territory Command, Josephine Adeh, referred our correspondent to the authorities of the NSCDC, for official comment regarding the matter.
Adeh, a Superintendent of Police, noted that the reference became imperative because the matter was not reported to the police, saying NSCDC might likely carry out investigations on the matter on its own.
Similarly, NSCDC spokesman, Babawale Afolabi, told Daily Trust on phone that it is the FCT Command of the agency that would give an official position and update on the matter.
But repeated calls to the Commandant of the NSCDC in the FCT Command, Olusola Odumosu, rang out unanswered, and he was yet to respond to a text message sent to him as at press time.
In the same vein, efforts to get comment from St. Theresa Hospital proved abortive.
Expert speaks
Commenting on the incident, Executive Director of the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Okechukwu Nwanguma, described as “illegal and unethical” for medical personnel to wait for police report in the case of emergencies.
“The fact that a victim of violence was abandoned to die while awaiting police paperwork speaks to a grave failure of both the healthcare and policing systems. This is not only heartbreaking but also in direct violation of Nigerian law,”Nwanguma lamented.
He said Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act, 2017 mandates all hospitals — public and private, to provide immediate and adequate care to victims of gunshot wounds or life-threatening injuries without demanding a police report as a precondition for treatment.
He added, “While this case involved a stabbing rather than a gunshot wound, the principle is the same: the preservation of human life must take precedence over bureaucratic formalities.”
The RULAAC boss, however, called on the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to issue clear directives to their officers and personnel respectively on the Act in order to prevent loss of more lives.
DAILY TRUST.
