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The trauma of a stray-bullet victim
IHEANACHO NWOSU
YOUNG Arinze
Chukwura, 22, an automobile spare parts apprentice in the Nigeria’s ultra-modern
spare parts village, Auto Spare Parts and Machinery Dealers Association (ASPMDA)
in Lagos had heard several tales of how stray bullets snuff life out of many
innocent Nigerians.
But, he had never given it a thought that
he could he one of such victims. However, he had to live with such grim reality
last week when a bullet from a gun shot, allegedly by a mobile police man at the
spare parts village, pierced through his body.
Unlike many who had had such experience,
Chukwura, at least for now, survived the shot. But the bullet which tore his
thigh, injured his abdomen and mangled his right leg has left him a shadow of
his old self.
When Sunday Champion visited him at
his hospital bed at Ojo, Lagos, the man’s leg was swollen, hung delicately up.
For the 20 minutes the reporter stood, Arinze neither opened his eyes nor
muttered a word. It was glaring that he was writhing in pain. His mother,
looking despondent with her two hands on her head managed to utter few comments.
"That is what they have done to my son. This is the condition they have put my
son," she said in a helpless tone.
Chukwura never had a premonition of what
was to be fall him. He had gone to the market that day, did all that was
assigned to him by his boss and was on his way back home in the evening when the
bullet strayed into him.
The policeman who shot him had come in the
company of over 10 others. They had invaded the market allegedly to fish out a
man alleged to be faking a product. Upon arrival at the market they started
shooting indiscriminately forcing people to scamper for safety.
Narrating the events to newsmen, the
authorities of the auto plaza were close to tears as they tried to paint a
graphic picture of how the whole thing happened.
President of ASPMDA, Chief Johnson
Ofortuba said the plaza was almost turned into a war zone as the policemen
crises crossed the length and breadth of the market, harassing everybody around
and shooting uninterruptedly into the air for over an hour.
Explaining how the policemen were brought
into the market, Chief Security Officer of the Association, Chief Pius Ibe
Anyakoha said that one Chief Chris Omeni, an auto parts dealer had engaged the
services of Mr. Sam Akapo, a superintended of police (SP) who led some anti riot
mobile policemen to the place.
He said the police officer had informed
him that the operation had been authorized by the police and a court. Several
pleas by him that the matter be settled peacefully was shunned by the policemen
who he said did not waste a minute before embarking on a shooting spree.
"It was a huge surprise. We have never
being against police coming to the market. But for God’s sake, these people just
came and started shooting into the air. They did not care about the multitude of
people around, nor did they take heed to our pleas to come for discussion.
He pointed out that even when the person
claimed to be faking the product which Omeni claimed he had the franchise in
Nigeria presented himself to the police, the security men were undeterred in
their shooting.
"The person who they accused of faking the
product came out and presented himself. But the policemen were still shooting,"
he narrated, adding, I had thought that they would have investigated the
allegation instead of shooting indiscriminated. We were not in a war situation.
But they made the situation look so."
However, when Sunday Champion
visited Okota Police Station where the policemen were said to have come from,
the allegation of the auto market was described as spuriors.
Although the Divisional Police Officer (DPO)
was said to have been away, one police officer who did not want his name in
print said the police officers did not come from Okota.
"I can tell you authoritatively that the
police officers did not come from this station. They must have come from
somewhere else," he said. He argued "Even though I may not know what they did
there, but I can tell you that there is no way they would have gone there on a
flimsy reason.
"They went there on instruction. If they
said somebody was faking a product, it is enough reason to go to the market. We
are hailing NAFDAC that it is fighting fake and substandard drugs, it is all by
swooping on the people involved and ensuring that they are made to stop the
wicked and criminal act."
ASPMDA, however is denying that anybody in
its midst is producing substandard product or faking product which franchise
belongs to Omeni.
Deputy director of publicity of the
association, Evangelist Alex Ugorji said the claim that the police invaded the
market on account of allegations that somebody was faking a product would have
been tenable if the police had investigated the submission of the person accused
and discovered that it was the truth.
He said, "the man who Omeni accused of
faking his product came out to contest the claim before the police. He proved
that Omeni was merely lying." He continued "We have a mechanism through which we
ensure that no product is faked or a substandard product produced. There is no
truth in the claim of the police."
Ugorji further queried the claims of the
police with a poser "Even if they came because a product is being faked, is it
enough to shoot indiscriminately? Is it enough to shoot the young man they
gunned down. For God’s fake, this is not military regime where people are
treated like animals. The traders did not oppose them when they came in, neither
did the authorities of the plaza kick against them. But they engaged in a
shooting spree."
The association has since petitioned both
the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Lagos State Police Commissioner,
calling for justice.
We need nothing but justice. We want the
police to probe into the invasion of the market. We appeal to the commissioner
to use his good office to conduct thorough investigation on the circumstance
that led to the invasion by the mobile policemen loaded in three buses," he
said.
Agitations over the invasion will continue to rent the air
just as prayers for the survival of the brutalised Chukwura would remain one of
the most cherished calls by both his parents and friends.
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