The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)’s an independent investigative panel on violations of rights by the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and other police units, on Wednesday, ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to continue to treat a police gunshot victim until he fully recovers.
The order followed the plea by the victim, Julius Ogalanya, at the resumed hearing of his petition, marked 2020/IIP-SARS/ABJ/133, that he was due for another round of surgery but he lacks the funds to carry out the operation.
In his petition, Ogalanya alleged a threat to his life, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment against Gabriel Adi; Mohammed, both of the Gwagwalada Police Division; the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the station and the Inspector-General of Police.
The chairman of the panel, Justice Suleiman Galadima (retd), noted that though the police boss had made payments for the victim’s surgery, he was yet to recover from the bullet fired by one Gabriel Adi, which shattered his thigh.
While describing the case as a clear case of gross violation of fundamental rights, adding that the culpability of the first, second and third respondent is beyond doubt, Justice Galadima declared that “The case ought not to waste the panel’s time.”
He, therefore, urged the IGP to bear all Ogalanya’s treatment’s expenses until he fully recovers.
The panel then directed its counsel, Chino Obiagwu SAN and the victim’s counsel, Reginald Nwani, to visit the IGP with a view to discussing issues relating to Ogalanya’s treat. The case was subsequently adjourned for a report.
Ogalanya had on February 15, 2021, while testifying before the panel, narrated that he was shot on his left leg by a policeman because of disagreement over a broken empty bottle of beer.
Narrating what happened to him, Ogalanya, who informed that he was an operator at a pure water factory in Gwagwalada, Abuja, said he was asked by the MD of the factory to go home on April 2, 2020, because of the lockdown imposed as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.
According to him, instead of going home straight, he went to a place called Angwar Tiv to see a friend, who bought a bottle of beer for him.
“After drinking the beer, the bottle fell from my hand. The woman selling beer started shouting which led to an altercation between us. She said she was going to deal with me.
“She called some police people. We went to a police station called Tashi where the matter was settled and we returned to the place,” he said.
The petitioner said after their return, the woman’s boyfriend, Gabriel Adi, later came and said the matter could not be settled like that.
He said as he stood up, Adi shot him in the left leg and ordered him to stand up and even abused him, saying that, “he called me an idiot that we people say there are no bullets in police rifles.”
Ogalanya informed that he was left at the spot until some Good Samaritans decided to rush him to the hospital on a bike, adding that on the way some policemen in a car stopped them and eventually took him to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada.
He, therefore, appealed to the panel to ensure justice for him, adding that the panel should also make an order of compensation paid to him.
According to him, “since the incident, I have not been able to work again to feed myself. I am living with my parents and have been living on the goodwill of my siblings.”
The petitioner informed the panel that the police only paid N90,000 for his first operation at the UATH, Gwagwalada.
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