COVID-19: Ondo nurses demand justice over police assault on member amid coronavirus curfew

The National Association of the Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, in Ondo state, has alleged men of the Nigerian Police in the state of attempting to cover up and shielding a police officer who allegedly injured a nurse, Mrs Modupe Ajama, while on emergency duty during the curfew imposed by the state government over COVID -19 pandemic.

The Chairman of the union, in Ode -Irele unit, Okikiola Aremu, specifically condemned the Divisional Police Officer in the area for spewing up lies to cover the officer who was responsible for the accident that incapacitated Ajama.

Aremu alleged that the Police officer at the checkpoint threw a stick at the motorcycle conveying the nurse to the hospital, injuring her and the motorcyclist rider.

He said, “We want justice to prevail, because the police are hiding so many things. They said they are working with the community policing volunteers and the person who assaulted the nurse was among them.

“I don’t know where the community policing personnel carry rifles, this is against the law, and now the police are trying to shift the blame away from them.

“The Commander in charge of the checkpoints and the DPO knew who threw the stick, but they are trying to shield the person. We want justice to be served because we cannot continue to put the lives of health workers at risk.”

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Speaking on her ordeal, Ajama explained that she was called for an emergency delivery of a set of twins and she was rushing to the hospital when an overzealous policeman threw the stick on the road in a bid to stop the motorcycle.

She said the motorcyclist tried to manoeuvre his way but lost control and injured her and the motorcyclist while the policeman took to his heel leaving them on the road.

She said, “On April 22, I received an emergency call from my colleague around 8.20 pm to come and lend a helping hand to a pregnant woman, who was in labour with a twin gestation, being a professional midwife licensed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.

“I was to receive the babies from the theatre and resuscitate one of them, who had fetal distress. I immediately came to the Irele-Okitipupa Road and saw a motorcyclist, who just dropped off a passenger, and I asked him to convey me to the hospital.

“Getting to the Irele roundabout, we saw a checkpoint and I explained to the security agents there that I am a nurse working with the Irele General Hospital and that I was called for an emergency situation in the hospital and I showed them my identification card and I was allowed to proceed.

“We came across a second checkpoint around Bobby’s shop in Irele and I explained to the police personnel and I was allowed to go; we passed through the third checkpoint, but while approaching the fourth checkpoint around the Erica pharmaceutical shop, a policeman just came from the left side of the road, threw a stick at the motorcycle, which made the rider to lose control and both of us fell and the motorcycle skidded, dragging us both on the asphalted road to the other side of the road.

“The police officer, who threw the stick came closer with a gun and I begged him to please take me to the hospital as I needed to be attended to, but he just left us and said ‘Good for you, God catch you, bastard’.

“The policemen at the previous checkpoints, who saw the accident, rushed to where we were and got a motorcycle among the ones they had seized to take me to hospital.”

Ajama who said she lost her Android phone and the sum of N22,000 was stolen from her bag at the scene of the crash, said she has been nursing the injuries from the accident, while the DPO had been covering the police officer responsible for the accident.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO) Mr Tee-Leo Ikoro, however, claimed that it was a member of the local vigilante group, who attacked the motorcyclist and the nurse.

He stated, “It was the vigilante, who attacked the woman, and one of the vigilantes, who was the owner of the motorcycle that conveyed the woman, held the bike and the rider struggled and they fell into a ditch.

“It was not the police, but when the report got to the police, the motorcyclist was arrested and the man who caused the accident was also arrested and they are making useful statements to the police.”

However, Aremu maintained that the incident was caused by men of the state police on patrol and not vigilante,  disclosing that the DPO had agreed to present the person who caused the accident.

“They knew the person but trying to cover up and they have been begging to resolve the issue”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE