NARROW ESCAPE :How 15-year-old boy hit by stray bullet cheated death in Lagos

All hell broke loose in Ajegunle, a popular Lagos community, on February 3 during a campaign rally of the All Progressive Con­gress in the area. It was gathered that APC members clashed with members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who had allegedly mounted a roadblock in the area. Many persons sustained injuries as members of both parties al­legedly used weapons freely during the clash.

Witnesses said that the battle started when the APC members got to the point of the roadblock around Olayinka en route Amukoko area of Ajegunle and the PDP supporters refused to remove the bar­ricade. It was gathered that tempers were let loose as both engaged in a free-for-all. Hoodlums, who hijacked the fight, took their time in looting shops while innocent and helpless citizens were terrorized and robbed of their valuables.

Emmanuel Okpara, a resident of the area, was said to be away at his place of work but was called back home by his wife who informed him that his nephew, Ibeakolam Zion Ugochukwu was hit by a stray bullet on his way back from school. Ugochukwu, 15, a first year student of St Patrick Technical Training Institute, Amukoko, Ajegunle, lives with his uncle in the area.

Narrating his ordeal, Ugochukwu said he was coming back from school when the incident happened.

“At Olayinka, I saw people running helter-skelter because there was a rally on that day. The APC was having their campaign rally and they had a clash with some people who mounted a roadblock at Olayinka and they started fighting.

“My friend and I started running with the crowd, not knowing where to run to and suddenly, I noticed that I was getting weak. I didn’t realise that I had been hit by a bullet but I managed to get home and that was the last I remembered.”

Mr. Okpara regretted that by the time he got home, he met his nephew lying down unconscious. As he spoke, he did not hide his feelings about the healthcare system in Nigeria. He said he was unhappy that those expected to be the custodian of lives were the ones tossing him from hospital to hospital.

Recounting his ordeal, he said: “I was called back home around 3.pm by my wife that there was an emergency. Normally, I leave my place of work by 5 pm. So, when my wife called me, I was surprised and asked what the emergency was all about. She told me that she did not understand what was wrong with Ugochukwu.

“I promptly went home, leaving what­ever it was I was doing at that moment. When I got home, I found my boy lying down very weak and in pain. I try to find out what happened from him but he could barely utter a word, as he was too weak to speak. My wife told me that a resident around the area, who was also returning home and witnessed what happened, sug­gested that we take him to the hospital. He said the boy might have been hit by a stray bullet. According to her, there was a fight going on around Olayinka between some APC members and area boys. He said that shots were being fired into the air and that the two groups were attacking each other with weapons.

“Without wasting time, I left home with Ugochukwu to the hospital. I took him to Ajeromi General hospital where I was asked to bring a police report. I went im­mediately to Ajeromi Police Station and was given the police report. Getting to the hospital, I took the police report and re­quested to see a doctor. No response came immediately from either the nurses or from the doctor we met. The female doctor we met abandoned us and went upstairs to sit down, without attending to us. While all these delays were going on, there was also a man who was hit too and was bleeding profusely, calling on both doctors and nurses to at least, give him first aid treat­ment to stop his bleeding. Neither the man nor my boy was attended to. Eventually, a male doctor came down and asked what was happening, I explained to him and he examined my boy after which he wrote a letter referring us to the Lagos Island Gen­eral hospital. That was about 5p.m.

“Getting to Lagos Island General hospi­tal, we met a lot of patients and doctors as well. The doctor who attended to us with­out examination referred us to Surulere. At that moment, I got annoyed and asked him why he had to refer us to Surulere. I said, ‘what if we get to Surulere and we’re not attended to?’ He replied that they would refer us to another hospital.

“At Surulere General hospital, the doctor queried why the Island General hospital should refer us to Surulere, saying that the Island Hospital had all it takes to treat the boy. He also did not attend to us. He referred us to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

“While this was going on, the boy was no longer himself, and time was no longer on our side. I could not imagine that none of these hospitals could attend to my boy after all the tossing. I decided to take him back to Ajegunle to my private hospital. By the time we got there, it was around 10p.m. With my family card, the doctor examined him and gave him an injec­tion that would stabilise him. He said I should take him for an x-ray after which he advised that I should take him home and bring him back the next day when the result would have been out.

“The next day, while preparing to go back to the hospital, people around my neighbourhood were coming in with sug­gestion of places where the bullet could be extracted. Also, my uncle staying at Ijesha who called to commiserate asked that I bring him down to his place so that he could take us to where the bullet could be extracted.

“Thereafter, a woman volunteered to take us to a trado-medical home. And immediately we got there, within 20 min­utes, the bullet was extracted and the boy regained himself almost immediately.”

He condemned the action of the politi­cal parties and wondered why they should exhibit such barbaric acts during their campaign rallies. He also berated the government healthcare system and the lackadaisical attitude of the doctors and nurses towards life, even as he wondered why a minor with such plight could not be attended to even with the police report. According to him, the trado-medical doctor who extracted the bullet did so because the boy was a minor who needed to be attended to immediately.

Said he: “Ugochukwu is my nephew and has been living with me right from when he was a little boy, I thank God for sparing his life. I regretted ever going to those hospitals in the first place. What if something worse had happened? What ex­planation would I have given my sister?”