An unidentified assailant attacked Akpan Blessing, a member of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), in Piawe, Bwari, Abuja, resulting in his death.
In the early hours of last Tuesday, Blessing was attacked in front of her house. Because there was no police report, she was sent to many hospitals but was not given immediate medical attention.
In a Monday interview with Daily Trust, one of her upset friends disclosed that Blessing was initially brought to Gabriel Hospital and then to St. Theresa Hospital in Bwari town.
“We lost Officer Blessing, as she was affectionately known, because of a weak and disorganized system, and it is very painful,” she said.
When someone was dying, you required that a police report be made before she could be helped. Even when we presented her NSCDC identifying card, they refused to treat her. She passed away after we repeatedly transferred her between hospitals.
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According to a different buddy, Blessing was stabbed during an attempted robbery.
When someone attempted to rob her of her possessions, she was en route. To get what they wanted, I suppose they had to stab her,” the companion recalled.
Following a substantial blood loss, Blessing was eventually transported to Bwari General Hospital, where on-duty medical staff subsequently pronounced her dead.
The incident was not reported to the police, according to FCT police spokesperson Josephine Adeh, who directed questions to the NSCDC for more information.
Similarly, Babawale Afolabi, the NSCDC spokesperson, said that the agency’s FCT Command was the only entity that could offer an official stance on the subject. Olusola Odumosu, the FCT Commandant, had not returned several calls as of the time of publication.
Okechukwu Nwanguma, the Executive Director of the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), responded to the occurrence by denouncing the hospitals’ failure to treat the victim in the absence of a police report.
“The fact that a victim of violence was left to perish while awaiting police documentation indicates a serious breakdown in the healthcare and law enforcement systems,” Nwanguma stated.
Not only is this tragic, but it also clearly violates Nigerian law. All hospitals, public and private, are required by the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act, 2017 to offer victims of gunshot wounds or life-threatening injuries prompt, appropriate care without requiring a police complaint as a prerequisite.
