By Evelyn Usman and Ifeanyi Okolie

The claims of a 36-year-old guard attached to a private security company in Lagos that he was neglected by the company after he sustained injuries from a bullet wound has been debunked by the company, Pahek Security. The company stated that the guard was offered adequate medical services but he absconded from the hospital and disappered to his vilage only to re-surface a year later to make frivolous claims. They further stated that the guard’s story was convoluted giving room for doubts over his claims adding that he was gainfully offered employment in spite of the state of his health.

Guard’s claims

The guard, Joseph Omeh from Oshimili North Local Government area of Delta State had earlier claimed that a stray bullet pierced into his heart while he was on duty at the China Civil Engineering Construction Company, CCECC, in Apapa, Lagos on November 16, 2010, and he was rushed to a hospital for treatment,and was later referred to another hospital for extraction of the bullets lodged in his body.

According to him, “All through the period I went for the treatment at St. Miller Hospital, no one from my company came to visit me. When the pain was becoming unbearable because of the bullet lodged inside my heart, my family took me to the village where I spent four months in different herbal homes before the bullet was extracted locally. At a point, we ran out of finance to buy the necessary things for the treatment. I contacted the company’s supervisor, Mr Agbotit to find out the company’s effort at offsetting my medical bills and he assured me they would reach me soon but they never did.

*Before he was shot                 looking a shadow of his old self

“Since then, I have not been recalled to resume duty. When I eventually summoned courage to go with the hope of getting some money to off set my medical bills, I was told I absconded from work.  Since the incident happened, I have not been paid. And my salary is just N23,000 a month. They are treating me this way simply because they feel they have the power and money,” he said, almost in tears.

Petition

Determined to get what he described as his due, Joseph hired the services of a lawyer who petitioned the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, the Lagos State Public Defender, the Police and other relevant agencies.  “ It was when they got our letter that they called me for the first time. But all they said was that my refusal to collect the sum of N500,000 initially offered landed me in this mess.

In  fact, when they offered me the amount, I told them to wait for my lawyer to be around before the offer would be made . And when he came, he insisted I should be given an additional amount which would settle my salary from the time the incident happened till date as well as my hospital bill.

As I speak, I have the doctor’s report which showed that I have  opacities with fibrotic streaks and calcific densities involving the left lung field. This, I am told, needs surgery and until it is done, the pain will continue. Instead of tackling this issue, they labelled me a HIV victim.”

Rather than  paying me, my boss went ahead to say I am HIV positive. The rumour is all over the place.

Controversy trails complainant’s claim

Pahek  reacts

The Group Operations Manager, Pahek Security Services, Mr Akpor Triumphant described Joseph’s claim as untrue. According to him, “ Yes, he was in our employment when he was engaged in that incident. But it is yet to be established whether he was actually shot. First, he claimed robbers struck. But no one except him, heard the gun shots. That fateful day, when we got information about the incident, we dispatched our patrol vehicle which rushed him to our hospital and we immediately contacted his guarantor, one Mr Ignatius who joined us to the hospital.  His claim that he was rushed to the hospital is not true because he walked to the CSO himself and it was not as if he was bleeding.

At the hospital, he was referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, for further medical attention.

“But to our surprise, the doctor called to inform us that he had left the hospital. We even contacted his guarantor who said he told us Joseph’s mother had taken him to the village and that he did not have their contact.That same month, we paid him his salary. But after a year, he resurfaced with a petition  from some lawyers and we were invited to some of the offices he copied.

Another issue that is unclear is that he claimed a bullet lodged into his chest. But the picture of the bullet he showed us revealed that it still had it’s shell intact. Ordinarily, if a bullet pierces into one, the shell is supposed to be off but that of the one he claimed was extracted from him had its shell intact. Even when we were invited by the NSCDC, this was discovered and his claim did not hold water at the end of the day.   Also at the office of the Public Defender where we were summoned, so many inconsistencies were discovered in his claims.

Undated medical report

“Again, the medical report he has been parading with was discovered to be undated. And when the doctor was contacted, we were made to understand that he came to lobby for it, in order to use it to collect claims.

We are not part of  his claim of native treatment. He was given every room for free medical treatment which would have been shouldered by the company but he absconded.  We did not libel him HIV positive in a bid to avoid payment.  That is absolutely not true. He filled in his employment letter that he was HIV positive. If we accepted him by employing his services, then where did victimization come in?