Says, My friend left me there to die
Hospital rejected me but for DPO Ogudu’s intervention
LASUTH states its position

By Victor Arjiromanus

Remember Ajobor Friday, the 25-year-old orphan who was shot three weeks ago by some hoodlums who attempted to dispossess him of cash and telephone in Ogudu area of Lagos and abandoned to die but was rushed to the hospital on the instruction of the Divisional Police Officer in-charge of Ogudu, SP Celestina Kalu?

He survived that attack, after undergoing surgery in the stomach, where pellets perforated 22 holes .

Friday, lost his father to diabetes complications on May 2, 2010 while his mother died in an auto crash on December 12, 2012. Since then, he and his siblings have been striving to survive.

He was compelled to leave Edo State for Lagos to eke out a living, only to be attacked by hoodlums.

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Friday, who works as a private guard, was in the company of a lady, who was to introduce him to an agent that would take him to an apartment he intended to rent.

While waiting, two hoodlums, as gathered , accosted him, demanding cash, but he politely told them he had no cash with him and they left.

Crime Guard gathered that the hoodlums came back again, demanding that he gave them the phone he had on him since he claimed he had no money. Again, he was said to have politely told them that the phone was not his, before throwing it to the lady he came with.

Infuriated by his action, one of the hoodlums shot him in the stomach. Time was 8pm. The gun shot was said to have sent other persons around the scene scampering for safety, thereby leaving Friday in the pool of his blood.

But for the intervention of the DPO Ogudu, SP Celestina Kalu, he would have been dead, as some hospitals he was rushed to by a team of policemen from the division, foot dragged in admitting him.

The first hospital he was rushed to as gathered, was the Gbagada General Hospital, where he was said to have been given first aid. From there he was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre FMC Ebute Metta, where the police team was told there was no bed space.

Thereafter, he was rushed to the Lagos State University teaching Hospital, LASUTH where he was also told there was no bed space.

Crime Guard gathered that it took the intervention of the DPO before the dying man was rushed into the theatre, for surgical operation to remove the pellets from his stomach.

LASUTH reaction

But LASUTH, in a statement signed by its Chief Medical Director, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, said it was not the DPO’s action that made a bed space to appear.

The statement read: “Management of the hospital wishes to state that the patient was never admitted ab initio. It is the hospital’s standard process to take care of all patients and it wasn’t the police woman’s action that suddenly made a bed appear. Even though there was no bed at the time the patient was presented, he was resuscitated on a wheel chair to preserve life and rushed to the theatre for an emergency surgery on a trolley. It was after the surgery that he was admitted and taken to the recovery room. It is pertinent for the public to note that LASUTH management proritizes patient care and so would not in anyway refuse to take care of any patient brought into our premises despite the limitation of bed space”.

My friend abandoned me

In an interview with him as he was about leaving the hospital, Friday, narrated his painful experience.

He said, “the incident happened at Abiola garden, at about 9pm, where I sat with a friend. The first time the robbers came, they were not armed, they asked us to give them money but I told them I had no money on me and they left. By the time they came back, they asked me to submit to them everything I had on me but I refused. I didn’t know they had guns with them. One of them dragged me by my shoulder, I was struggling to free myself from him when the other one brought out a gun, shot me and they ran away.

‘I fell down on the floor and was bleeding heavily. While I lay there, I was praying to God to send someone to rescue me, that I didn’t want to die. By then, my friend had run away. I was there there for about 45 minutes, before I saw some police men approaching. I don’t know how they got the information. They asked me what happened and I explained. They called for their van and took me to the Gbagada General Hospital but I was rejected. They took me to another hospital but the doctor said they shouldn’t bring me down from the police van, saying they could not treat me. I was pleading with the hospital staff to save my life, that I didn’t want to die, but they still rejected me. By this time, I had lost so much blood and became unconscious. From there I was brought here (LASUTH). They began treatment on me at about 3am .

Police is our friend

I thank God for saving my life. I am especially grateful to policemen from Ogudu division, especially the DPO. The team that came to pick me had pity on me and helped me. I don’t even know the name of the DPO God used, I only call her mummy. I did not know how she got the information but by the time she came, I begged her with the last strength in me not to leave me to die. She promised she would do my bidding and indeed, she did by paying all my bills. But for the Police, I would have been a dead person”. He therefore appealed to youths to avoid keeping late night outside.

He said, “I want to appeal to youths to avoid late night movements because that day I was outside late. I know if it was in the day time, such wouldn’t have happened. These robbers and those involved in killing people, don’t know the value of life. Because of common phone, they could have killed me. They are also lazy, they can’t work to afford what they want. Youths should learn to work for themselves, as violence is not the way”, he admonished.