By Evelyn Usman

Never in her wildest imagination had Mrs Chimezie Ugochukwu thought she would be visiting any patient at the Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos State, two months ago, let alone being a patient herself. But as you read this piece, the 34-year-old mother of one has a fracture on one of her legs with her face bruised, no thanks to a motorcycle accident she was involved in, penultimate Saturday.

The mother of three , it was gathered, left her Ezenwa close in Oke-Afa area of Isolo at about 11am on April 244,2011. Destination was Cele bus-stop along the Oshodi/Apapa expressway. Apparently, to reach her destination on time, considering the unending traffic congestion along that route, she opted to mount a motorbike, a decision that almost cost her life, as a vehicle reportedly hit the motorbike, flinging its rider and Mrs Ugochukwu to different directions.

•Mrs. Ugochukwu abandoned in the hospital.

Gripped with fear, she attempted to stand up in order not be crushed by an on-coming vehicle, only to discover that was an impossible task.

At that time, other motorcyclists had gathered, with sympathizers who reportedly rushed the woman to the Isolo General Hospital, from where she was transferred to Igbobi.

Speaking with Saturday Vanguard, the victim’s husband, Nikky Ugochukwu, claimed that owner of the vehicle that hit his wife, fled the scene, abandoning her to die. He further accused policemen attached to Isolo division of alleged connivance with the hit -and- run driver to prevent justice.

According to Nikky, “ when the vehicle hit the okada, the driver did not bother to wait. It was the timely intervention of traffic policemen, at the Ire-akari/ Isolo road that stopped the angry mob. I learn t that but for the traffic policemen, the woman would have been lynched.

“When I got to the scene, I quickly rushed my wife to the hospital. I thought she was going to die. When we got t o the Isolo general hospital, she was rejected and promptly referred to Igbobi. They said she would die if that was not done immediately because she was losing so much blood.

But my annoyance is that Policemen at Isolo, particularly the DPO, refused to impound the vehicle that hit the okada. Rather, they released it back to the owner identified as Mrs Chizoba Ikemezie. Since my wife has been in the hospital, the woman responsible had not shown up to ascertain whether she is dead or alive and the Police are not helping to ensure we speak with her. We do not know where she lives as I speak”, stated Mr Ugochukwu.

Continuing, he stated, “my wife had a three week-old baby at the time of the incident. Today, it has been over two months that she has been confined her to the hospital bed. Regrettably, justice is not allowed to take its course because of the Police. I now shuttle between my business place , the home and Igbobi”, he stated, fighting hard not to betray his emotion.

Resolved to ensure justice was done, Mr Ugochukwu said he took the case to the Traffic section of the Lagos State Police Command ,where he sought for transfer of the case. “ But the Police at Isolo would not bring the case file even when they were directed to”, he claimed.

But reacting to Ugochukwu’s claim, the woman motorist described the claim as a blatant lie. A source at Isolo division who spoke on condition of anonymity said , “when the information reached us, we raced to the scene where preliminary investigation showed first, that the woman was ridding on okada without wearing a helmet, when all of a sudden the okada hit the bumper of a vehicle in its attempt to branch off at Akiti street. In the process, the okada fell inside a drainage and its edge cut the woman in the leg.

“ The owner of the vehicle, including the DPO who rushed to the scene , thinking it involved several lives, rushed the victim to the hospital. At the hospital, the owner paid for the registration. The vehicle was impounded at the directive of the DPO. But the motorcyclist was nowhere to be found because he sped off while the whole place was in disarray. The vehicle was however released on bond because that is the procedure.

Two days later, a man came to the station, identifying himself as the victim’s husband and accused the owner of the vehicle of abandoning his wife in the hospital. In fact, he claimed he spent over three hundred thousand Naira without a contribution from the owner of the vehicle. Thereafter, he demanded that the suspect be brought and we invited her over and she came.The DPO told both parties to put their heads together and discuss how to go about the issue before coming to him”. Later , we we received a signal from the headquarters to transfer the case there which we immediately did. For anybody to say we refused to take the case file to the headquarters is untrue“

Contacted on the issue, the Divisional Police Officer, Sani Subaru simply stated that the case is no longer in his custody, advising Crime Guard to carry out an independent investigation to ascertain the truth about the story.

When Crime Guard contacted the owner of the vehicle, she raised alarm over what she described as threat on her life. According to her, “ I do not know what these people are up to. Since the incident, I can not go out anymore because some people would be trailing me.For anybody to say I did not show up at the hospital would be unfair. I took the victim there. The motorcycle she was on hit the bonnet of my car. If the reverse was the case , do you think his colleagues would have allowed me leave there alive? I even have receipt of the payment I made at Isolo general hospital. I refused to show up at Igbobi because the few times I met face-to-face with the victim’s husband, he threatened to kill me and he usually came with strange people. Now, I have charged the case to court and I would do the court’s bidding”, said Mrs Ikemezie.

Crime Guard gathered that the case which was initially handled by detectives at the Traffic section of the command, has been transferred to another section for discreet investigation on the directive of the Commissioner of Police, Mr Yakubu Alkali.