How police officer shot by robbers dies due to delayed medical attention

On 14 October 2023, a Nigerian police officer identified as Joseph Fidus was attacked and killed by armed robbers in his residence in lyana Cele, Sango area of Ogun State.

Mr Fidus, who served with the Sango-Ota divisional police station was shot at midnight by the robbers and later died after more than four hours due to delayed medical attention and insistence on a police report.

The robbers, according to Florence Fidus, the wife of the officer, were armed with different forms of weapons including guns and cutlasses and carted away all the phones in the house, available cash and other items belonging to Fidus and his family after shooting him.

Mrs Fidus, mother of a four-year-old and a four-month-old baby while narrating the incident to PREMIUM TIMES Friday blamed the Rubee Hospital Limited, Sango and the General Hospital Onipanu, Ota, for the untimely death of her 36-year-old husband.

 

Mr Fidus, who joined the police force between 2006 and 2007 was buried in his hometown Saturday, 28 October in his family compound in Cross River state.

Narrating the incident, Mrs Fidus said that the armed robbers jumped over the fence into the compound and they quietly dismantled the window frames into the sitting room.

She said Mr Fidus couldn’t retaliate because they were about seven, he was only pleading with them to take whatever they wanted and not to hurt him and his family.

“While my husband was still pleading with them not to hurt us in the sitting room, they had locked me, my two children and my mother who came to help in catering for the newborn, inside the guest room,” she said.

Mrs Fidus recounted that after they took their phones and other valuables, the robbers locked the entire family inside after which they proceeded to the second flat to kill the Landlord, without taking any valuables.

“After they killed the landlord, they came back to our apartment to shoot my husband in the stomach and they left the compound hurriedly,” she noted.

Hospitals’ insistence on police reports, registration

After the robbers left, all attempts to save Mr Fidus failed, as the hospitals reportedly failed to attend to the gun wound promptly.

With the help of the Chairman of Olaoluwa Community Development Association (CDA), Dele Adesugba, Mr Fidus was taken to the nearest medical centre: Rubee Hospital around 1:00 a.m., according to Mrs Fidus.

On getting to the hospital, an unidentified doctor on duty told them he wouldn’t attend to the gunshot victim without a police report, according to the victim’s wife.

Despite informing them that the victim was a police officer, the doctor allegedly remained adamant and refused to attend to Mr Fidus for more than two hours before he was moved to General Hospital Onipanu while still enduring the pains.

“We were hopeful that the general hospital being a public establishment would attend to him immediately but they were short-staffed and I was asked to get card N1500 to register which I did,” Mrs Fidus said.

“After waiting from around 3:30 a.m., my husband gave up at about 5:00 a.m. on Sunday, 15 October 2023.

“It is a devastating experience I will never forget, I am still young, and I can’t do it alone,” she said in a sad tone.

Hospital denies negligence

When contacted, an official of the Rubee Hospital, identified simply as Ms Ayo in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES Friday denied the allegation that the hospital insisted on a police report.

“When they came, the doctor told them we don’t have the facility to treat that wound because he was shot in his stomach. We told them to take him to a general hospital where they have specialists,” the official said.

“If the gunshot were somewhere else like the leg or hand, we would be able to treat him.”

In reaction, the CDA Chairman and Mrs Fidus accused the hospital of lying.

“They lied, they delayed us because we don’t have a police report. I even lay down on the floor begging the doctor, but he snubbed us and my dying husband,” Mrs Fidus said.

Mr Adesugba said: “When they asked for the police report, I told them I would get it later in the morning, but the doctor snubbed us and left. They didn’t even talk about any facility.

“I would have recorded our conversation with the first hospital we even told him that he is a police officer, but they insisted.”

Police investigate

When contacted, the DPO Ifo Police Station, Ayinde Abiodun, where the armed robbery case was reported confirmed the case has been transferred to the state’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

“The case is no longer in Ifo, presently it is with the state CID, the Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) will be in the best position,” he said.

However, the state PRO, Omolola Odutola, on Saturday told PREMIUM TIMES that the case is being followed and “the criminals will definitely be apprehended.”

“We aren’t happy about the development and an investigation into the robbery attack which claimed three lives is currently on,” she said.

Request for police reports

Many Nigerians have died due to the refusal of health facilities to provide treatment to patients with gunshot or stab wounds without a police report.

Recently, PREMIUM TIMES reported how Greatness Olorunfemi, a victim of the notorious ‘one-chance’ operators in Abuja, tragically died at the Maitama General Hospital where she was allegedly denied treatment for not providing a police report.

Nigeria’s former Senate President, Bukola Saraki had called for a thorough investigation into the death of Ms Olorunfemi, reiterating the importance of the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act 2017 signed into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

In response to the ongoing concern over the tragic loss of lives due to the neglect of gunshot and accident victims, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun in a statement Saturday ordered the full enforcement of the Gunshot Victims Act 2017.

In the statement signed by Police Force PRO, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the IGP called on all medical practitioners in Nigeria to provide prompt treatment to all victims of gunshots and accidents, irrespective of the presence or absence of a police report.

“The IGP’s directive aligns with the full enforcement of the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act of 2017, which mandates that all healthcare providers prioritise the immediate care and stabilisation of such patients, recognising the critical importance of timely medical attention in saving lives,” the statement read in parts.

“The IGP’s decision comes as a response to the relentless outcry from concerned citizens and the broader community, highlighting the tragic consequences of delays in treating these victims.”

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