A teenager, Sadiq Abubakar-Ibrahim, has undergone surgery at the National Hospital, Abuja after he was shot by policemen attached to the Special Tactical Squad.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the victim was performing ablution around 1pm in his place of residence in the Gwarinpa area on Monday, May 18, 2020, when the policemen scaled the fence into the compound.
They were said to have opened fire on Sadiq, who took to his heel thinking that the invaders were armed robbers or kidnappers.
Our correspondent learnt that the policemen claimed that they were after a suspected kidnapper, who allegedly entered the house.
The policemen were said to have arrested all male occupants of the house, including the victim, and detained them at the Guzate Police Station.
Sadiq’s family member, Fatima Babashehu, told our correspondent that after much pleading, the policemen released the victim for medical attention.
She said the police had refused to check on the victim or pay his medical bills since he was admitted last week Monday.
Babashehu stated, “Sadiq’s mother was beside the fence of the house trying to make barbeque fire last Monday when she heard people shouting and jumping over the neighbour’s fence into their house and she ran into the kitchen and closed the door.
“The men started banging the door and asking the occupants to open the door, and when they opened the door, the men dragged everybody out and searched for other members of the household.
“While they went round, they saw Sadiq, where he was performing ablution beside the house, but on sighting them, Sadiq thought they were armed robbers, he got scared and jumped over the fence to the neighbour’s house on the right side, but the invaders shot him in his hand.
“They followed him and started shooting so the neighbours gave Sadiq up and the owner of the house and two of his sons were also arrested. They brought everybody out and gathered them at the dining area and took all the male occupants away.
“Nobody knew where they came from at first; we thought they were kidnappers or armed robbers, because of the way they scaled the fence; they were in mufti and jackets. We started making calls to find out who took our people and we were able to confirm that they were policemen.
“We made more calls and we were able to gather that they came from the Guzate Police Station. We learnt that they were tracing a kidnapper, who was demanding ransom, and his location showed our house.
“We were taken to the commander of the squad and he told us that the officers told him a different story when they got to the station. He said a kidnap took place in Lokoja but the negotiator was around our house and when they traced him, they saw the kidnapper jumping into the house. He said the officers told him that it was not a gunshot that injured Sadiq’s hand, but a barbwire on the fence, while he was scaling the fence into the neighbour’s house.
“When we got to the police station, we saw Sadiq bleeding without any medical attention and we pleaded that he should be taken to hospital, but we were chased out on the grounds that we could not teach them their job.
“We were later made to sign an undertaking that we were the ones, who requested to take him to hospital, and I told Sadiq’s dad that if we should leave him with the police, he would die; so, we decided to take him to hospital and we requested that a police officer should follow us, because it was a gunshot injury and no hospital would attend to him without a police report or officer.
“They agreed that an officer would follow us and we drove to the National Hospital, Abuja, but when we got there, the officer was asked to write a statement, but he refused and we were told that they would not admit Sadiq until the officer submitted his particulars and phone number so they could reach him.
“Sadiq’s uncle was the one, who wrote the name and phone number of the police officer and the division he is attached to before he was attended to; and the officer left immediately and we have not seen him or any other police personnel since then.
“Sadiq is billed for surgery because the bullet pierced his bone and shattered it. We have not heard anything from the police; they did not reach out to us to know about the hospital bill.”
When contacted, the FCT police spokesman, Anjuguri Manzah, referred our correspondent to the force spokesperson, Frank Mba.
When Mba was contacted, his telephone was not reachable and an SMS requesting his comment on the matter had not been replied to as of the time of filing this report.
PUNCH