It was a terrible night which will not be forgotten in a rush by John Membu who narrated his unfortunate . John on his way from his friend’s wedding ceremony in Lekki, Lagos state, ran into a drunk policeman who shot him at close range on his leg.
John Membu lying down on hospital bed
Please read John Membu’s note as narrated in a mail . “I would like to use this medium to share my story because I understand that my case is not peculiar as other people have had bad encounters with the Nigerian police force and their cases were swept under the carpet.
I am telling my story because the nonchalant attitude of the Nigerian police towards the lives of its citizens has to change. I was coming back from a friends wedding in the company of friends at about 9.39 pm. On the 8th of October. My destination was Chevy view estate in the Lekki axis of Victoria island.
As I drove towards the gate, I noticed there was a bit of traffic so I came down from my car to try to see what was going on. On getting to the gate, I saw a truck with metal rods at the entrance into the estate and inside the truck were two armed policemen. I politely exchanged greetings with them and asked them if they realised that they are the cause of the traffic jam ensuing behind.”
He continued by saying “The inspector was very adamant to listen to me as a resident had walked over and questioned his motive for guarding a truck of metal rods asking if that was the reason he joined the police force. I told him to ignore the man because from the way he spoke it clearly showed that he was tired and wanted to get home.
I now then walked over to the gate trying to talk to the security detail of the estate to allow the truck in but was told that trucks were not allowed into the estate after a specific time. I walk back to the truck to explain to the inspector offering him the gesture to coordinating the flow of traffic. But he was still adamant and stuck to his resolve. At this point, another resident now walks up to the truck and begins to tell the policeman off .”
The sober looking policeman when he visited him at the hospital.
“The other officer a corporal began trading insults with the resident . he then corked his rifle and threatened to deal with the man. As soon as I heard the cork of the rifle I stepped back and turned direction towards the gate telling the gatemen to open it before things got out of hand. Then I heard a shot, and I dashed into the security post. I noticed I felt numbness in my right leg and was quite puzzled cos I didn’t remember hitting any hard object.It wasn’t until I felt something warm trickling down my leg that I realised to my horror that I had been shot. The policemen now came to where I was and I screamed at then if only they had listened this wouldn’t have happened. I was then rushed to the hospital UDECO MEDICAL CENTRE. Where I was taken into the emergency room to stop my bleeding. I had lost so much blood that I was slowing slipping into a coma
“I spent the next two weeks in the hospital and I was visited by the police three times. It was on one of those visits I was told that the policeman that shot me wasn’t from Lagos command but from sokoto command .hence the question ” what was a cop from another command doing in Lagos escorting iron rods for a property developer “?. And to make matters worse the said policeman was AWOL. As no one has seen him since the incident.
I expected more from them but the reaction to my plight was so sad and disheartening as they left me in the hospital to my fate. I ended up settling the bill and I said to myself that I will pursue this matter to the last because it just shows how little my life means to them. I also want to use my story as a means to urge people to rise up and take a stand against unlawful shooting of innocent civilians by the Nigerian police.”
When tried to reach out to the policeman, he could not be reached as he was said to have gone out of Lagos.
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