Policemen assault Ondo nurse at checkpoint

Modupe Ajama, a nurse at the General Hospital, Ode-Irele, under Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State, has narrated how she was left with bruises on parts of her body by some policemen while on her way to work to attend to an emergency case.

Ajama said she was allegedly attacked by the policemen enforcing the dusk to dawn curfew put in place in the town as she was called to come attend to a pregnant woman at the hospital.

She said, “I was at home when I received an emergency call from the hospital where I work to come assist a pregnant woman who was in labour to deliver a set of twins.

“I was to receive the babies from the theatre and resuscitate them as one was in distress.

“The motorcyclist who carried me met police checkpoint along the way. I explained to the policemen that I was a nurse working with the General Hospital in Irele and that I had my identification card and was called to rescue an emergency situation at the hospital.

“I was released to go but met a second checkpoint. The second checkpoint released me, same with the third.”

But upon approaching the fourth checkpoint, the nurse disclosed that a policemen threw a stick at the tyre of the motorcycle, sending them crashing to the ground.

She said, “Both the bike rider and I fell off, the motorcycle skidded, dragging us both on the asphalt to the left side of the road.

“The policeman who threw the stick came closer to us with a gun. I started begging him to rescue me so I could get to the hospital.

“The policemen at the second checkpoint saw the accident and what transpired and so moved closer. A that point, I had already called the hospital informing them about my situation.

“The other policemen got a motorcycle rider to take me to hospital for treatment.”

Ajama, who is currently in pains following the injury sustained, she said that the sum of N22, 000 and an Android smartphone contained in her bag have remained missing from the point of that incident till this moment.

Chairman of National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives in Irele, Lucky Aremu, confirmed the assault when contacted by our correspondent on Tuesday.

Aremu accused the police of playing hide and seek with the case despite receiving a report on it.

He said, “The police are now denying their participation, saying it was miscreants that threw something at the bike and not their officers.

“How can miscreants mount roadblock with police officers? There are tendencies to cover their ugly act.”

Spokesperson for the Ondo State Police Command, Tee Leo-Ikoro, when contacted by our correspondent, said the case was already being investigated.