#EndSARS: Police damaged my spinal cord over N20 — Victim

A 45-year-old petitioner, Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, has told the Judicial Panel of Enquiry in Ogun State how bullets allegedly fired by some police officers demanding N20 bribe on the road hit him and damaged his spinal cord.

He said the incident happened on August 18, 2010 at the Alapako axis of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

Defending his petition before the panel in Abeokuta, the state capital, Fagbemi said the police officers had stopped the commercial bus he was travelling in to Ibadan, collected N100 and told the driver to park properly for his N80 change. He said that in the process, one of the policemen fired at the bus and the bullet hit him in the neck and lodged in his spinal cord.

“I was travelling to Ibadan on August 18, 2010 in a commercial bus about 7pm. The driver parked and got down for his N80 change. While we waited, a policeman at the other side of the road just fired at our bus and the bullet hit me. When the policemen realised the devastating effect of their action, they fled the scene,’’ he said.

Fagbemi said he was rushed to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, where he underwent surgery and the bullet was extracted from his spinal cord after four days.

He also said he had been confined to a wheelchair due to the spinal cord injury, adding that he had spent millions of naira on medical care, flown to India for treatment and had sold properties to foot his bills. He disclosed that he was preparing to get married when the incident happened.

He added that he had written severally to different authorities concerned, including the commissioner of police, Ogun State command, after which two police officers were sent to investigate the matter, but since then, over 10 years ago, nothing had been done.

Responding, the chairman of the panel, Justice Solomon Olugbemi, disclosed that a letter would be sent to the commissioner of police to release officers in charge of his legal and X-squad departments to appear before the panel with all the necessary documents for evidence.

The case was adjourned till April 1, 2021 for further hearing.