I’m now on crutches after a policeman shattered my leg with bullets –Bus driver

Yakubu Iwintola has gone through hard times in his 27 years on earth At 14, he was a bus conductor. Years later, he ‘graduated’ to become a bus driver. It wasn’t the most lucrative job, but Iwintola didn’t have a choice. Besides, he was already saddled with the responsibility of caring for a wife and a son.

And so he continued his danfo business, taking ‘returns’ to the owner of the bus at the end of each day. He was left with just enough to feed his family. He had hope that something better would come up in the future.

But something better didn’t come. Instead, a terrible thing happened to him – a policeman shot him in the leg! Since then, the young man has not been able to work and fend for his family. He is in pain. In fact, in his present state, he needs to be taken care of. His situation has become not only helpless, but hopeless as well.

Iwintola cannot forget in a hurry how life was almost snuffed out of him on that fateful day.

He recalled, “I was on my way back from Lagos Island with some passengers at about 8am. I went through Ojuelegba Road to connect Ikorodu Road because there was a gridlock on the Third Mainland Bridge at that time.

“When I was close to Agip, before Fadeyi bus stop, I noticed two commercial buses in front of me; they were both on the service lane. I noticed two task force vehicles parked on the opposite side of the road. I felt that perhaps it was because of the task force that the commercial buses were parked on the service lane.

“I decided to take the service lane too; I didn’t use the BRT lane and I didn’t hit anyone. By the time I had moved to the service lane, I noticed that I had a flat tyre. By then, the two buses in front of me had already gone, so I decided to manage the car to Fadeyi bus stop and change the tyre there.”

That was when he got into trouble.

“I noticed three policemen on a motorcycle coming in my direction. I got scared and started running. The next thing I heard was a gunshot and I fell to the ground; I was shot in the leg,” he said.

Still in pains, Iwintola said he brought out his phone to call his family so they could come quickly and take him to the hospital.

 “But one of the policemen came and seized my phone and smashed it on the floor. The phone broke into pieces.”

The policeman wasn’t done with him. He ordered the injured Iwintola to get on the bike.

“He carried me on the bike that brought him to that street and sat behind me. By that time, his colleagues were nowhere to be found. I was sandwiched between the policeman and the okada rider. We turned around as if heading towards Ojuelegba. I was taken to Agip where the task force vehicles were previously parked; possibly he wanted to meet up with his colleagues but they were no longer there. The policeman then told the okada rider to turn back. We went past Fadeyi bus top, went past the street where I was shot, and Igbobi hospital,” (National Orthopaedic Hospital) Iwintola said.

By that time, Iwintola said he was already so weak and in serious pain and had to lean heavily on the okada rider, making it difficult for the man to ride properly.

“When the okada man complained, the policeman told him to drop me in front of the PHCN office, close to Igbobi hospital. He did just that and sped off with the policeman.”

Iwintola could remember vividly that a woman who was sweeping the road at the time had witnessed the incident. She approached Iwintola curiously and asked if he was a robber. When he replied in the negative, he said the woman began screaming for help.

Iwintola said, “One bus driver stopped and alighted. When the driver and his conductor saw me, they drove to Onipanu and told other drivers there who knew me. That was how the police at Onipanu were notified. Some policemen then came around, asked me what happened and took me to Igbobi hospital. I never got to see them again.”

Iwintola learnt that the policeman who shot him was a Sergeant known as Olasunkami, attached to the Onipanu Police Post.

 “My father told me that he went to the Onipanu Police Post immediately he heard that Sukanmi was there. By the time he got there, he was told that Sukanmi had been granted bail. Although we were reassured at the division that Sukanmi would come and see me in the hospital, he never did.”

After spending N60,000 at NOH, he was discharged when the hospital went on strike and referred to 

Bankole Hospital in Agege, where he also coughed out N120, 000. Yet his leg has yet to heal.

“I didn’t have any more money to pay for the hospital bills so they had to discharge me. My leg has not healed. I now walk with crutches; I have not been able to do anything. I cannot drive. The owner of the bus has taken his bus. Even at that, I can’t even walk well let alone drive. There is nobody to take care of my family,” he said.

Since he believes his fundamental human rights had been abused, Iwintola, as advised by his lawyers, decided to go to court. He felt so strongly that he would get respite as soon as his lawyers filed a case at the Ikeja High Court, joining the Attorney General of Lagos State, Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences Unit, Olasunkami, Lagos State Commissioner of Police and the Inspector-General of Police in the suit.

The case came up before Justice Lateefat Okunnu and before the end of last year, the court ruled in Iwintola’s favour. It ordered the police to pay him N600, 000.

The judge had said, “I do not believe that shooting a suspect in the leg over a seeming infraction of some environmental or road traffic offence is reasonable. It is all the more unreasonable as the pursuing respondent was on a motorcycle while the fleeing applicant was simply running away by foot.

“It was the third respondent (Olasunkanmi) who carried out the act complained of. The third respondent, being a police officer, is under the employment and authority of the Nigeria Police Force, never mind that he is on ‘secondment’ to an agency of the Lagos State Government.

“As such, he continues to act under the direction and control of the police force. The Lagos State Government cannot be held liable or responsible for his actions. In the event, I find that the first respondent (Attorney General of Lagos State) and the second respondent (Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences Unit) were never proper parties to this case and I hereby strike out their names from here.”

The judge awarded the applicant the sum of N132, 960 as special damages and N500, 000 as exemplary damages.

However, Iwintola’s counsel, Tunde Oretuyi of Bukola Durojaiye and Co, said he wasn’t satisfied with the judgment and would certainly go on appeal.

“The sum of N600, 000 given to my client is just peanut compared to what he has suffered. The money cannot even take care of the hospital bills, let alone the damage it has brought to him and his household. We would certainly appeal this judgement and ensure that a substantial amount is paid to him,” he said.