•Police decline comment
Fifteen years after the court awarded him N6.1million damages for being shot by a policeman, a driver, David Ehiosun, 45, has yet to be paid the compensation.
But the police yesterday declined to speak on the issue. Lagos State Police Command spokesman Chike Oti, a Superintendent, said he had nothing to say.
Ehiosun, a father of five, was shot on his left leg in 2003 by Inspector Sunday Omoseigho on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja, Lagos.
It was alleged that the inspector shot Ehiosun because the driver allegedly stopped him from sexually harassing a teenage girl.
Ehiosun claimed that he lost his job because of the injury, adding that he has become a liability to his family.
According to a report by Dr I. A. Mustafa of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Ehiosun sustained open fracture of the left tibia and fibula following the gunshot.
In 2009, Ehiosun, through the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), took Omoseigho, Lagos Police Commissioner and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to court.
The matter, he said, dragged till October 15, 2014, when Justice Bola Ighile of the Lagos High Court ordered the police to pay him N6.1m damages.
He said: “Due to the injury I sustained from the gunshot, I cannot stand for long and cannot walk well. I have been going in and out of hospital due to complications from the injury.
“I have five children and I cannot even fend for them. Feeding daily and taking care of my bills is now a luxury I cannot afford. Some of my children have been forced to drop out of school. I just want the police to do the needful so that I can get my life together and give my children a better life.”
Ehiosun said he had written to the state government in order to get the police to pay him.
He said: “In 2017, I wrote to the office of the Lagos State Governor to come to my aid. The governor ordered the Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice to act on my case. But till date, nothing has been done.”
Ehiosun said Omoseigho underwent orderly room trial and was demoted to Sergeant.
He said Omoseigho robbed him of his happiness and good health, while the police only gave their man a slap on the wrist.
The driver said: “Does it now mean that a uniform man can do whatever he pleases with the life of a common man and only get a slap on the wrist as punishment? Or is the police now above the law that even a court judgement means nothing to them?
“The incident occurred on May 4, 2003. A day before the incident, the inspector asked me to call him a teenage girl who he wanted to sleep with and I refused. I told him the parents of the girl in question know me as a pastor and I cannot betray such trust and respect.
“He threatened to deal with me and even shoot me, so I walked away. When I was passing by the next day, he was drinking with his police friend at Kingsway Bus Stop.
“When he saw me, he stopped me and accused me of disobeying him. When I tried to explain myself he got angry and poured his drink on me.
“I asked him why he went that far and he said he would shoot me and while I was still trying to explain myself, he shot me on my left leg. Immediately he ran away. I was left in a pool of my own blood. People around quickly looked for a vehicle and rushed me to LASUTH in Ikeja.
“I reported the incident at Area F Police Command and the inspector was arrested. The matter was subsequently transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba.
“During interrogation, Omoseigho denied pulling the trigger at me. The police further arrested the other policemen who were at the scene of the incident. They all confessed to the fact that the suspect shot me.
“He went through the orderly room trial and he was found guilty. He was demoted to a Sergeant. No form of compensation was given to me. Instead the then Commissioner of Police advised me to take my case to the police headquarters in Abuja.”
Ehiosun said OPD intervened and wrote to the then IGP, but there was no response.
“I travelled to Abuja to see the IGP and also to register my plight in person. After spending three weeks in Abuja, I was asked to take my case to the Commissioner of Police Legal. The CP Legal after hearing my case, referred me back to the CP Lagos.
“It was at this point that a Good Samaritan, who was touched by my plight, advised me to take my case to court. The matter was in court for years before I got judgement. The judgement stated that the police should pay me N6.1 million as damages.”
Appealing for President Muhammadu Buhari’s intervention, Ehiosun also urged IGP Ibrahim Idris come to his aid and ensure compliance with the court verdict.