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Man shot by police decries IGP’s failure to pay N6.1m damages

By Odita Sunday
03 April 2018   |   4:23 am
A father of five, David Ehiosun, who was shot on his left leg by a trigger-happy policeman in 2003, has cried out for help over the failure and continued...

A father of five, David Ehiosun, who was shot on his left leg by a trigger-happy policeman in 2003, has cried out for help over the failure and continued delay of police authorities to pay him the sum of N6.1 million as damages awarded by the court.

Ehiosun said he was shot by one Inspector Sunday Omoseigho at Kingsway bus-stop, close to Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja, because he refused to cooperate with the latter to sexually harass a 15-year old girl. 

A medical report issued by a consultant with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Dr. I.S. Mustafa, made available to newsmen revealed that the victim who had since lost the use of his left leg sustained open fracture of the left tibia and fibula from which he bled profusely.

In a bid to get justice, the 45-year-old driver, an indigene of Edo State, through the Office of the Public Defender had in 2009 sued Inspector Omoseigho, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in Suit No: ID/574/2009. 

After years of prolonged adjournments, Justice Bola Ighile of the Lagos High Court had on October 15, 2014, awarded the claimant the sum of N6.1 million as damages. Surprisingly, almost four years after the court judgment, Ehiosun is yet to be paid.

According to him, life has not been the same since the incident, as he has spent all he had on both orthodox and traditional medicine treatment. Ehiosun said the injury led to the loss of his job as a driver to a banker, making him a liability to his family.

In his words, “Due to the injury I sustained from the gun shot, I can’t stand for long and can’t even walk well. I have been going in and out of hospital admission due to complications from the injury. I have five children and I cannot 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.”

Meanwhile, the police inspector, Omosegho, who incapacitated Ehiosun over a mistress, has reportedly been promoted. It was gathered that after the incident, he was tried and demoted but he was recently promoted to the next rank after the court had awarded N6.1 million damages against the police for his dastardly act.

An embittered Ehiosun narrated how Omosegho had approached him to link him up with a lady in their estate that he had wanted to date. He told him that he could not do so as the people living in the estate knew him as a pastor and such was against his beliefs. He said Omosegho became angry, threatened to deal with him, pointed his gun and shot him.

He said the then Commissioner of Police ordered the arrest of Omosegho and during a room trial he was found guilty and was punished with reduction of rank. Ehiosun lamented that after the incident, his business collapsed due to the huge cost of treatment and he could not do any work because of the constant pain and the injury that damaged his leg.

On the attempts made to ensure compliance on the part of the police, the victim said he had written to the Lagos State government to intervene in the matter. “In 2017, I wrote to the office of the Lagos State governor to come to my aid. The governor directed the Attorney General/Commissioner of Justice to act on my case, but till date, nothing has been done.”

He is appealing to the police authorities and members of the public to intervene, ask the police to obey the court judgment and rehabilitate him to start a new life. Ehiosun also wants President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the matter by directing the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to comply with the court judgment.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ACP Moshood Jimoh, could not be reach to confirm if Omosegho was actually promoted as alleged and also to explain why the police had refused to obey the court almost 10 years after the judgment was delivered. His phone numbers were switched off.

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