Ten of 44 Police personnel who were injured in a ghastly motor accident on Friday while mobilizing to the Gwagwalada Area Council of Abuja for the March 9 Guber/States Assembly polls and FCT Area Council elections, have been admitted at the emergency wards of the National Hospital, the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital and the Police Specialist Hospital, all in the FCT.
The 88 police officers were on transit for election duties and security beef up to Gwagwalada and environs when the accident occurred but 44 officers were the ones confirmed to have sustained various degrees of injuries.
A breakdown of the admissions show that 5 of the injured policemen are admitted at the National Hospital, 3 policemen at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital and two Policemen at the Police Specialist Hospital, Garki, Area 1.
Police authorities disclosed that the accident occurred near Gwosa, along Airport Road, on the way to Gwagwalada Area Council of Abuja with the truck carrying the personnel said to have skidded off the road and almost somersaulted while avoiding another car which strayed into its lane.
Moments after the accident, a distress message was sent to the FCT Police Command, which deployed vehicles and medical personnel to evacuate the injured to hospital.
FCT Police Commissioner, CP Bala Ciroma stated that 34 out of the 44 injured had been treated as at Saturday and discharged while 10 others with serious injuries involving limbs, heads and other parts of the body are presently on admission at various hospitals in Abuja.
Read Also:
- NDLEA Intercepts N9Billion worth Opioids in Rivers; Arrests Canadian Lady al Lagos Airport with 35.20kg of Loud
- Security Challenges: Airforce Chief Conducts Operational Tour of Infrastructure/Facilities at NAF Units in Enugu & Port Harcourt
- Badaru Casts vote in Jigawa LG Elections, Commends Peaceful Process
Among those with serious injuries are Inspector Luka Hananiya, Sergeant Shettima Solomon, Inspector Maude Yusuf, Sergeant Musa Dahiru and Inspector Mumini Mohammed.
Acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu who visited the Policemen in the hospital, expressed sadness over the incident saying the officers were on election deployment to polling units in Gwagwalada when it occurred.
He said, “You can see that we are at the trauma section of the National hospital where some of them are admitted.
“They have various degrees of injury, ranging from fracture to head injury that requires further investigation which I have ordered that they be taken to other hospital with the necessary equipment to treat them.
“We are here to make sure that they are given proper treatment to recover.”
On the kind of welfare package they will be given, Adamu said: “It is not what we are here for now but we have to make sure that they are taken care of and their medical bills paid; then we can talk about their entitlements.”
Commenting on officers out on the field for various duties, the IGP said “It is about sacrifice and national assignment. Policing is nothing but a national assignment and what has happened to our policemen here can happen to anybody but we are encouraged to serve our country the best way we could because no sacrifice is too much for the nation. All we have to do is to make sure that they are properly taken care of.”
The IGP said the reports from other states about the gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections, so far received as at mid day on Saturday were encouraging, noting, “So far, so good. The report has been generally peaceful and everything is going well.”
END
