I got d news below from Nigerian Tribune of Today, its pathetic and I believe by publicing it thru this forum-,  Policeman kills 2 children with teargas

By Adebayo Waheed and Sade Oguntola - 26.11.2009

STAFF and families of patients at the Oni Memorial Children’s Hospital, Ibadan, were, on Wednesday, thrown into mourning and confusion, when an irate mobile policeman, Mr. Raymond Egbongbonwuyi, went berserk, tear-gassing two children to death and putting three others in critical condition.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that the hospital was for almost two hours a scene of confusion, as visitors and patients were tear-gassed by the mobile policeman on being told about the death of his three-year-old daughter, who was on admission at the hospital.

The policeman was said to have wounded three doctors working at the hospital and said he would have killed all the children on admission and the medical personnel at the hospital, if he had carried a gun.

When the Nigerian Tribune visited the hospital, three of the children allegedly tear-gassed were seen outside being put on oxygen. The children, whose names were given as Ekundayo Promise, Lawal Awal and Lawal Mariam, were said to be on drips when the policeman went there and removed the drips and tear-gassed them.

The ward 2 section of the hospital, where the children were tear-gassed, was scattered while the lethal fume of the teargas was still thick in the air when the Nigerian Tribune visited the scene of the incident.

The mobile policeman, attached to the Iyaganku Central Police Station, was said to have brought his three and a half year-old daughter, Destiny Raymond, to the hospital on Tuesday for treatment but unfortunately, the girl died in the night.

According to a source, all efforts to get the father informed about the incident throughout the night were unsuccessful. The irate policeman was said to have lost a child at the University College Hospital (UCH) about two weeks ago.

The baby that died at the Oni Memorial Children’s Hospital was reported to have been suffering from cerebral malaria and was obviously being treated at home before she was taken to the hospital on Tuesday. The doctor, who attended to her, noted that there were burns on the child’s feet, showing signs of the unorthodox practice of putting a convulsing child’s feet in fire to make her regain consciousness. The sore had gone septic further complicating the child’s case.

The source said that when the father, the police officer, was summoned to the hospital on Wednesday morning by the authorities of the hospital on the phone, he turned as if to go away after seeing the corpse, but when he was told to take the corpse for burial or make other arrangements for its evacuation, he turned violent and went from one cot to the other in the ward, removing the drips from five of the children, who were being treated for respiratory disorder, and tear-gassed them.

It was learnt that but for the quick intervention of policemen from Oluyole Police division, the situation would have been worse. One of the medical staff members, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune and pleaded for anonymity, decried the insecurity at the hospital and called on the state government to protect the lives of the patients and the workers.

When contacted, the hospital’s medical consultant, who declined comments on the incident, said she was not competent to speak on the matter. Parents whose children were in critical conditions lamented the behaviour of the mobile policeman and called on the police authorities to take necessary action against him.

Mrs. Titi Ekundayo; Mrs. Rukayat Lawal and Mr. Adekunle Enoch, whose children were in critical condition, tearfully narrated to Nigerian Tribune that their children were receiving treatment when the policeman stormed the ward and tear-gassed them on their sickbeds.

Some policemen, led by the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) from the Oluyole Police division, later visited the scene of the incident and assured the workers at the hospital of police protection.

He said that the irate policeman would not return to the hospital. When contacted, the Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Baba Adisa Bolanta, said he had not been briefed on the incident.

While confirming the incident, Special Adviser to Oyo State Governor, Mrs. Comfort Alebiosu, said the case had been attended to by the police at Iyaganku, and that the said mobile police officer had been arrested.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Basiru Bello, said that the ministry was already conducting its own investigation into the incident that happened in the only children hospital in the state.

According to Dr. Bello, it was pathetic that other children on admission in the hospital were affected by the teargas used by the said mobile officer. Chairman, Oyo State Hospitals Management Board, Chief Adebayo Oyewusi, assured patients, their parents and workers in the hospital of their safety.
 
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