Police Releases Corp Member Who Stabbed Cab Driver

A 52-year old taxi driver, John Ikubor, has recounted how he was stabbed on the shoulder by a suspected corps member in the Okota area of Lagos State.

Speaking on the issue, the Edo indigene said:

 “The corps member came to my park around 7am on May 17 and said he was going to Okota. He agreed to pay N3,000 for the fare. He had a bag, which he put into the car.
“Throughout the journey, we never argued. I remember that he said he wanted to pick something along the way and when we got to the place, he came down from the car and called a man on the phone. He came back into the car and said the person was not around.
“We later arrived at his destination on Greenfield Estate around 8am. When we got to the place, he asked me to park in the front of a two storeyed-building. He went in and came back to say the person he was going to see was not around. He apologised and said I should turn back the car. He told me that I should not worry because he had my money on him.
“I had driven about 30 metres away from the place when he asked me to park the car. Immediately I did, he grabbed my neck and hacked me with a dagger on the shoulder. He brought out the dagger from his bag. I was alarmed and asked what I did wrong. The dagger got stuck in my shoulder and he forcefully pulled it out. My shoulder bone fell into the car.”

The victim said the corps member used his khaki uniform to hold him, while he also struggled with him.

He said he later raised the alarm, adding that the suspect opened the back door of the cab and fled.

Some motorcycle riders in the area were said to have chased him as he scaled a fence back into the estate.

The estate guards reportedly questioned him for jumping the face and he lied that the motorcycle riders were after his life.

“The okada riders met the security guards and explained everything that happened to them. They brought the guards to where I was bleeding. The guards said they allowed him to go because they knew his house. I later called my fellow cab drivers, who arrived shortly after.
“My people from the park and the security guards went to the corps member’s house and saw he had changed his bloodstained clothes. They took him to the Okota Police Station. The police issued me a report to enable me to get treatment,” he added.

PUNCH Metro learnt that doctors at the Isolo General Hospital refused to attend to the victim after he could not raise a deposit of N35,000.

He was later taken to an Ijaw bone setter’s house in Alapere, Ketu.

The bone setter, who demanded N50,000 for the treatment, reportedly put the bone back after the victim’s colleagues deposited N20,000.

Ikubor said when he could not raise the balance of N30,000, the man refused to continue with the treatment.

“I went back to the police station to see if I could get the suspect’s family to at least foot my medical bill.
“To my surprise, a policeman told me the Divisional Police Officer had been looking for me and that he was about to release the suspect. I went to check the boy and saw that he was just the same way I left him. He had not been interrogated or ruffled.
“The police said nobody came to check or identify him. When I saw the way the matter was going, I knew the police had been compromised. I decided to give up on the case instead of stressing myself when my health was already deteriorating.
“Within a week that the boy was arrested, he was released and some of the guards at the estate called my colleagues at the park that the boy was back in the community,” he added.

The victim said after enduring excruciatng pain for about three months, he relocated to his hometown in Edo State for further treatment.

“The police really disappointed me. I believe the people in that division know the suspect. I need N70,000 for my treatment to continue. I don’t have anything. The cab in question does not even belong to me. It belongs to the chairman of the park and I took it out that day hoping to make at least N500 or N1,000 to feed my family,” he said.

Punch Metro spoke with Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole, who asked outhat they speak with the DPO, Yusuf Ajape.

Ajape said he was not aware of the case.
“It is not posible to just release a suspect that way. Please tell the man to see me.
“Also, the incident happened since May and he is just talking about it now. We will, however, need to review the case,”he said.