STAR Ring vacantly as if in a daze, she beckoned with a wave from her hospital bed. The gesture was directed at Vanguard Features, VF, reporter, who stood a few metres away in the middle of the hospital’s expansive ward.

Her fixed attention soon gave way to consternation when it became obvious that the writer was being denied access to her by the hospital staff because he is a journalist. ‘’Sir, we are sorry you can’t see her.

You have to be taken to a senior person who may give you the needed clearance to see her,’’ a staff in the ward told VF. On that note, VF was led out by a female employee, while the patient he had come to see, looked downcast.

After consultation with several officers of the hospital, VF was politely informed that he cannot see the patient.

‘’We understand your interest, but we don’t allow media interview with our patients. You can talk to her when she is discharged. You are free to visit during visiting hours but not to interview her,’’ a senior official of the hospital said. The obviously disappointed patient later called VF on phone and it was then that an appointment was fixed for another day.

A few days later, VF paid a visit to her home in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State. It was not easy for the downcast mother of two, who gave her name as Chika Elekwachi to give an update of her ordeal as she muttered in Igbo language, ‘’ke kwanu ihem nga ako ozo,’’ meaning ‘’what do I say again?’’

Victim of police brutality: Elekwachi on hospital bed before she was operated upon at Safe-Hands hospital, Lagos
At that point, some visitors entered the living room, apparently to sympathise with her. While they commiserated with her in Igbo, they spoke disappointedly about the Police. Some of them shared ugly encounters they had in the past with law enforcement agents.

VF later engaged her in a conversation in Igbo language. This is the traumatising and horrible narrative as told by Elekwachi. “On July 19, 2015 at about 7 pm, I was driving along Old Ojo Road to my house in my Infinity QX35 Sports Utility Vehicle with registration number MUS157DG.

Park or I fire you: “In the vehicle with me were two friends of mine. On getting to Pako Bus-stop, a mini-bus with four occupants double-crossed us in a gestapo manner. This made me to suddenly apply the brake. At that point, occupants of the mini-bus, who were dressed in civil attire, jumped out of the bus. One of the gun-wielding men had a black branded police T-shirt.

I was ordered out of the car by the police who yelled, ‘’Park or I fire you’’. Another one spoke in pidgin English, ‘’Oga na pregnant woman o.’’ In response, the first policeman said: ‘’If na pregnant woman nko, I will kill her if she is not careful.’’ Before I could move, my front doors were flung open and I was pulled out of the vehicle.

All my pleadings that I was eight months pregnant fell on deaf ears, as they continued to beat me. I was dragged on the floor and eventually stripped naked.

The incident attracted a sympathetic crowd, whose pleadings were ignored because the men insisted that I would follow them to the station,” she recalled.

Continuing, Mrs Elekwachi said: “While I sat on the floor to cover my nakedness, having been stripped naked, the police men began to drag me; while struggling with them, I fell and hit my stomach on the floor.

Maternal trauma and placenta abruption

“The men were not deterred as they carried me to the station where I was dragged out of the vehicle. It was there that I got a phone from a passer-by and called my family to intimate them about my ordeal. It was at this stage that the Divisional Crime Officer, DCO, came out to know what caused the pandemonium outside, because I had lost consciousness.

I was then taken to Safe Hands Medical Centre, where I was diagnosed of maternal trauma and placenta abruption. As a result of that, a caesarean operation was carried out on me to bring out the baby, who died after four days in an incubator at Outreach Medical Centre, Satellite Town”.

Thereafter, the brutalised lady, who was not immediately informed about her baby’s demise, was taken to a government hospital in the area for further medical attention. It was at this hospital, that VF visited her for the first time.

Police stopped picking my calls

According to Elekwachi, her journey to the health facility was facilitated by the Police. She explained that the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of the station was sending police officers on daily basis to inquire about her welfare and also to offset some of her medical bills.