Omobolanle Raheem’s Death: CRIVIFON Wants Police To Prosecute Erring Hospitals

By Frank Oshanugor

A non-governmental organization, the Crime Victims Foundation of Nigeria (CRIVIFON) has called for the prosecution of management of the two hospitals which allegedly refused to accept Lagos lawyer Omobolanle Raheem for treatment when she was shot by a police officer on Christmas Day in Ajah area of Lagos.

In a statement on Thursday issued by its Executive Director, Barr. (Mrs) Gloria Egbuji, the Foundation said refusal to accept the female lawyer for treatment whose life was in critical condition was in contravention of the Compulsory Treatment of Gunshot and Accident Victims Act of 2017.

It was gathered that following the unprovoked shooting of Raheem who was in company of her husband and others in their family car on Christmas by an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Drambi Vandi, she was rushed to Budo Specialist Hospital where she was rejected ostensibly due to non submission of police report.

She was subsequently taken to a second hospital, Doren Hospital but no help was forthcoming before she was rushed to Grandville Hospital where she was confirmed dead.

The Crime Victims Foundation of Nigeria which was at the forefront for over two decades pushing for a law to checkmate the high incidence of death of gunshot and accident victims due to failure of hospitals to treat them because of non submission of police report, has urged the Lagos State Government and the police to diligently investigate the circumstances of Raheem’s death when hospitals could have helped save her life.

Though prosecution of the killer police officer has commenced few days ago in a Lagos High Court where he pleaded not guilty, yet CRIVIFON would want the hospitals to be similarly prosecuted for breaching Gunshot Act.

It would be recalled that Rivers and Lagos State Governments in 2022 domesticated the Gunshot Act thereby making it an offence for any hospital or clinic in the states to deny victims treatment simply on the ground of non-submission of police report.

The Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba has similarly directed police personnel in various states of the federation to comply with provisions of the Gunshot Act as it applies to the police.