THE Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has appealed to all doctors and other health providers in the city to treat every patient who approaches their facilities with gunshot injuries.
However, they advised that they report such incidents to police stations close to their facilities.
These were contained in a statement by the FCT Police spokesperson, Adeh Josephine, on Friday, August 2, following a clash between the police and some hoodlums around Lugbe, Shehu Musa Yar’adua expressway.
The police claimed their officers engaged the hoodlums in a firefight following distress calls on the activities of the hoodlums who took advantage of the ongoing protests which began on Thursday, August 1, “to embark on a massive robbery and assault of innocent citizens.”
The ICIR had on Thursday night reported how police and thugs clashed in the Lugbe area of the nation’s capital.
Reacting to the clash, the police referred medical practitioners to the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act 20017. They advised that any patient who might have suffered a gunshot injury should be treated promptly.
“In line with the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act 2017, it is instructive to note that such patients come under medical emergencies that require urgent attention in order to save the life of the patient, and should be accorded all necessary medical assistance. However, the Police division/formation within the jurisdiction of such hospital or health care facility should be informed to interview such patient so as to ascertain their person/roles in the prevailing security situation in the FCT.
“The Commissioner of Police hereby warns unscrupulous elements who may want to hide under the guise of protest to carry out heinous crimes such as armed robbery, shop breaking, rape, assault on innocent citizens and vandalisation of public property to desist from such as police officers and other security agents have been put on red alert to curtail them and maintain law and order,” the statement added.
The statement further noted that the FCT Police Commissioner, Benneth Igweh, while appreciating residents of the FCT for their continuous cooperation, assured that all relevant measures would be put in place to ensure that the current #EndBadGovernance protests did not cause them losses or damage to their property.
The ICIR reports that the #EndBadGovernace protest has spread to at least 15 states.
The organisers are protesting poor governance and economic hardships caused by President Bola Tinubu’s reforms.
The posts and tweets on the protest carry different hashtags, ranging from #RevolutionNow, #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria, #TakeItBack, #DaysofRage and #TinubuMustGo.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M