Save lives first - IGP Adamu tells hospitals

 

Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), said doctors can proceed to treat victims of gunshot first before asking for any police report.

The IGP made this disclosure on Monday, January 25, when he appeared on Channel TV's Newsnight programme.

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in recent times had ordered hospitals, doctors and medical experts to reject victims of gunshot without a police report.

The force declared that treating gunshot victims is a flagrant breach of existing law, with the controversial position already resulting in the death of many victims in need of emergency treatment.

Clearing the air on the policy on people with gunshot wounds, the police chief said there is "no issue" if victims of gunshots are treated as a case of emergency.

IGP Adamu : Credit: @PoliceNG

Adamu stressed that the victims must be attended to whether it is an individual or suspected criminals.

“No, we don’t do that, save life first even if it’s an individual, suspected robber or kidnapper, or bandits.

“If he or she has gunshot wounds and goes to the hospital, his life must be saved first before thinking of any other thing to do.

“There is no issue of asking for a police report before you treat anybody with gunshot wounds."

The Nigerian Senate in 2017 passed a bill seeking to establish a law that ensures that victims of gunshot wounds receive the necessary treatment.

The Nigeria's Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, said that the youths who participated in the recent #EndSARS protest want to join the police.

Recall that many Nigerian youths defied the COVID-19 pandemic to troop out for the #EndSARS protest which occurred in October 2020.

The protest was mainly staged to demand an end to police brutality in the country.

Nigeria's IGP Mohammed Adamu Photo credit: Olukayode Jaiyeola

However, speaking on Channels TV on Monday, January 25, the IGP said the same youths have shown interest in joining the police, 

“The youths who participated in the #EndSARS and the rest of them, many of them want to join the police.He said:

“Many of them will come and say, ‘Please, we want to join the police,’ because the service the police provide is a service of God.”

In another related report, the IGP was quoted as saying that Nigerian police officers are the best.

According to him, the officers are acclaimed to be the best in the world because they perform better than their foreign counterparts when given the right resources to carry out their duties.

He added that despite the lack of enough resources for them to perform their function, the police in Nigeria do a lot to maintain peace and order.