Police, judge failed me after drunken cop who killed my wife fled – Lagos pastor

A pastor at the Full Gospel Church of God, Godwin Udoh, shares his pain with UTHMAN SALAMI and HIRADAT HASSAN about how a drunken policeman shot and killed his wife, Comfort, and injured him for refusing to pay the cop N2,000, and how justice has continued to elude him since the tragic incident

Can you introduce yourself?

I am 54-year-old, a professional printer and  pastor at the Full Gospel Church of God in Egbeda, Lagos State.

What circumstances led to your wife’s death?

We were returning from church on the 15th of September 2015, travelling from Ejigbo to Abaranje, where we had just rented a house. As we arrived at Ijegun bus stop, a policeman rushed out with a gun. He tried to hit me inside the tricycle I was riding, with my wife and four children in it. My wife was carrying our 11-month-old baby.

I stopped the tricycle and asked the policeman what was wrong. He said he didn’t want to hear anything from me and that all he needed was N2,000. I told him that I didn’t have any N2,000. We explained to him that we were just returning from a church service. My wife also got down to explain to them that we were a family going home after a church service.

There were four policemen stationed at the checkpoint. One of them told us to leave since we were coming from church. We didn’t know that the policeman who demanded N2,000 bribe had already cocked his gun and was ready to shoot at us.

How did you know that one of the policemen had cocked a gun?

It was my wife who looked behind and saw the policeman pointing a gun at us. We were already inside the tricycle at that time. When my wife told me that one of the policemen wanted to shoot, I told her that they had already told us to leave and that they couldn’t shoot us as we weren’t criminals.

Before I could finish my sentence, I suddenly heard the sound of a gunshot behind me. The first bullet tore apart my lower jaw and cut through my right arm. I held my jaw with one hand and got down from the tricycle, moving to the side of the road. It was then that I heard my children shouting, “Mum is dying!” I rushed to my wife’s side and found her bleeding profusely from the mouth, nose, and ears due to the bullet wound to her head.

She had fallen on top of the nine-month-old baby she was carrying. When I held her, I discovered that the bullet had entered the left side of her head and exited through the other side.

I quickly left her and went to ask the policeman why he had shot us. I asked him what we had done to him. He pointed his gun at me again, and I backed away. The policemen quickly got into their vehicle and left for their station at Isheri when they saw me and my wife in a pool of blood.

The policeman’s name is Corporal Musiliu Aremu. I did not quarrel with him. There was no argument whatsoever. I still do not understand why he shot us. The other policemen, who were supposed to rush us to the hospital, left us and fled to their station.

We were left bleeding while my children were screaming. Some residents came to our aid and tried to rush us to nearby hospitals, but all of them refused to treat us. We went to about three hospitals, but they all rejected us, saying they didn’t want to get involved with anything involving the police.

How did you get to the hospital that day?

Eventually, a Good Samaritan took us to Igando General Hospital, where the doctor demanded a police report. I explained that we didn’t have one, but the doctor insisted that we get one from the police station.

I then asked the driver to take me to the Police Area Command at Idimu, where the area commander saw my bloodstained clothes and asked what had happened. I explained the situation to him, and he told me to rush back to the hospital at Igando General Hospital, where we would be attended to. He said I needed treatment first. I told him that my wife was lying at the scene of the incident.

He said the Inspector General of Police had given an order that every emergency case should be attended to first to save lives. I told him my wife’s body was still lying at the scene, and he told me to return to the hospital.

We went back to the hospital, but they repeated the same thing: that we must bring a police report before they would treat us. The doctor said the driver should go back to the station to bring the report, while I waited at the hospital for him to return.

What happened afterwards?

He went back and returned with a document. They bandaged my head, jaw, and mouth. After that, they referred me to LUTH. I told them the children were still at the scene and that I couldn’t leave them behind.

When we went back to the scene, I saw the area commander, who ordered one of the vehicles to rush me to LUTH and another van to take my wife to the Mainland Hospital at Yaba, while he handed over my children to one of the policewomen. I was admitted to LUTH.

When I woke up the next day, I asked the doctors what had happened to my wife, and they said she was responding to treatment. They said that once they finished treating me, they would take me to see her. I felt relieved, unaware that my wife had already died.

Then the police commissioner came to see me at the hospital, telling me that the IG wanted to talk to me. The IG made many promises. He promised that my children would receive scholarships from primary to university level. He also promised to take care of my medical bills and ensure I was properly treated. He said I would be added to the police payroll and that I could use the monthly money to take care of my children.

They brought a scholarship certificate for my children, but when I saw the certificate, I realised it only covered the primary school level, contrary to what the IG had promised. I took the forms to the commissioner of police at the time, whose name was Fatai Owoseni. Ten years later, they have still not done anything about it. They said they wanted the IG to correct the form, but up until now, nothing has been done.

Are you saying the police have not compensated you or your family in any way since 2015?

They have not given me or my family a single kobo, despite the autopsy report confirming that a police bullet killed my wife and destroyed my jaw.

An iron was placed in my jaw. I was supposed to have it removed after the operation, but there was no money to do so. I feel pain every day because the iron is still there. I haven’t been able to chew anything since the operation. The police have abandoned us. The doctor said the iron was meant to be a short-term solution.

They said they were going to replace the iron with bone so that I would be able to chew again. When it was time to bury my wife, I met with the commissioner of police, who told me, point-blank, that the police do not bury anyone. I was told to bury her myself. The police cannot bury people, but they know how to kill innocent civilians.

My first daughter, who was sitting beside my wife when the police killed her, sustained a severe shock. The trauma from the gunshot affected her brain, leading to regular convulsions almost every day. We took her to the psychiatric hospital in Aro, Abeokuta.

How did you feel when you realised that a policeman had killed your wife?

I felt disappointed with the Nigeria police. I was confused. I felt so rejected. It seemed as if I was dreaming. I did not expect this from a policeman, and I was surprised that a policeman could have the heart to pull the trigger on a civilian.

Till now, I have yet to fully grasp what happened that night. The pain the police caused our family still lives with us. According to them, the policeman said he was drunk. How can you give a gun to a drunk?

What happened to the errant policeman?

They arrested all of them and arraigned them at Ebute Meta Magistrates’ Court. While we were waiting for the Directorate of Public Prosecutions to issue their legal advice, we realised that they could not bring the officer to Igbosere High Court.

We searched for the suspect everywhere. The court hearing the case wrote to all the prisons in Lagos State, but none of them provided him. Then they said another court had granted him bail. We didn’t know this until we started investigating.

The judge even threatened to arrest the two sureties who stood in for him, but nothing happened. They released the man without the knowledge of the court handling the case. They deliberately freed him. Now, no one knows where he is. Is it because he was a police officer? My family needs justice.

How have you been feeding since you still have an iron fixed in your mouth?

The iron is still in my mouth. I haven’t been able to chew any solid food since then. I can only consume liquid foods like pap and tea. I find it very difficult to chew.

How many children do you have?

I have four children; two girls and two boys.

Have you remarried since your wife died 10 years ago?

No, I haven’t, because I haven’t received justice for my family. I filed a case of fundamental human rights at the Federal High Court. I received a judgment stating that the police should compensate me. However, the Attorney General at the time said he didn’t have enough time to study the case after I had received the judgment. He then took the case to the Court of Appeal. The case is scheduled for hearing on the 31st of this month.

How much do you want the police to pay you as compensation?

The court had initially awarded me N100 million before the Attorney General appealed the case. But N100 million cannot return my wife or restore the family to a normal state. The trauma will live with us forever. I received the judgment in May 2020.

Have you been able to reach out to the police authorities to tell them that you have been abandoned while the trigger-happy ex-policeman is allowed to walk free?

I conducted an investigation when the prison officials refused to bring the suspect to court. Sometimes they would claim there was no fuel in their vehicles or that someone was not around.

This led me to investigate, where we discovered that a judge at Ikeja granted the suspect, who killed and rendered me helpless, bail in the sum of N1 million.

The judge ruled that since the DPP could not issue its legal advice on time, the suspect should be released on bail pending the hearing of the substantive case. I have a copy of the ruling. We were not informed of the suit for his bail until after he was granted bail. The man fled after receiving bail.

How much do you want the police to pay as compensation for what they did to you and your family?

I need a surgical operation on my jaw. The pain has to stop. The doctor said I would need to fly abroad for the operation. My first daughter also needs help. The doctor said her brain shifted as a result of the shock. The convulsions she suffered every day must stop.

How would you describe your late wife?

My late wife was exceptionally good to me and our children. She was very supportive and helpful. Besides working, she was also an entrepreneur, skilled as both a caterer and a fashion designer.

Whenever my salary was delayed, she would step in and pay our children’s school fees. She also provided financial and emotional support in many areas, especially to our daughters. As a man, there were certain things I couldn’t do for our girls, but my wife filled that gap perfectly.

How do you console your children, who must have been told the circumstances surrounding their mother’s death?

What my children ask me is about justice for their mother. Every Mother’s Day, they ask me, “Where is the policeman who killed our mother?” They want to confront him and ask, “Why did you kill our mother?”

What did the doctors say about the amount you would need to eat solid food again?

They told me to come back when I was ready. I remember that in 2017, I saw a quotation online from a foreign country, fixing the cost of treatment at about N7m to N7.5m. However, I am unsure of the current cost, as the quotation was made available back in 2017.