An accountant who was shot by robbers in Lagos died after allegedly being rejected by hospitals. Odiri Onosigho, 32, was waiting at the First Gate bus stop, Festac, in the Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State, on April 15, when he was shot by robbers trying to collect his phone. His sister, who spoke to Punch, narrated how he died after Lagos hospitals allegedly rejected him due to a lack of police report. On the fateful day, Odiri and his friend, Michelle, were at the bus stop around 6am, waiting to board a bus to work. While waiting, robbers appeared suddenly and shot Odiri in the chest while dispossessing him of his phone.
Passers-by and commuters ran to safety and when Michelle returned to search for Odiri, she found him lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood.
Odiri’s elder sister, Atarhe, told Punch that efforts to resuscitate him proved abortive as the hospitals that Michelle and some good Samaritans rushed him to for treatment allegedly rejected him because of the absence of a police report.
The Delta State indigene stated, “I was preparing to go to work when I got a call from my sister, Sarah, who said Odiri was dead. I asked how and she said I should start coming to Festac, because that is where our father’s house is located.
“So, my husband and I drove down to the Festac Police Station, where I saw Odiri’s corpse. When I asked what happened, I was told that he was on his way to work and unfortunately, he was at the First Gate bus stop with his colleague, Michelle, when an armed robber shot him in the chest, while dispossessing him of his phone.
“Everyone ran to find cover and after everything had settled, Michelle looked for my brother and found him bleeding on the ground, but he was still alive.
“She started calling for help but nobody helped until she saw a group of Igbo guys speaking in her local dialect and as they saw her crying, they offered to help. They put my brother in a tricycle and rushed him to the Mother and Child Hospital, opposite First Gate.”
Atarhe alleged that Odiri was rejected by the government hospital on the pretext that it was only attending to mothers-to-be, new mothers and their new born children, adding that he died after other private hospitals in Festac refused him treatment because of the failure to obtain a police report.
She said, “So, they left the government hospital and rushed him to a hospital, but they rejected him there too; they also took him to two other hospitals, but he was similarly rejected. All these hospitals were asking for a police report.
“At a point, Michelle was helpless and had to rush to my father’s house to inform our family members that Odiri had been shot. My dad and sisters all rushed down to the third hospital, where my father pleaded with the doctor on duty to check his son, but at that point, he had already died.
“He was shot close to his heart and the pellets had spread all over his body, because he was shot with a local gun. He was taken to the fourth hospital on 21 Road, for confirmation and we were told that he was already dead. That was on Thursday, April 15, 2021.”
The bereaved condemned the hospitals for their “lackadaisical” attitude.
Odiri has been buried.
