A serving police officer, Inspector Ibrahim Adamu, who lost his arm while trying to detonate a bomb, is now battling with heart failure and needs N10 million to undergo a surgery.
In an interview with Kanem Trust, the 40-year-old indigene of Askira Uba LGA in Borno State begged Borno State governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, and other privileged individuals to assist to pay his medical bills for the surgery.
Adamu said he joined the Nigeria Police as constable in 2003 and was moved to Mobile Police Force unit at Limakara Training School where he served as an instructor.
He said he was later transferred to Kano State command where the incident that led to his present condition happened.
“It was during an operation when we discovered that a bomb was planted in a place where we were operating. I took the bomb with my hand and as I made to throw it away, it detonated. It could have killed many of us and there were more than 100 at the place,’’ Adamu said.
He said the incident, which occurred on September 19, 2015, cut off his hand.
“The then Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, visited me on December 7th, 2015 in Kano to see my condition. He promoted me to the rank of a Sergeant and donated the sum of N1 million. I used the money to build a one-room apartment in Maiduguri as I had not had a house then.
“I continued working from there, and after a while, I was transferred back to Borno State and posted to Maiduguri Police College (PCM) to train recruits in weapon handling and shooting,’’ he said.
The police inspector added that he was struck with the sickness while he was at the college. “The sickness started in a mild form and gradually it became more intense. I went to the hospital where, after a medical test and examination, it was confirmed that the explosion which led to the loss of my arm had affected the circulation of blood into my heart.
“One day, the illness struck harder and I slumped. I was admitted for 10 days at the hospital. I was advised to be more cautious as the doctor said there was no cure for my illness,’’ he said.
He said he was further told that the only hospital that has the equipment to treat his illness was in Osun State and it would cost me more than N10 million for the operation.
“Since I was born, I have never owned N200,000 not to talk of N10 million. I have a wife and seven children and am taking care of 11 other children and two widows of my late younger brother,’’ Adamu said.
He said he had written to the Force Headquarters seeking assistance from the authorities but there was yet to be any positive response.
“You know, it is when you have a godfather or an influential person in a high office that your plight receives the necessary attention.
“The only senior officer in the police I knew has retired and I have lost his phone number. Right now I don’t have a handset to even call anyone but I know if I can contact former IGP Solomon Arase, he will help me out.
“I am appealing to Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum and other well-to-do individuals and groups to assist me pay the money for the treatment to rescue my life,” Adamu said.
When contacted, a Consultant Cardiologist at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, who is handling the case, Dr Charles Anjori, said the patient came to the hospital early this year.
“He came with something that resembled heart failure and on further investigation, we discovered the cause of the heart failure was the major artery, that is the major vessel that comes from the heart to distribute blood to all the other parts of the body, was swollen and could burst at any time.
“We felt he needed a surgical operation because if the thing goes above and bursts on its own, the patient may not survive it. It is something that can cause death within few seconds or minutes, so he urgently needs intervention,’’ Dr Anjori said.
The consultant said Adamu was lucky to be alive because of the precarious nature of his condition.
“This man served the country and worked as a police detonator and it was in the course of his duty of detonating a bomb that he lost part of his right arm and we feel the government needs to help him because he really served his country,” he said.
Dr Anjori said there was no alternative to the surgery being proposed. “What we are doing now is giving him some drugs to lower the blood pressure and drugs to bring down force at which blood is fluid inside that vessel so that it does not burst but he must undergo the surgery to survive,” he said.
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