One of the award-winning brave
policemen fighting Boko Haram, CSP Dauda Buba Fika, is currently fighting for
his life despite selling his family house for medical treatment abroad.
Fika was years ago deployed by
the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to battlefront and led many successful
counter-insurgency operations in the North-East.
The officer was head of a team of
security joint-task force that flushed out Boko Haram fighters from Fika town
in 2016.
Also, Fika once led a rapid
response squad to rescue 18 policemen who were held hostage by extremists in
Borno.
But life has not been the same
for him after he was shot by troops of an Army Battalion in Yobe State on 13
April, 2017, and sustained a life-threatening injury in his hip.
Fika, who was the Commander of
Mobile Police (MOPOL) 41 before he was shot, told PRNigeria from his London
hospital that his predicament started in April 2017, when some policemen
travelling in his convoy had a minor scuffle with a soldier at a traffic, in
Damaturu, capital of Yobe.
A son of former Assistant
Inspector General of Police, late AIG Buba FIKA, said though the altercation
was eventually settled, some hooded soldiers stormed his house, tortured him
and later whisked him away to a military base inside a bush in the outskirt of
Damaturu, the next day.
His words: “I was taken to an
Army Battalion from my house. The soldiers, who whisked me away would have
killed me when we arrived at their Battalion. They threw me and one other MOPOL
officer inside a ditch and they cock their rifles to shoot. But a senior army
officer immediately arrived the scene, and I was taken out of the ditch.
“The army officer took me to his
office, and ordered me to go and calm my boys, who had already laid siege at
the entrance of the Battalion. By then, my boys were already shooting into the
air sporadically. They were insisting that I must be released unhurt. So, I
came down to meet my boys. They lifted and threw me into the air to welcome me,
when I got to their place.
“They touched my body to check if
I was fine and wasn’t hurt. I eventually calmed their frayed nerves, and
ordered them to go back to their base. They all left, leaving behind two other
MOPOL officers and myself. But it was at that moment, some soldiers who we did
not know were trailing us opened fire.
“They killed the two people with
me. I was shot twice in the hips and left in a pool of blood. But thank God, a
high-ranking Army officer, who came and met me lying on the ground ordered that
I should be taken to the Army Hospital. It was while I was there that the State
Police Commissioner called to inquire if I was truly the one alive.
“After we spoke, the Commissioner
directed that I should immediately be flown to Abuja for better medical
attention. And because the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport was closed for
rehabilitation then, I was first taken to Kaduna, and treated in a Hospital.
The next day, I was brought to CedarCrest Hospital in Abuja by an ambulance,”
he calmly narrated.
At the Abuja-based private
hospital, PRNigeria gathered that Mr. Fika was wrongly diagnosed by a doctor of
having a ‘large’ tumor inside his head after he complained of severe headache
and dizziness.
The doctor who performed the MRI
scan and diagnosed him of having ‘tumor in the brain,’ immediately carried out
a surgical operation on Fika’s head. No sooner had the operation performed,
than the MOPOL commander started having an acute migraine and experiencing
other intense pains.
But the medical surgeon had by
then left the country, after realizing he incorrectly diagnosed and operated a
patient.
It was at that time Mr. Fika, who
was a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), received a timely aid from the
Police Force, who fully sponsored the cost of his medical surgery abroad.
But he has been paying (by
himself) for accommodation and medication since he traveled to the United
Kingdom for another surgical operation.
The distraught MOPOL Commander,
who said he will be returning to Nigeria soon, expressed shock that the
Nigerian Army (NA) did not reach out to him to render any assistance.
“I am surprised the Nigerian Army
didn’t reach out to me since then. I strongly believe the Chief of Army Staff,
Lt General Tukur Buratai could have assisted if he learned of my present
predicament considering my exploit in a joint military-security operation in
the North-East.
“I must thank the leadership of
the Nigerian Police for their uncommon love, generosity, and kindness in the
payment for the operation while I shoulder my accommodation and living cost
here in London. Nevertheless, I will still plead to our indefatigable and
dynamic Inspector General of Police, who is my Boss and the Chief of Army Staff
to assist me financially.
“Meanwhile, contrary to what the
CedarCrest Hospital’s doctor said, I was told by my doctor here, that I never
had any kind of tumor in my head. Yet, another surgery was then performed,
where the doctors removed an infection which was affecting both my eyes and
tooth,” he said.
He called on the Police to file a
suit and also seek damages from the ‘quack’ doctor at Cedar Hospital who
wrongly operated him, maintaining that the ‘ill-fated’ surgery only aggravated
his deteriorating health.
“Though I have since lost my
sight, I remain grateful to Allah for keeping me alive. My doctors in London
successfully replaced my natural hip with an artificial hip. And right now, I
am learning to walk steadily with the support of aid. With time, I will be able
to walk unaided, my doctors have assured me.
“But the thing is, I don’t know
where I am going to start from once I return to Nigeria. I don’t know where to
go. I sold everything I have to gather money for my medication and
accommodation in UK. I sold my entire belongings, house, cars, you can name
them. I even had to sell our family house, and relocated my extended family
members to rented apartments, just to raise money for my treatment. It is very
traumatic.
“As I speak to you now, my
landlord in Nigeria, who gave me a quite notice some months ago, has already
ejected my belongings out of his estate. I don’t know where to go. I don’t know
who I will run to for help. My health condition is becoming critical. I am
suffering and dying gradually,” he told PRNigeria in an emotion-laden tone.
Phone number of Army spokesman,
Sagir Musa, was unreachable Monday morning.
It was, however, gathered that
media coverage of Fika’s plight since Sunday July 14 have caught the attention
of Army and Police hierarchy.
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If it is so, PMB. Should as a matter of urgency to intervene into this issue.
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