Case Closed Wife-to-be checks into nunnery as fiance, in Lagos to shop for their
wedding, is killed by robbers • ‘I’ll never marry again’
From CHIDI NNADI, Enugu
Tuesday, August 26, 2008





For Miss Uche (Surname withheld), marriage has no meaning again and, in fact, has been erased from her dictionary since after the death of her fiancé last year in the attack by one-chance robbers in Lagos.

Her fiancé, the late Donatus Okafor, 39, had gone to Lagos to buy some of the things they needed for their upcoming wedding not knowing that he would not come back from the trip.

According to Uche, when she heard of the sudden death of her fiancé she could not believe it, but when it dawned on her that it was no fluke she ruled out marriage in her life and went to the convent where she would have nothing to do with solemn institution again.

When Daily Sun contacted Uche over the telephone, she said it was all over with marriage, saying, “in fact, I don’t want to hear about the word marriage again.”
Her fiancé, the late Okafor, had on March 21, 2007 set out with his childhood friend Demian Ezeonu to go shopping and put finishing touches on the arrangement for his upcoming wedding.

The late Mr Okafor was the best man of Mr Ezeonu when he wedded, thus Ezeonu did not hesitate to join his late friend run around to get things ready for his own wedding.
Thus it was the preparation for the wedding that brought the duo to Lagos that evening, but the bridegroom to be could not live to see his wedding day as they were attacked by robbers popularly known as one chance in Lagos .

The two friends had boarded a bus at Cele bus-stop not knowing that the bus was operated by robbers.
Ezeonu told Daily Sun that a certain woman was seated at the back of the bus with other robbers posing as passengers when they boarded the bus and as they suspected them and wanted to alight the driver zoomed off.
In the confusion, his friend Donatus started struggling with the thieves, making them to push him out of the moving bus.

He too was squeezed into the seat of the bus and driven off to Mile 2 where he too was pushed down.
At Mile 2 he begged for money to get back to Cele bus-stop to look for his friend Donatus and when he found him, he took him to the hospital, but could not get prompt medical attention needed to save his life, so he died.

Therefore, sixteen months after the death of Okafor, his friend Ezeonu is worried that the Nigeria Medical and Dental Council has not been able to sanction three hospitals in Lagos he alleged neglected his friend when he was taken to them, leading to his eventual death.
In a petition Ezeonu sent to the Nigeria Medical and Dental Council dated April 30, 2007 , he appealed to the council to investigate expeditiously the three hospitals where his friend was taken to find out why a patient should be allowed to bleed to death unnecessarily.

He also sent a reminder of the letter to the council again on October 23, 2007 , which was received by one Mrs Nwankwo, yet Ezeonu has not heard anything from the Nigeria Medical and Dental Council.
Narrating the incident to Daily Sun, Ezeonu said that on March 21, 2007 at 8:15p.m; he and the late Donatus had boarded a mini bus (Danfo) at Cele Bus-stop on their way to Coker along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Lagos not knowing that the bus was operated by armed robbers.

His words: “As the bus moved off, they made move to rob us. We resisted, tried to escape from them, and during the struggle, they pushed down my friend, Donatus, from the moving bus, and they over powered me in the bus.

“They beat me heavily and robbed me of my money, telephone, watch, sandals, belt, finger rosary and any thing they could remove from me. They stopped the bus at Mile 2 bus-stop then pushed me out. I sustained minor injuries, but was more concerned about the fate of my friend,” Ezeonu said.

For Ezeonu to go back to the scene of the incident, he needed some money to board another bus back to the Cele Bus-stop, but as the robbers had taken everything on him he resorted to begging at Mile 2. But passersby did not believe his alms begging and, therefore, refused to assist him.
His words: “I approached other people at the bus-stop begging for money until a pastor and his wife gave me N500. I then took another bus back to Cele bus-stop to find out about my friend whom I thought might have survived and may be looking for me.”

As the thieves had taken his cell phone and he did not have the number of Donatus off hand, he called his wife who called one of his friends that has Donatus number.
“At Cele bus-stop I called our mutual friend Mr. Ike Nwafor to give me Donatus’ phone number, since I had lost my phone to the robber. When I called Donatus’ number a man answered the phone and told me to come up to the next bus-stop after Cele bus-stop, that Donatus was lying and bleeding heavily there. I took a motorcycle to the place and found my friend, Donatus lying by the side of the road bleeding from his head and nostrils,” he said.

The two Good Samaritans, Christian and his brother told Ezeonu that they were coming back from Lord’s Chosen Church close to Ijesha Bus-stop when they saw Donatus on the middle of the road where they rushed him down and carried him of the road and had retrieved his telephone just before he called.

Taking Donatus to hospital
“Accompanied and helped by Christian and his brother, we took Donatus to Ago Hospital Okota, Lagos on two motorcycles as we could not get a taxi. At Ago Hospital , the doctor on duty simply referred us to Isolo General Hospital . No first aid was administered. I, therefore, asked the doctor to assist us with the hospital ambulance to hasten the journey, but he refused to comply.

“Still bleeding from the head, we took Donatus to Isolo General Hospital on a motorcycle. When we got to Isolo General Hospital , it took the doctor about 10 minutes to get up from his chair to attend to Donatus. He prescribed injection drug which I bought from their pharmacy and he administered it on him. He then referred us to Ikeja General Hospital . I pleaded with him to attend to Donatus immediately since Ikeja is quite far from Isolo, but he refused and also refused us the services of an ambulance again to carry us to Ikeja. It was then that I contacted our mutual friend Mr. Ike Nwafor to assist us with his car, since it was late to get a taxi at that time of the night.

“We got to Ikeja General Hospital (Surgical Emergency department) around 10:30p.m, the doctor and nurses on duty refused to admit Donatus on the grounds that there was no vacant bed in the hospital, they did not even allow us to carry him down from the car. The doctor simply referred us to Lagos University Teaching Hospital. When we are about moving away after spending about 40 minutes, one woman in mufti called us back and advised us to exercise some patience that it seemed they have secured a vacant bed.

“We went back and met the doctor and nurses arguing over their mistake which lasted for another 30 minutes, while Donatus was still lying, bleeding heavily in the car. I pleaded with the doctor to forget about the argument and attend to Donatus, after a long time when he was satisfied with the argument, they started attending to Donatus. At about 12:18a.m Donatus Okafor was pronounced dead,” Ezeonu said.

My Petition
“The doctor and nurses at Ago Hospital Okota, Isolo General Hospital, Isolo and Ikeja General Hospital Ikeja all showed little or no human concern and feeling by sending us away and even denied us the use of their ambulance services thereby contributing to the untimely death of my friend Donatus Okafor, who was left to bleed without treatment for over three hours.

“I feel that Donatus would have been alive today if more prompt attention had been given to him at any or all of the three hospitals visited that night. Use of the ambulance services which are strictly for emergency purposes such as mine was denied without any reason whatsoever. I am thus convinced that the staff of the three hospitals above were ultimately culpable for the death of my friend, Donatus, in clear violation of their Hippocratic oath.”
Ezeonu, therefore, wants the Nigeria Medical and Dental Council to investigate this matter and bring the hospitals to book if found culpable.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2008/aug/26/national-26-08-2008-003.htm

I read the news this morning and couldn't help shedding some tears for the unfortunate incident. I really feel for the lady(fiancee), to make matters worse, i think she's not that young, but advanced in age.

I hope she changes her mind about marriage anyway, who knows, God might be planning something greater for her, something beyond all human expectations.

The Nigerian Medical Association on the other hand need to sit up. This is just one out of the many neglected mortality cases. They still have a long way to go, especially in handling emergencies. The non chant attitude of our Doctors and Nurses are becoming alarming, and need serious rectification before more harm is done. The Nigerian police also have to buckle up.

God help Nigeria.

poor woman.

Chei. I hope she gets some form of counseling. That is a most tragic thing to go through.

Nigerians, with all their yeye church-going, do not appreciate the value of human life.

sad story.
i believe with time she wud get over the trauma.

so sad,