Tobi Aworinde , Abuja
An Abuja -based medical doctor , Daniel Eitokpah , who was detained after trying to revive a suicide victim , Michael Arowosaiye, has described his exoneration as providential .
Arowosaiye , who was a gospel artist with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, had reportedly hanged himself on Tuesday at Sunnyvale Estate, Lokogoma District , Abuja .

An Instagram user, Eitokpah Henri -Paul , had posted a series of videos on Wednesday , with a caption that read in part, “ My brother, a medical doctor , along with two onlookers were detained for trying to help resuscitate a young man who committed suicide yesterday. The police have him held for no reason ; they named them as suspects , and asked them to write statements without any reason for detaining them .”
Daniel , who graduated from Ternopil State Medical School, Ukraine in 2016 and completed his house job at the National Hospital , Abuja , is a National Youth Service Corps member .

The doctor , in an interview with our correspondent , said he lived in Sunnyvale Estate, where the incident occurred on Tuesday evening .
“I went to a friend ’s place within the estate ; she had made a pot of soup for me , so I wanted to pick it up. On my way out of the place , just walking to my car , two blocks away where the incident happened , I saw some men , about five guys . One of them was shouting for help. Rather than enter my car , I walked towards the small crowd to find out what was happening.

“The guy shouting for help was saying , ‘There is someone inside the house —at the back— hanging himself .’ He kept repeating it and I was trying to be careful to understand the scene and what was going on . I initially thought it was a kidnap attempt , so I tried to distance myself from the people .

“I asked him, ‘If you know there is someone hanging himself inside the house , why don’ t you go and help him ?’ He said he was scared as there were dogs in the house . So , I asked the neighbour standing by, ‘ Can you go to the back and peep over the fence to see if this is true?’ He ran there , confirmed it and came back shouting , ‘It ’s true, there ’s someone there hanging himself .’”

According to Daniel , the picture he got was that the victim was in the act of hanging himself .
“That prompted us to quickly go inside; we actually scaled the fence and ran to the back of the house where we saw the guy . He was hanging on a wire but his feet were touching the ground , and I ran to him , held him off the ground to free his neck from the strain of the wire .

“The other guys came and took the wire off his neck . We placed him on the floor . I assessed him , checked for a pulse , but there was no sign of a pulse . So , I immediately started performing CPR ( cardiopulmonary resuscitation ) .
“I continued doing CPR , thinking this thing just happened but there was still no response ; his body was stiff . I did CPR until a bystander said , ‘Don ’t worry , he’ s dead . You have tried .’ So , I stopped . Honestly, it was like a dream to me . I think as I was doing CPR , someone was calling the police and the estate security,” he stated .

He explained that the chief security officer in the estate arrived before the divisional police officer , who came after about 20 minutes .
He said , “There were about 10 of us that actually entered the house to rescue that guy , but most of them left when they heard that the police were coming . So when the DPO got to the scene, it was just a few of us that were around — me , the man who saw the guy hanging himself and the neighbour , who was like the deceased ’s flat mate .
“We explained to the DPO everything that happened , how we heard a guy shouting for help and went there . I explained to him that I thought it was something that had just happened and tried to resuscitate him .

“I explained everything I did to him and his response was , ‘You are a doctor . You should know that you are not meant to tamper with the evidence .’ I tried to explain to him that the information we got was that the guy was in the act ; if there was an iota of life in that guy , at least, we should give him a chance .”
Daniel noted that the DPO , from the moment he appeared on the scene, kept addressing him in a demeaning manner .

He said they were taken to the police station from there ; and while at the station , he overheard the DPO tell the Commissioner of Police that three suspects have been arrested in connection to the incident .
“Shortly after , the commissioner of police came in and I heard the DPO telling the CP , ‘We have arrested three suspects . ’ I felt that the statement meant a lot . The DPO , the CP , my father , my pastor and church members of the deceased went back to the scene of the suicide.

“God just had it that there were CCTV cameras around the house . There was one directly facing the entrance of the boys ’ quarters where the guy had hanged himself . That was our saving grace .
“It showed everything — how the suicide took place . Immediately they saw we were not guilty , they made a call to the police station to prepare for our release ,” he said .

Asked if the experience would discourage him from helping victims in the future , he said , “Definitely . I have spoken to many of my colleagues after this and the advice they gave me was , ‘Daniel , this is Nigeria . When you see something happening, just keep walking .’”

When contacted, the acting Police Public Relations Officer in Abuja , Danjuma Gajere , said , “ There was a CCTV in the house . When the policemen watched the CCTV , they saw that nobody ( besides the victim ) participated in that suicide , so they released them immediately , on the same day .
“After the police asked them to write their statements , they removed the corpse and started investigation immediately . When they saw the CCTV footage , they released them immediately . They did not even arrest them ; they asked them to go. It was just an invitation .”

https://punchng.com/how-cctv-saved-me-from-arrest-doctor-who-tried-to-rescue-rccg-gospel-artiste-that-committed-suicide/