Miss Mercy Okpithe joined the Dance Troupe on the
Orientation Camp of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Anambra
State in November 2012. But four months later she was severely beaten up
by the Camp Commandant.Captain S.O. Beke attacked her about
11:00p.m on Monday, March 18, this year. She allegedly fainted and was
rushed to the camp clinic. The following day, she was transferred to the
Anambra State University Teaching Hospital, Awka. At the hospital, she
was diagnosed with dislocation of coccyx, a small triangular bone at the
base of the spinal column.The hospital further referred her to
the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, for special attention.
It was gathered that she might be flown abroad for surgery.Mercy
was visited by the correspondent in her home at Lagos. As she lay down
on a couch in their living room, the young lady writhed in pains, even
as she struggled to answer the reporter’s questions. “When the Batch A
corps members were in the Orientation Camp in March, this year, the NYSC
officials invited members of the Dance Troupe to the camp to teach the
new corps members how to dance. We got to the camp in the evening of
Sunday, March 17.“We were 15 all together: 11 boys and four
girls. The girls were not meant to stay together in the same room with
the boys. But we had to because there was no vacant room. The following
morning, the NYSC State Coordinator gave a directive that a separate
room should be given to the girls. But the officials could not find a
vacant room for us.“So, they put us in one of the rooms occupied
by some Batch ‘A’ female corps members. We took two mattresses each to
the place. There were no bunks. So, we spread the mattresses on the
ground. Thereafter, the other three girls slept but I was still awake. I
was listening to music on my phone, using an earpiece.“Around
11:00p.m., some soldiers came into the room. They were both males and
females. I felt it was a normal thing because they did the same thing
when I was in the camp for orientation exercise in November 2012. Then, I
noticed that a female soldier was arguing with one of my friends,
Ifedayo Fakehinde.“Then, the female soldier forcefully removed
one of the mattresses which she slept on. Ifedayo sought to know her
offence and the soldier hit her. I quickly rose up and caught her as she
was falling. Otherwise, she would have hit her head against the wall.
But she sprained her hand.“The incident caused a scene. Many
corps members came out and argued with the soldiers. As this was going
on, Ifedayo was crying. We calmed her down. Then, the NYSC Schedule
Officer came around. He sought to know what happened. As I was
explaining what I knew about the incident to him, I heard the voice of
the Camp Commandant telling all the corps members to go inside.“Before
I finished my explanation, the commandant came and pushed me. I sought
to know why he pushed me. But he pushed me again. I told him to stop
pushing me because he could not push his sister like that. But he
continued until he pushed me to the wall. Then, he kicked me from the
ground and I hit the ground with my back. I couldn’t move. Then, I heard
other soldiers saying ‘die, die, die’ till I passed out.”According
to a sourse, the Schedule Officer ran to call the State Coordinator,
Mrs. I.B. Ekpe, when the commandant was purportedly beating the corps
member.Mr. Solomon Okpithe, Mercy’s father, said an official of
the NYSC called him on phone in the afternoon of Tuesday, March 19,
telling him that Mercy was involved in an accident and that he should
come to Awka immediately.The official told Mercy’s father to
come with somebody who would stay in the teaching hospital to take care
of Mercy. When he got to the hospital with his wife at about 12:30p.m
the following day, they were shocked to hear that she was brutalised by
the camp commandant. Okpithe said the first thing that came to his mind
was how to save his daughter’s life. He sought to see the Chief Medical
Director (CMD) of the teaching hospital but could not see him until
about 7:00p.m when he came out from the theatre.“I asked the CMD
about my daughter’s condition, but he said the hospital could not
handle it and he would refer her to Enugu. I told him that I was from
Lagos and asked if he could refer her to any hospital in Lagos. Then, he
said he would refer her to Igbobi. Immediately, he instructed the
doctor that was in charge to write the letter.“On Thursday
morning, we were at Igbobi. The doctors at the hospital tried but the
sad thing is that they told us they could not handle it too. They said
it’s not just an orthopaedic case but something that has to do with the
spine. They treated her and asked us to take her home. Then, they gave
an appointment,” he said.On the next appointment day, according
to Okpithe, the hospital said the first option, which was the treatment
by orthopaedic doctors, had failed. “They said they were taking another
option now and if it fails, the third option would be a surgery.”
Okpithe, who has since been responsible for his daughter’s hospital
bills, disclosed that Mrs. Ekpe promised the family that NYSC would
reinburse whatever amount spent on the treatment, adding that Ekpe said
she had informed the national secretariat of NYSC in Abuja about the
development and had also written a letter to the NYSC in Lagos State
about the incident.“I have received calls from one Mrs. Daniel
from the NYSC Office, Lagos, telling me I should accept their sympathy
on my daughter. But on the other hand, Mrs Ekpe never stated the cause
of the dislocation. I know she’s doing that to protect the officer.”
Okpithe, an engineer, urged the Chief of Army Staff to ensure proper
reform of the army, especially those in charge of NYSC.He also
advised the Federal Government to provide necessary items for corps
members on the camp. The issue of inadequate mattresses, he said, caused
the problem. When contacted on phone to react to the claims, Captain
Beke neither confirmed nor denied the incident.
Culled from SunNews