Olushola John Joshua, a 57-year-old who is a retired Assistant Superintendent of Police has narrated his heartbreaking story of how he lost his eyes while doing his job.
He lost the eyes while he was an Inspector and the patrol Commander at the Ajao Division of the Lagos State Police Command.
Speaking on the incident in a recent interview with Vanguard, he said;
“I was on official duty as the then patrol commander at Ajao estate division when I received a distress call from the Management of Chivita company that some hoodlums had broken into their warehouse and were looting their products and that they needed policemen to help restore normalcy to the area.
”Few minutes later, the then Divisional Police Officer, who also received the distress call from Chivita, called me immediately and asked me to go to the company with my team to ensure that adequate security was provided there. As my team and I were about leaving, I received another call on my walkie talkie through a radio message from the police command control room by the Area Commander, who directed me to move to the scene and give him security report of the incident.
“As soon as we got to the company, we alighted from the patrol van, at one of the entrances, we saw more than 500 persons inside the premises. The people the management alleged were hoodlums were so many. I knew that there was no way that number of hoodlums could invade the company to steal anything. So, I asked some members of the team to man the other entrance while a few others and I went through the main entrance.
“Unknown to me that someone was waiting to attack us with chemical substance. Immediately we entered the premises, they threw different missiles at us. One of the canisters they threw landed on my head and exploded. Its content poured on my head and covered my face. As I made an attempt to run back, while groping in the dark, I fell down, writhing in excruciating pain. The people started shouting, “one of them has fallen”, “collect his gun”, “collect his gun”.
As I could not see anywhere, I managed to stand up and began to move, I didn’t know the direction I was moving to. I corked my gun, fired some shots on the ground to scare my attackers and I discovered that the people who were coming close withdrew. By then, some of my men held my hand and dragged me to the vehicle, they took me to Hidat private hospital, where doctors made frantic efforts to treat me but said that it was beyond them. I was referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH , where I spent seven days. From there, I was referred to another hospital. Yet, I was told that the problem could not be solved.