It’s with anger and shock that I read the newspaper account of how police shot and killed a young promising man at a checkpoint in Agbor,at the Ika Local Government Area of Delta state. Not only that, that medical personnel refused to attend to him for about 5 hours till he gave up the ghost! What country is this!

Gabriel Murdi, 23 years old, was a young graduate recently employed by Zenith Bank, and had just collected his appointment letter in Lagos and on his way to Delta in company of two of his friends when they were flagged down by (Murderers in Uniform) Policemen at checkpoint only for one of them to shoot at the car hitting the lad at the back! And the next thing they did was to zoom off in their patrol car! Leaving the poor folks to sort themselves out! What callousness!

Perhaps theirs was minimal compared to that displayed by the Medical Personnel at Agbor Central Hospital where he was rushed to at 6:30 pm and was not attended to! They reportedly asked for Police report initially, and when it was obtained, demanded for deposits before treatment! What wickedness and debased value for human life! An ungrateful attitude to the giver of life!

The Policemen at that checkpoint should be found out and brought to book and the medical personnel on duty at the hospital should be questioned, sanctioned and their licence to practice withdrawn. The Federal Government should also review its policy on gunshot victims brought to hospitals for treatments. Also, a psychiatric test should be conducted on men who are given guns to handle in the Nigerian Police to be sure of their mental stability especially the men in black-black kits. They are the worst culprits of checkpoint killings.

It’s high time; a proper training is given to men in uniform and a total reorientation to value life as well. And to everyone in the society to appreciate, what it means to save a life.