Is Governor Fashola Becoming A Bad Governor? - By Uzoma Ahamefule

By Uzoma Ahamefule

How can Nigerians be governed with this high level of cruelty by means of obnoxious laws here and there? Why is it that laws are executed with the speed like that of an angry hunting lion when it has to do with the poor in this country but when it concerns the bigger criminals in the name of political leaders and elites every government begins to form committees that never find them guilty? Why this impunity of recklessness?

Why is it that Nigerian leaders at various levels are very insensitive to the cry of the people, but yet expect to win the war against crime and social vices? Objectively speaking, how can Nigeria’s “vision 2020” policy of being one of the world’s leading political and economical powers in 2020 be realized when average Nigerian citizens still live under $1 per day and their leaders do not see them as partners but rather treat issues concerning them like masters and slaves?

What have we Nigerians done wrong to our leaders?

Who is advising Governor Fashola with this heinous law to ban commercial motorcyclists popularly known as ’okadas’ in Lagos State without first of all honestly providing an alternative? This law is nasty and has got no human face. I was shocked and felt sick when I saw thousands destroyed motorcycles proudly displayed to news men/women as an achievement by the agents of Governor Fashola as ’okadas’ of those that failed the traffic laws. Oh, my heart bleeds! I do not know if Governor Fashola is aware that as his agents destroyed those thousands of ‘okadas’ that they also destroyed many homes, shattered many dreams, jeopardized the future of many children and created more hooligans and criminals.

By Nigerian standards of governance and development, Governor Fashola is one of the very few governors in Nigeria that I still respect and that is why I am making my stand known. Can somebody please tell Governor Fashola that he has at this juncture woefully failed the people because the reason of banning ‘okadas’ is shallow and laughable? If part of the reasons of banning commercial ‘okada’ operators was because many of the riders were engaged in nefarious activities with their ‘okadas’, can we now say because of some people that may be thieving politicians in Lagos State that we should stop having a government in the state?

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo said that there are rogues and thieves at the National Assemblies. Can we now ban law making in Nigeria because of many of these merciless Nigerian law makers in the National Assemblies whose primary interests as evidence has shown have always been to increase their salaries without recourse to its effect on the nation and without plans to make laws that could rehabilitate the shameful health system in Nigeria or to build railways or undergrounds in order to make the everyday agony of life for poor Nigerians easier that ignited the ‘okada’ business? Can we say because there are too many air crashes in Nigeria due to the fact that a few individuals assigned with the responsibility to certify that planes are in very good conditions before they are put in use have collected bribes in order to allow coffins to airlift Nigerians ban the use of aircrafts? Or can we because of numerous motor accidents in Nigeria as a result of the failures of government at various levels ban the use of motors?

Governor Fashola said that it was because of many ‘okada’ accidents that made him ban commercial motorcyclists. What did he do to reduce the number of accidents before this unfounded action? Is it not the responsibility of every government to find out the causes of problems? Did Governor Fashola’s government try to find out why there were many ‘okada’ accident cases? Do the agents of the governor, ‘LASMA’ who is the body of the executioners of this unfriendly law have the ordinary alcohol testing instruments in order to examine and know who is driving under the influence of alcohol on Lagos roads especially when an accident occurs? Did the government of Governor Fashola provide standard traffic signs and speed limits on all the roads where he has banned ‘okadas’? Can Governor Fashola scientifically prove how many of these ’okada’ riders are qualified riders or that are mentally stable to use motorcycles?

Take sentiments and emotions away from the fact that there have been ‘okada’ accidents and ’okada’ related robberies and look at the issue critically. If Governor Fashola did not carry out all these vital elementary assignments, how sound would it be for him to stand up one morning and ban ‘okada’ operators? If Governor Fashola cannot comfortably provide answers to the aforementioned questions; can he now see that the people did not fail but rather the inability of the Lagos State government not to have thoroughly viewed the issue and come up with an impeccable solution that failed the masses? The social implication of this decision is devastating on the people and can never address the issue of accidents he raised until his government takes a very reasonable measure to control and discipline many Lagosians whom out of ignorance or stupidity have formed the habits of navigating bicycles, tricycles, motorcycles or motors under the heavy influence of alcohol, hard drugs or without licences.

What Lagos State government or other states where they have banned ’okadas’ should have done in this situation should have been to research first and then look for a fair and logical method of arriving at a resolution that should not be more harmful to the society than the problem/s they were trying to avoid after also due consideration that it was unemployment that led to the ’okada’ business in the first place. Because even up to the late 80s we did not have commercial ’okadas’, therefore, government agents should have figured out carefully on how a few miscreants in their midst should have been identified and dealt with accordingly without raising tension instead of this indiscriminate ban.

If Governor Fashola continues to refuse to reverse this anti-masses law, the governor may have indirectly advocated that Nigerian banks should be closed because there are some bank managers who cooperate with fraudsters to steal millions or some workers of some banks who work with criminals by informing them when, where and how to break their banks and steal monies. If this obnoxious law is allowed to stand, Governor Fashola has equally advocated that the Nigeria police should be closed because there are many criminals and bribe takers in their midst whose work also has been to gather false evidences against helpless poor Nigerians. Some Nigerian military men/women have been dismissed from service, charged to court and found guilty as criminals. Consequently, the military should also be scraped in Nigeria because they are equally a failure since some of them supply sophisticated arms to armed robbers to kill and wreak havoc on Nigerians in the night in return for money while some of them have been accused to be sponsors, informants and trainers of Boko Haram.

I feel pained to see that Governor Fashola has quickly started to play over our collective intelligence with a massive campaign that since the ban of commercial ‘okadas’ that the number of accidents has reduced in Lagos State, but decided to remain silent whether crime reduced or increased.

Governor Fashola, do not forget that directly or indirectly you used the same ’okada’ people during your election campaign for votes. Why did you not ban ‘okadas’ before the 2011 election? Contrarily you made a law for all ‘okada’ riders and their passengers to be within certain safety standards before they could operate in Lagos State? Could that law have been a mistake on the side of your government or a calculated attempt to deceptively win the confidence and the vote of the ‘okada’ riders? Most of the ‘okada’ riders who bought their motorcycles under credit or ‘higher purchase’ borrowed money to comply to your order and now that you are comfortably sitting as the executive governor of Lagos State not only that you have stopped their source of daily bread but have also destroyed their production companies (‘okadas’) leaving them to gnash their teeth in pains and agony without anybody to turn to.

Because in Nigeria everything is possible, therefore, dear Governor Fashola, could it be that the idea of safety gadgets was not well thought of when you came up with the policy or that some people in your cabinet could have imported helmets without your knowledge and had mounted pressure for the implementation of the helmet law through advice so that their business could flourish? And now, perhaps the business of helmets seems no longer lucrative they have again channeled their deceptive policy somewhere and ‘okada’ operators and their families can go to hell.

Dear Governor Fashola, this is a message from your fellow governor who also happens to be in the same party “ACN” like you, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State , “I think it’s, for me, a class issue and I belong to the working class, so I cannot ban ‘okada’. First, I believe that ‘okada’ is a response to certain deficit in our intra-urban transportation system. From the 60s to the 70s to the 80s, we never had ‘okada’. If you ask a lady to take a ride on a motorbike it was like a taboo. Now it has became fashionable to have a woman and two children on top of a bike. It is not a culture choice. It is as a result of deficit in our intra-city transportation system.”

Dear Governor Fashola, I appeal to you like many others to please reverse this policy because a good leader must have good listening ears. Do not allow us to begin to compare you with the worst governor in Nigeria , Dr. T. A. Orji of Abia State who has unnecessarily channeled all his energy in social attacks against Dr. Orji Uzo Kalu instead of working for Abians.

A governor that one of his best achievements so far was the sacking of all non indigene workers from other eastern states because of bad advisers should not be the kind of governor we should compare Governor Fashola with. One hopes that Governor Fashola is not taking this direction and is listening to the voice of reason.

The ban of ‘okadas’ from Delta State to Lagos State or anywhere in Nigeria under any guise is an economic murder on the part of the poor masses. However, if Governor Fashola insists not to heed to the plea of the people, well, we will grudgingly and helplessly succumb to his wish, but he should understand that he has only used his position and might against us but has not won our respect and that a day shall come when Lagosians will remind him this issue like the way Nigerians have kept on reminding IBB the annulment of June 12 that has irredeemably murdered his political return to ‘Aso Rock’.

May God bless Governor Fashola, bless Lagos State and bless Nigeria!

Uzoma Ahamefule
A patriotic concerned citizen writes from Vienna, Austria
uzomaah@yahoo.com

A Sad Loss… Pregnant Woman Dies in Hospital Over Husband’s Inability to Pay N20,000 Deposit

The practice of asking for a cash deposit in hospitals before administering treatment and the inability to pay the requested amount has been the sad cause of death of several patients. In Port Harcourt, something similar occurred recently when a lady, pregnant with her first child, died over her husband’s inability to pay the requested deposit.

PM News reports that on November 25th 2012, a 34 year old woman, Ijeoma Umumadumere, was rushed to the  Garrison Clinic in Port Harcourt when she complained of a sudden stomach pain and headache, while cooking.  She was five-months pregnant.

At the hospital, doctors insisted her husband must pay N20,000 before she was treated. However, he had only N5,000 on him and used it to  offset registration and other costs. But the doctors and nurses would not attend to his wife because he didn’t pay the N20,000 that was being demanded as a precondition for treatment. When he realised the doctors were not going to attend to his wife, he took her to another hospital but sadly, it was too late and she died.

The anger and frustration over her death was expressed by her brother, Uzoma Ahamefule who wrote a heartfelt letter to PM News. In the letter, Uzoma who lives in Austria said he couldn’t understand why doctors in a Nigerian hospital could have treated his sister that way.

“Her husband begged the doctor and the nurses to attend to her since they had collected about N5, 000 he had in his pocket in the name of registration and other little things while he would go home and bring money. He had also told them that because of the nature of the emergency and the way his wife had been shouting while on the ground that his mind had only been pre-occupied with the thoughts of rushing her to any nearby hospital and had not thought of money or any other thing as he had even forgotten to put on shoes, but all his pleading and explanations to the doctor and the nurses had fallen onto deaf ears. With her pains increasing and death knocking and the doctor and the nurses refusing to understand, there was no way he could have left her there unattended, to go home and bring money. He took her and headed to another hospital, but unfortunately my sister did not make it as the damage had already been done before the doctors in that second hospital could do something reasonable to save her life.”

“What a country, what a failure and what a loss! This is a sad story of the sorry state of the Nigerian health policy, how Nigerians are heartlessly and carelessly neglected because of money by doctors and nurses to die in hospitals, and how I lost my sister to a failed system.”

In a lot of private and public hospitals in Nigeria, this sort of deposit is usually demanded even in cases of emergency. Doctors and nurses would refuse to attend to a patient until the money is paid. In the event that this money is unavailable, the patient lies in pain and his or her health suffers.

Her death is really sad and calls for a discussion on this practice. What can be done to ensure that in our hospitals, the life of a patient is taken as priority? We understand that in most cases, the hospitals are trying to prevent a situation whereby a patient would be treated and they won’t get paid for the services rendered, however, losing a life over N20,000 is inexcusable. Are the doctors not obligated to render their services in emergency cases or is this a proper medical practice?

Let’s discuss.

My Pregnant Sister Abandoned To Die By Doctors and Nurses In “Garrison Clinic”, Port- Harcourt

What a country, what a failure and what a loss! This is a sad story of the sorry state of the Nigerian health policy, how Nigerians are heartlessly and carelessly neglected because of money by doctors and nurses to die in hospitals, and how I lost my sister to a failed system. I am in sorrow and pains as I am writing this now with tears and

anger.

Late Ijeoma Umumadumere nee Ahamefule (January 2012) 

I have lost my sister! I have lost my sister, Ijeoma who was five months pregnant to the unprofessional conduct of a doctor and a quack policy of a clinic called “Garrison Clinic” situated at 10 Udom Street around Garrison roundabout in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria!

Since the heart breaking news of her death, sleep has deserted me as her thoughts and images have beclouded my brain and enveloped my eyes. 

"God, you gave me legs and hands to walk, work and eat, and I use them and I have been unreservedly grateful. God, you gave me eyes, brain and mouth to see, think and talk, and it will be a crime against natural law and a sin against you  if I do not use them. Therefore; why did  you allow death to kill the innocent child  that was in my sister’s stomach and still allow my sister to die such a humiliating and excruciating death?"

The sad news came that my sister was cooking and suddenly shouted, “My stomach, my stomach, ah headache!”, and she was immediately rushed to a nearby clinic called “Garrison Clinic” between 9-10 am on 25 November 2012 by her husband. At the clinic the quack doctor on duty refused to attend to her unless the sum of N20, 000 naira was deposited. Her husband begged the doctor and the nurses to attend to her since they had collected about N5, 000 he had had in his pocket in the name of registration and other little things while he would go home and bring money. He had also told them that because of the nature of the emergency and the way his wife had been shouting while on the ground that his mind had only been pre-occupied with the thoughts of rushing her to any nearby hospital and had not thought of money or any other thing as he had even forgotten to put on shoes, but all his pleading and explanations to the doctor and the nurses had fallen into deaf ears. With her pains increasing and death knocking and the doctor and the nurses refusing to understand, there was no way he could have let her there unattended to go home and bring money. He took her and headed to another hospital, but unfortunately my sister did not make it as the damage had already been done before the doctors in that second hospital could do something reasonable to save her life.

"If this is not the preaching of Governor Rotimi Amechi of Rivers State and his health system, then the license of a clinic or a hospital like this quack “Garrison Clinic” with unprofessional nurses and doctors that stamped the death of my sister while alive should be withdrawn to avoid the deaths of more innocent souls."

I have lost my sister to a failed system and I do not know if these painful feelings will ever go. Eh! Death, you hit me so very hard, you are cruel. God, who says that you cannot be questioned? Job, on his agonizing mat with gummy leprosy, questioned you when he cursed the day he had been born. God, even Jesus Christ, your only son, when nails where pierced through his body by the Jewish people on the cross of Cavalry and his pains became unbearable, he questioned you when he asked, “God, have you forsaken me?” So I ask: are you there? God, you gave me legs and hands to walk, work and eat, and I use them and I have been unreservedly grateful. God, you gave me eyes, brain and mouth to see, think and talk, and it will be a crime against natural law and a sin against you if I do not use them. Therefore; why did you allow death to kill the innocent child that was in my sister’s stomach and still allow my sister to die such a humiliating and excruciating death? 

"Ijeoma, it hurts me so very much to know that as I write this now you are lying in the mortuary."

Oh, my pains are unbearable and words cannot express my sorrow and disappointment knowing that my sister probably would have still been alive today if not for the negligence of somebody! I feel a deep cut in my heart knowing that my sister struggled, cried, begged and gasped for breath of survival in front of those who could have done something that perhaps could have at least psychologically sustained her to fight on. I feel the pains my sister must have gone through in this quack "Garrison Clinic" that was supposed to be professional in saving lives but was not. I feel how my sister may have lost hope to fight on when that quack doctor did not respect the ethics and norms of his profession. I can guess the questions on the lips of my sister as a Christian to God when that evil man without human feelings who masqueraded as a doctor stamped her death certificate by rejecting her plea to be helped and turned his back on a dying pregnant woman.

Dear sister Ijeoma, it is aching to know that you are gone. The last time I spoke with you was two weeks ago and your voice and the jokes we had betrayed everything that it would be my last discussion with you. Thus, the news that you had gone beyond human reach came to me with a great shock. At first I did not believe it and thought that I was dreaming. In desperation to satisfy this hurting curiosity and to put myself out of my delusion that you were still alive, I called your number. I called you repeatedly because I was very confused and wanted to try the fairy tale that says that sometimes when people die unexpectedly they could still answer their phones, and I wanted to hear your voice even if it should be the voice of your spirit. But when the answers from your phone continued to be the same that the number I was calling was switched off, I came to accept the unfortunate reality that you were no more. You were gone, gone forever. I stood speechless and felt a heavy strike in my heart as my phone fell off. My hand trembled as I picked my phone to call our sisters and brothers to protest that you should not be put in the mortuary because you could probably be sleeping deeply and would wake up, but I stared at my phone because the imagination of your image was all I saw as my tears pumped.  

"Wherever you are, please find a forgiving mind as the entire family members are in tears, pains and sorrow."

Ijeoma, it hurts me so very much to know that as I write this now you are lying in the mortuary. Death made you shed hot tears and snatched you away from us without enough resistance in such a cruel form. Your husband drove you in his car after you had been rejected in this quack “Garrison Clinic” to another hospital with one hand controlling the steering and another hand cleaning your eyes, begging and urging you to hang on while controlling your restlessness as you struggled against death. He said your tears at the last minutes of your death when you were lying motionlessly and could no longer struggle or utter a word but knew that it was over could full cups. In those your tears he saw you telling him "Darling, I don't want to leave you." Ijeoma, your husband saw a lot of unspoken words in those your tears, and he has promised not to put you to shame but to show you how much he loves you even in death. 

Ijeoma, your Ahamefule family is deeply sorry because we did not help you not because we did not want to but because we did not know. If only we knew that such cruelty would befall you because of a hospital and a doctor, we would have afforded to keep you in a very good hospital that would have been able to take special care of your pregnancy until you would have delivered your baby boy that was equally a victim of a failed system, and even if we had not had money we could have borrowed. Wherever you are, please find a forgiving mind as the entire family members are in tears, pains and sorrow. We do not even know how our old mama at the village will feel to know that you are now sadly covered in an isolated cold room somewhere.

"Access to medical treatments should not be a privilege in Nigeria but a necessity especially when it is between death and life." 

My sister is gone but her death cannot be in vain. I call on the members of the National Assembly upper/lower houses, Ministry of Health, Government of Rivers State, Nigerian Medical Association, Human Rights activists, Nigerian police force, all the NGO’s that fight for the rights of women in any form in Nigeria, cooperate bodies, concerned individuals, Nigerian press men and women, and all the authorities concerned in issues like this to please rise to defend humanity. I appeal that the license of this very quack clinic “GARRISON CLINIC”, located at 10 Udom Street, in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, should be suspended or withdrawn until full investigation into its role that led to the death of my sister is carried out while the doctors on duty as at the time my sister was taken to the hospital should be arrested and prosecuted for negligence of duty and manslaughter.

Who knows how many people that have died in their hands in similar circumstances? Who knows how many Nigerians that are dying every day in different Nigerian hospitals in the same manner? I thought that the National Assembly passed a law forbidding any doctor to refuse treatment to people under emergencies.

"If tears could bring the dead back, IJ, the tears of the entire family would form an ocean that you would not be motionlessly lying in the cold room alone right now."

Access to medical treatments should not be a privilege in Nigeria but a necessity especially when it is between death and life.

The pains of my family cannot be imagined by anyone and the thought alone that my sister was allowed to die because of N20, 000 naira that was not up to what one gave out even at the point she was said to be at that hospital begging to be saved makes one´s pain even more severe. It was also not that her husband could not have afforded the money but because these dishonorable doctor and nurses refused to understand. It is inhuman and wicked. It is unprofessional, morally and ethically wrong for a doctor to see the dangerous condition of a pregnant woman like my sister and abandon her to die in such a horrifying manner.

This could happen to anyone. What happens in terms of an accident when one is probably driving some kilometers away from home and perhaps is not with up to N10, 000 or any money in the pocket and must be attended to with urgency? It means that person must die. If this is not the preaching of Governor Rotimi Amechi of Rivers State and his health system, then the license of a clinic or a hospital like this quack “Garrison Clinic” with unprofessional nurses and doctors that stamped the death of my sister while alive should be withdrawn to avoid the deaths of more innocent souls. Because if this quack hospital was not there, the husband of my sister would definitely not have wasted the time of taking his wife there and my sister may still be alive today because she died out of the negligence of a demigod-doctor. 

Therefore, for the avoidance of similar future occurrences, we have to allow the law to take its course in this case and set a very good example that should be a deterrent to other hospitals and doctors.

Dear sister, the cut is very fresh and the memory still very, very painful. If tears could bring the dead back, IJ, the tears of the entire family would form an ocean that you would not be motion,lessly lying in the cold room alone right now. IJ, the whole Ahamefule family has been devastated because it was so sudden and without any sign that you will be going so soon, but you are gone. However, there is no doubt in our minds that you are resting in the bosom of the Lord. And we believe, IJ that we shall see again, but this time in a place where we all will know no more sorrow, pains and tears, where we will not be rejected by doctors, hospitals or failed by a system.

Ijeoma, our family still loves you even in death. It is really very difficult for me to use the word, “bye”, knowing that you are still in the mortuary, but that is the cruelty and the misery of life. Nevertheless, rest in peace my dear, and take care over there till we meet to part no more. 

We miss you.

Adieu!

Your loving brother, Uzoma Ahamefule