Tomari Emmanuel, a victim of alleged police brutality, has recounted how he was shot by police officers in Lagos in 2011, an incident that left him with permanent impairment of his right hand and drastically altered the course of his life.
Fifteen years after the incident, Emmanuel says his efforts to obtain justice remain unsuccessful despite securing a judgment against the police in 2015. He also alleges that repeated attempts to enforce the judgment have been frustrated by the police and other government institutions. At the same time, the injury has affected his career, marriage and ability to earn a living.
In this interview with THE WHISTLER, Emmanuel recounts the shooting, his struggle to save his hand, the legal battle that has lasted more than a decade and his current efforts to raise funds for reconstructive surgery.
Excerpts…
My name is Tomari Emmanuel, and I’m a victim of police brutality, and I’ve been seeking justice since 2011. I was shot by drunk policemen in Lagos while driving home. And I lost the use of my right hand.
It was September 30th, 2011. I left the office quite late because of a programme we had the next day. The day was on a Friday, right? I left office around 10 p.m. in the evening, picked up a colleague of mine, and was heading home.
So there’s a usual route that I used to take home. I got there around 10. And at a roadblock, there were these police officers, about five of them. So on getting there, they stopped us for stop and search. Actually, the officer asked me to identify myself, and I gave him my ID card as a press official.
And he asked me to park. I was the creative director at a reputable company during that time.
And so he asked me to park, and I looked at my rear-view mirror. I saw there were like two other cars. So while I was trying to park, I heard gunshots.
My friend and I in the car were, you know, surprised. Like two gunshots consecutively, so as I was trying to park, the third gunshot that we heard came through the boot of my car. And I was still relaxed in the car, trying to park. My right hand was on the armrest, one hand on the steering. And I felt the bullet come through the boot of my car, hit my hand, and went into the dashboard.
At that time, blood was everywhere. You know, blood was gushing out of everywhere. I slammed the brake, put the gear in park, and came down. At the sound of the gunshots, the whole area became tense. People took off, and I faced the officer saying I’d been shot.
I’ve been shot, I’ve been shot. My friend had already opened the car door and dived to the ground and we were trying to figure out what was happening.
So as soon as I told the officer I’d been shot, he immediately faced the other officers and shouted, who shot, who shot, who shot, you have been shot. And they ran, and they took off as though nothing happened.
We were surprised. And I was still holding my hand while blood was gushing out.
So being in shock, I suddenly realised that they were right in front of their division, their police station. It’s Akuwanjo Police Division, Lagos. I was actually heading towards Egbeda, so to connect Egbeda, I had to go through Akuwanjo.
At that moment, the whole place had cleared off; the two cars behind, drove off, and I realised it was in front of their police station.
So my friend and I ran towards the police station, which was about 20 to 30 steps from the main road. At that time, the five police officers had ran; they took off.
And we were surprised. So on getting to the police station, the policemen that were inside the police station were trying to come out, because of the gunshot and all that.
They started asking us questions, to identify ourselves. Are we armed robbers, why did they shoot at us and stuff like that. At that time, my friend was trying to make them understand that I’m bleeding out.
So what came to mind was to put pressure on the wound. At that time, I didn’t even know that the bullet actually hit an artery, which was why the blood was so much. So, while trying to, you know, put pressure on it, I thought of calling my family, you know, getting across to them to inform them of what had happened.
And, I suddenly blacked out while walking towards the car. I fainted. When I regained consciousness, I was drenched in blood. I was sitting on the floor.
They actually poured a lot of water on me, you know, trying to wake me up; some people thought that I was dead. So people had already come out. My friend told me I’d been out for like 30 minutes and they had to tie something to put pressure on the bullet wound.
So the people that were there around, they got a taxi and they rushed me down to Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). On that Friday, the police took a report; you know, the name of the police officer that shot me, the badge number and everything was taken on record.
So I was taken to the hospital. On getting to the hospital, there was no doctor in the emergency room. They actually dressed the wound and being the eve of Independence Day. There was no doctor. So it was like a holiday and I was left there till like Sunday.
Throughout Saturday, they kept telling my family and me that the doctors would soon come, doctors will soon come until we realise that, come, no help is coming. It’s a holiday. And I had to call my office, which was at Ajawo Estate Airport Road.
We got in touch with my HMO Hospital. So they now sent the ambulance down to LASUTH to pick me up. This was on Sunday evening, about 5pm to 6 p.m.; they rushed me down to the private hospital.
They got their doctors to check me out till around 8 pm. Two doctors who actually attended to me now concluded that it’s a more difficult situation that they couldn’t do an operation to save their hand, right there, and that they had to get in touch with their specialist doctor. So on calling the special doctor that they wanted to call. Guess where the doctor was actually at. He was at LASUTH. The same hospital they took me down from.
So it was raining that evening. We had to wait till the following day. It was on Monday. By that time, it was already too late. My hand had already swollen up, you know, massively. It looked like a tuber of yam back in the day. I was traumatised. The pain was overwhelming.
So I was taken back to LASUTH. They did an operation. I went through surgery. They tried to save the hand. Two days later, the surgery failed. It didn’t work. I spent a month in the hospital. So when being discharged, the doctor wrote a report that they cannot save the hand, that they will either have to amputate the hand, or I will have to be flown abroad for a reconstructive surgery.
So on hearing that all the while I was in the hospital, we were, you know, trying to get across to the police. They only came to the hospital once. Their DPO came to the hospital once. I recall that vividly.
But the name of the officer who shot me is Ayuba Phillip, and I have his tag number. So we were trying to get help from the police.
They didn’t show up after the DPO left. They kept saying they would pay for the medical bill at LASUTH. They never did.
So, after getting the information that I have to travel out to save the hand, I was discharged from the hospital. They recommended a hospital in India, which we researched. And going back and forth, we had to send, you know, documents, scans, and a lot of information to the hospital.
And they billed me $10,000. So I had to sell everything I had at that moment; I sold a lot of my properties.
Even the car that I was shot in, I sold it. The only thing I left in my house was the TV. I even sold my couch, you know, to raise $10,000.