A personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), identified as Akpan Blessing, has been confirmed dead after being fatally stabbed during a robbery attack in Abuja.
The female officer was reportedly attacked in front of her residence by a suspected armed robber who tried to steal her belongings.
The NSCDC officer, who was left bleeding profusely by the robber, was confirmed dead after she was allegedly denied treatment by the hospital where she was rushed, due to the absence of a police report.
According to a close friend who narrated the ordeal, Blessing was first taken to Gabriel Hospital and then to St. Theresa Hospital, both located in Bwari town, but medical personnel at both facilities allegedly declined to attend to her.
Blessing’s friend, while speaking about the incident which occurred in the Piawe community, Bwari Area Council, said the attacker resorted to violence when she resisted.
“It is painful that we lost Officer Blessing due to a weakened and uncoordinated system. Someone was dying, and you insisted there must be a police report before she was attended to. We showed them her NSCDC ID card, yet they still didn’t treat her,” the deceased officer’s friend said.
“She was on her way somewhere when the attacker tried to rob her… I guess he had to stab her to have his way,” the friend recounted on Monday.
When contacted, FCT Police spokesperson Josephine Adeh said the case had not been officially reported and referred inquiries to the NSCDC.
However, NSCDC spokesperson Babawale Afolabi also directed inquiries to the FCT Command, which had yet to issue a formal response at the time of filing this report.
Reacting to the incident, the Executive Director of the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Okechukwu Nwanguma, condemned the hospitals’ refusal to treat the victim in the absence of a police report.
“The fact that a victim of violence was abandoned to die while awaiting police paperwork speaks to a grave failure of both the healthcare and policing systems. This is not only heartbreaking but also in direct violation of Nigerian law,” he said.
Nwanguma reminded medical institutions of their legal obligation under the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act, 2017, which mandates both public and private hospitals to provide immediate and adequate care to victims of gunshot wounds or life-threatening injuries, without requiring a police report.
