A NIGERIAN DOCTOR NARRATES HOW CCTV SAVED HIM FROM THE NIGERIAN POLICE AS HE TRIED TO RESUSCITATE THE RCCG GOSPEL ARTISTE WHO COMMITTED SUICIDE RECENTLY.

The victims.

An Abuja-based medical doctor, Daniel Eitokpah, who was detained after trying to revive a suicide victim, Michael Arowosaiye, has described his exoneration as providential.

According to him, “We explained to the DPO everything that happened, how we heard a guy shouting for help and went there to help, as I thought it was something that had just happened and tried to resuscitate him. Told him everything I did to him and his response was, ‘You are a doctor. You should know that you are not meant to tamper with the evidence.’ I tried to explain to him that the information we got was that the guy was in the act; if there was an iota of life in that guy, at least, we should give him a chance.”

Daniel noted that the DPO, from the moment he appeared on the scene, kept addressing him in a demeaning manner.

He said they were taken to the police station from there; and while at the station, he overheard the DPO tell the Commissioner of Police that three suspects have been arrested in connection to the incident.

“Shortly after, the commissioner of police came in and I heard the DPO telling the CP, ‘We have arrested three suspects.’ I felt that the statement meant a lot. The DPO, the CP, my father, my pastor and church members of the deceased went back to the scene of the suicide.

“God just had it that there were CCTV cameras around the house. There was one directly facing the entrance of the boys’ quarters where the guy had hanged himself. That was our saving grace.

“It showed everything—how the suicide took place. Immediately they saw we were not guilty, they made a call to the police station to prepare for our release,” he said.

Asked if the experience would discourage him from helping victims in the future, he said, “Definitely. I have spoken to many of my colleagues after this and the advice they gave me was, ‘Daniel, this is Nigeria. When you see something happening, just keep walking.’”

When contacted, the acting Police Public Relations Officer in Abuja, Danjuma Gajere, said, “There was a CCTV in the house. When the policemen watched the CCTV, they saw that nobody (besides the victim) participated in that suicide, so they released them immediately, on the same day.

“After the police asked them to write their statements, they removed the corpse and started investigation immediately. When they saw the CCTV footage, they released them immediately.

They did not even arrest them; they asked them to go. It was just an invitation.”

Source: Punch Newspapers.