Chapter 11
Personal
Injuries
Method of
Investigation
It was considered
expedient that direct approach to the medical personnel who treated the victims
of the disturbances would yield the most reliable results.
Since the purpose
of the Tribunal was for perpetuation of testimony, it was appropriate to bring
to bear the inalienable right to a registered medical practitioner to supply to
another registered medical practitioner on request ail available statistics
bearing on a particular medical problem.
Only the patient
so treated, and no other person or authority has a right to object to the
supply of such information by a registered medical practitioner willing to do
so.
Accordingly Dr.
M.A.B. Ogakwu who is a registered medical practitioner wrote personal letters
(TRIB.01/1 dated 30th December, 1966 to 101 doctors and heads of medical
institutions throughout Nigeria:
Dear Doctor,
We have been assigned, among other things, the duty of
ascertaining the extent of loss of life and of personal injuries to persons of
Eastern Nigeria origin as a result of the unfortunate disturbances in the
country since May this year.
2. We are also to explain, interprete and record all medical cases
from the sources. This is for purely statistical purpose.
3. I am aware that you can be of very great help in this arduous
assignment and I am earnestly requesting your assistance.
4. I enclose herewith two proformas which I consider will be
helpful in compilation and collation.
Proforma A: is for an abridged case report on
each individual case. If you indicate the number of such forms you will need,
we shall despatch them to you immediately. It may not be possible to complete
Proforma A in respect of all cases especially the minor ones and Proforma B
will allow for complete collated returns.
Proforma B: 8 copies of this are enclosed, one copy being for each month from
May to December, 1966.
Yours sincerely,
Signed Dr. M.A.B. Ogakwu.
Two of the
letters were sent to doctors in the Federal territory of Lagos, 5 to doctors in
Western Nigeria and 4 to those in Northern Nigeria, the rest being distributed
in Eastern Nigeria.
A few of each of
medical forms A and B to be completed were sent out with each of the letters.
Form A. ATR
2
Medical Cases
Name of
institutions:
Name……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Sex………………………………………………. Age………………………………………………………………………………
Date first seen………………………………………………………….
…………19……………………………………………..
Injured at……………………………. On………………………………………………19………………………………………..
Injuries.
Progress and
Prognosis:
Disability:
Signed…………………………………………………..
Medical Officer
Notes: To avoid duplication of cases, a
patient was transferred to another institution, that fact should be recorded
under progress and prognosis.
Form B ATR 3
Medical Cases
Report for………………………………………………………………….. 19………………………………………
Name of
Institution…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
A. Total number of Patients attended………………………………………………………………………
Total
number of deaths……………………………………………………………………………………….
B. Age distribution…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
14 years and
under
|
Above 14 years
|
C.
In-patients
|
Out-patient
|
Males Females
|
Males Females
|
D. Causes of injury:
(i)
Gun shots……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
(ii)
Sharp cutting instruments, e.g.
matches, axes…………………………………………………….
(iii) Blunt
instruments e.g., stick, rods, whips…………………………………………………………….
(iv) Burns
and scalds………………………………………………………………………………………………….
(v)
Others…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
E. Total number likely to have some degree
of permanent disability………………………
Signed……………………………………………………
Medical Officer
Response from
those doctors who replied early both from Northern and Western Nigeria was
quite encouraging.
Confident that it
was their privilege to supply the information, they wrote expressing their
willingness to cooperate and specifying the total number of forms they needed.
Some even completed those forms sent with the original letter and returned to
the Commissioner while stating the additional number of forms they needed.
Unfortunately
some officials from Lagos, the West and the North (in many cases not the
doctors to whom the letters were directed) wrote to the Commissioner that his
request should be directed to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health. None
of those officials took the trouble to find out that by such a step they were
interfering with the privilege of the doctors concerned. None made mention of
any objection from the patient, who solely had the legitimate right to object.
Subsequent events
led to the conclusion that a censorship was clamped down on correspondence to
the Commissioner from those parts of the country. No more correspondence was
received from doctors in those areas. Even those to whom additional forms had
been sent at their request, did not acknowledge receipt nor return the
completed forms as they had done earlier.
Returns for
personal injuries as recorded here are therefore mainly in respect of some
hospitals in Eastern Nigeria.
Full Extent of Injuries Many factors
militate against the ascertainment of this. In the first place returns have
been suppressed from Northern and Western Nigeria and Lagos, where the
disturbances occurred. The natural thing for an injured person to do is to seek
medical aid at the nearest hospital. There is no doubt that this was the case
throughout the disturbances in both Lagos and the West. This could also be said
to be the case in Northern Nigeria during the May/June disturbances because apart
from Zaria General Hospital patients were not attacked in the hospital at that
time. Furthermore soon after the out-break of violence in May, appeals were
made by both Lagos and Enugu authorities for people to remain in their places
of residence as Government was said to have the situation well in hand.
Even during the
September-October disturbances in Northern Nigeria when the injured and the
sick were attacked in the hospital, those seriously injured had no choice but
to go into the nearest hospitals. Only those whose injuries were lighter and
the lucky few who were evacuated by plane would have been brought into medical
institutions in Eastern Nigeria for treatment.
Secondly, the
disturbances of 1966 were unprecedented and no provision for this type of
contingency was made in standard hospital records. In fact many hospitals
throughout the period under consideration did many classify their patients into
refugees and nonrefugees. In was only during the height of the refugee influx
as from September 1966 that some hospitals introduced this method of
classification to justify giving proper treatment to all refugees.
In many hospitals
the records were incomplete. As the summary shows only very few small hospitals
started this classification after the May 1966 disturbances.
Taking all these
factors into consideration the following summary of returns of personal
injuries from only 42 medical institutions mainly in Eastern Nigeria is but a
small proportion of the totality of the problem.
It is reasonable
to assess that this number presents less than one quarter of the total number
of personal injuries that occurred throughout the disturbances. (See Table of
Summary).
Summary of Hospital Returns
|
||||||||
MONTH
|
TOTAL ATTENDED
|
NO. OF DEATHS
|
AGE
DISTRIBUTION
|
IN-PATIENTS
|
OUT-PATIENTS
|
|||
UNDER 14 YEARS
|
ABOVE 14 YEARS
|
MALES
|
FEMALES
|
MALES
|
FEMALES
|
|||
MAY 1966
JUNE 1966
JULY 1966
AUGT. 1966
SEPT. 1966
TO
FEB. 1967
|
28
13
2
1
-
2,543
|
-
-
-
-
-
18
|
-
4
-
1
-
64
|
26
9
2
-
-
2,477
|
9
4
-
-
-
386
|
2
4
-
-
-
67
|
11
5
1
-
-
1,570
|
4
-
1
1
-
520
|
TOTAL
|
2,585
|
18
|
69
|
2,514
|
399
|
73
|
1,587
|
526
|
Medical from ART.
3 was drawn up and sent to all Red Cross Societies and St. John’s Ambulance
Brigades in Eastern Nigeria.
ATR.3
Schedule: Atrocities
on Eastern Nigerians 1966 (Nigerian Red Cross: Statistics)
1. Town…………………………………………………………. Month of………………………………………1966
2. Total number of persons attended……………………………………………………………………….
Males
|
Females
|
3. Classification according to nature of
attention given
(a)
for
starvation? …………………………………………………………………………………………
(b)
for
nudity and inadequate clothing………………………………………………………….
(c)
for
injuries……………………………………………………………………………………………….
4. Injuries
(a)
Total number……………………………………………………………………………………………
(b)
Number referred to hospitals and
clinics………………………………………………….
(c)
Number adequately managed at Red Cross
Posts…………………………………….
Many Societies
kept no records at all while others kept incomplete records.
Enugu Red Cross
Society which handled the greatest number of refugees arriving by train, plane
and lorries kept scrappy records only for the month of October, 1966.
The following
summary of these returns again is incomplete and probably represents less than
one third of the total number involved.
Summary of Returns Recorded by Red Cross Societies and St. John’s
Ambulance Brigades.
Period: May
1966 to January 1967
Total number
attended: 7,880 Males
5256,
Females 2624
Total number with
injuries: 3,954
Total number of
injured referred to hospital: 824
Most victims had
multiple injuries and instruments of infliction were very varied.
According to the
73rd and 74th witnesses Drs.
Onwumere and Mbuke from General Hospital Enugu where the
greatest number of victims were treated, a pattern of infliction emerged for
each of a number of the major centres of disturbances in Northern Nigeria.
For Kano these
witnesses say that there were many gunshot wounds and most of it was rifle shot
though small number came from other types of gun including cap guns. In
addition there were several cases of matchet and dagger wounds and deep and
extensive bruising from blunt instruments like clubs and cudgels.
From Kainji the
survivors had mostly cuts from matchets and axes, deep bruises and fractures,
blunt instruments and some gunshot wounds. Jos victims showed battered heads,
fractures and deep bruises from blunt instruments as well as gruesome
lacerations and cuts from axes and matchets. Inflictions in Maiduguri were
mainly by blunt instruments leading to fractures and bruises while from Zaria
rifles, axes, matchets and horse-tail whips were all grist to the mill of the
ferocious attack.
Kafanchan
injuries were compatible with infliction from sticks, clubs and cudgels while
those at Minna were a mixed bag of axes, matchets, clubs and gunshots - the
gunshots in this instance being mostly from native cap guns.
Those injured at
Oturkpo arrived Enugu hospital with wounds still fresh and inflicted by
daggers, matchets, clubs and gunshot bruises on the foot.
The deductions of
these medical witnesses are very well supported by the evidence of survivors
from the various towns regarding the modes of attack on them. Dr. Mbuko’s
evidence on Mr. Isaac Uzoukwu, a soldier from Ikeja has a particular
significance. The victim had whip lashes and matchet cuts on his neck which
reached down to and fractured the neckbones and almost severed the head. The
victim states that these injuries were inflicted by fellow soldiers but the
doctor could not see any difference between the laceration and that inflicted
by matchets wielded by civilians. It became impossible therefore in the whole
series to rule out infliction by soldiers merely from the nature of the wounds.
This view is
further supported by the observations of some of the witnesses including:
(a)
Witness
number 155 Mr. M.C. Chinke: He was struck by
the unconventional nature of some of the weapons carried by the soldiers who
arrived Makurdi on 19th September, 1966. They carried daggers, special swords,
bows and arrows which are not part of the standard armaments of the Nigerian
Army. He rightly wondered whether they were not hired killers in army uniform.
(b)
Witness
No. 75 Mr. C. Maduagwu: He narrates how
a soldier who had been assigned to be one of their escorts in the train from
Kano changed into civilian dress and carried a sword to attack them when they
pulled in at Oturkpo at night. Witness and another passenger, Mr. Pius Onuegbu
recognised him despite his change of dress, told him so, and defended
themselves with bottles. The soldier changed to civilian left their coach to
carry on his plundering in another coach.
The medical witnesses
(73rd and 74th) also gave useful opinions on the injuries treated at Enugu
General Hospital in relation to the general scope and extent of injuries during
the disturbances. Dr. Onwumere on being asked to reconcile the returns from
Enugu General Hospital of 1,881 attended with only one death with the general
accepted ferocity of the attacks had this to say:
Yes, my impression is that most of the cases died in the North.
The very serious ones never got to us, so that what we got, although many of
them were serious were those that have survived. And most of the cases took
about eight days. The earliest one took about seven days, but most of them took
eight to ten days before we got them. That is, they had those injuries about
the 29th of September but we got the first batch about the 7th of October.
Dr.
S.O. Mbuko was of similar opinion. He thought
that all those that got bullet wounds in vital areas would have died in the
North. Those that got to them in Enugu were those who had matchet cuts and
blunt injuries and a few with gunshots in less vital places and were
particularly lucky to recover.
Further
confirmation of these opinions on the extent and ferocity of the attacks is
given in the testimonies of many of the surviving victims among whom are:
1. Michel Okekenta:
the 122nd witness, described his protracted and gruesome experience and this
can best be appreciated by quoting verbatim a section of what he had to say as
he was led in evidence on the 21st of March, 1967.
Q. 5.781:
“What happened tell us your
experience” “After the May disturbances, I sent my wife and children home.
Immediately they arrived home in June, they started to worry me to return. I
told them that I would not return until my application for transfer to the
Eastern Regional Public Service had been granted. Moreover, the people in
authority were assuring us that no further disturbances would occur. They were
patient for some time but later on after the July coup relatives started to
write me to come back. My wife went to the Public Service Commission, Enugu, to
check whether my application for transfer was sent from Kaduna but she was told
that it had not been sent. I sent an advance copy to the Chairman of the P.S.C.
So later I endorsed their letter forwarding it to Enugu from Kaduna. It was
forwarded on the 24th of August whereas I submitted it on the 11th of June,
1966. On 23rd September, I received a telegram from my brother at home that my
wife had died and that I should proceed home immediately. I was shocked and
showed the telegram to the Sub-Treasurer, a European, at Kano. He was
sympathetic and asked me if I would like to go. I said yes and he granted me
two weeks casual leave, from 24th September to 8th October. I arrived at the
railway station to make arrangement for my loads.”
Q.5782: On what day was that?" “On the
very 23rd of September. When I got there I was informed that they were
instructed not to accept any loads to the East again, and later on it was
announced that the Eastern Limited train which would have travelled on the 23rd
was cancelled."
Q. 5783: Instructed by whom?” “The Authorities
in Lagos.”
Q. 5784
Did you ask them why it was
necessary for them to do that?” “They said that there were disturbances at
Kafanchan and that the driver there refused to work the train.
Q. 5785:
Over Radio Kaduna?” “No, N.B.C.
So, I started to look for alternative transport by lorry. But they refused to
accept my motorcycle; I was determined to go with it. So I did not travel on
that day; I postponed it until Monday which was 26th so as to travel by the
Kano/lddo Limited. On that very day I was travelling to railway station.
Q. 5.786:
That was on the 26th?" “Yes,
sir, on the 26th. I was on my way to the railway station when I met some people
who told me that the Kano/Iddo Limited had been cancelled.
Q. 5787: What
reason did they give for this?” “They said in this second case that another
disturbance had broken out at Minna. I went back to the office and reported to
the Sub-Treasurer. He told me to continue working until I got another
transport. I worked on that day, 26th. When I got home the evening a friend of
mine working in the Aviation, an Obosi man, came and told me that there was a
lorry going to Onitsha on the 27th. So I accompanied him to the driver of the
lorry; and he was a person known to me, an Nnewi man. He promised to take all
my loads and myself on the 27th. On the morning of the 27th I went to him and
gave him an advance of £5 so as not to disappoint me. I took all my loads to
his place. Later the lorry did not travel on the 27th. It was on the 28th in
the night by 9 o’clock that it was packed full. It took about five motorcycles,
more than 40 bicycles and the load it was carrying was nearly touching the
electric wires.
We
left Kano at 9p.m on the 28th September. When we got to Kaduna by, say, 10 a.m
the following day, one soldier on a motorcycle halted us. Many Northerners near
the motor park surrounded us. The soldier went into the vehicle, locked the
lorry, and went away with the key. He came back with another soldier on a
motorcycle. He handed over the key to the driver and then commanded the driver
to follow him. Then as we were following him the second soldier was following
us behind. They took us into their barracks and ordered all the passengers to come
down. They told us to stand in a single file and to lie down with our hands
outstretched, looking upwards. One soldier was ordered to count us with his
whip. He gave each of us three lashes of the whip and counted us-36 of us. We
were then ordered to sit down and four soldiers were standing with their guns
pointing at us. We observed that there were two other vehicles in the barracks.
We could not see the passengers but the loads were being opened and checked. We
thought that we would all be killed. Some of us even started to pray: some
started denying that they were Igbos. When it came to our turn for our lorry to
be checked, somebody went to the driver and told him that because our loads
were so many he should do something to let us go in time. So the driver went
out. When he came back he told us that he gave them £20. Later on, we saw the
passengers in the other vehicles. They were told to enter and they entered. We
were told to enter too and we entered. They took us to their secretariat in
Kaduna.
Q. 5788: “Government Secretariat?” “No, Army
Secretariat."
Q. 5789:
“Army Headquarters?" “Army
Headquarters. And then they told us to come down again. The soldiers that were
coming were saying that we would be slaughtered.”
Q. 5790:
“The soldiers told you that?”
“Yes, the privates that were moving around. They said we would be slaughtered
like cows. After waiting for an hour there, they told us to go back into the
lorry. Two soldiers escorted us out of the Headquarters until we came to a
petrol filling station.”
Q. 5791: On what road was this petrol station?”
“It was on the road to Jebba.”
Q. 5792:
“And got you on the Kaduna -
Jebba road?” “Kaduna/ Jebba Road, Yes Sir. The drivers decided to bribe the
soldiers so that they would lead us as far as Jebba. They collected £1:10s.
each and gave to the soldiers.”
Q. 5793:
“From all the passengers?"
“No, the three drivers only. They collected £1:10s. each. The soldiers did not
lead us half a mile when two other soldiers met us and told them to go back.
One entered the lorry in front and the other entered in the back.”
Q. 5794: “What about the two original soldiers?”
“They went back.
Q. 5795:
“After a distance of about half a
mile from the petrol filling station?” “Yes, Sir, from the petrol filling
station.
Q. 5796:
“These two soldiers who are now
armed, what did they do?" “One was in the front of the lorry and the other
was at the back. After a distance of about 10 miles they ordered us to halt.
One said that he suspected the loads carried by one passenger and then told the
passenger to bring out the box which he suspected. He ordered him to open it.
He opened it. He took out something tied in a white pillow case and said it
contained a pistol. The owner of the load said it was not a pistol, that he could
open it to show that it was not a pistol. The soldier told him that if he
touched the case he would shoot him; so the man became afraid and stood back.
He told us to go away that they were very kind to us, that after our people had
shot their students in the University we were asking them to escort us, that
they were very kind, that they should have shot all of us. They moved away. As
we were moving away they were shooting in the air.
By
7.30 in the evening we came to a village. They started to throw stones and
shoot arrows at us. Our driver became nervous but he managed to pass the place
with speed. When we came to a place further from the village in front, he
stopped and was afraid to pass through the village saying that if we tried to
pass they would attack us, that he would first wait to know whether there were
some trouble makers there from the drivers coming from that direction. So we
stood there until some drivers who were Northerners came up. These drivers
confirmed that there was a hostile crowd in front. The driver said we would
wait until midnight so that probably by then they might disperse. We were there
and somebody was riding a motorcycle going up and down. Later on by 9 o’clock
in the evening, we saw a pleasure car coming.”
Q. 5797: “What
town would this be?” “Birnin Gwari, just 70
miles
from Kaduna. The car was coming towards us and we saw many people coming behind
the car shouting “Hi! ho! ho!” We became afraid. All of us jumped down from the
lorry and some took to the bush. I was in the lorry until they approached to
about 30 yards to where I was. When I waved at them they shot me with an arrow
on the finger."
Q. 5.798: “Why were you
waving at them?” “I thought we could settle
things amicably. As I was shot I took to my heels and went into the bush. There
I pulled out the arrow and washed the wound in a stream. I wanted to cross the
stream but it was too deep. So I stayed on the side. Many of my colleagues were
running in and out of the bush. None stopped. I was there until morning. Many vehicles
were passing. I came out on the road to see whether I could persuade any of the
vehicles to help me. But none agreed to stop.”
Q. 5.799: “Where were these
vehicles going?” “ They were going to Jebba. So, one young man saw me and spoke
to me in Hausa. “Namuni?” (Are you for us), and I answered “stet” (I am for
you). So he raised a stone to throw at me. I asked him why he should do that;
what did I do to him. He asked me to give him money. I gave him £1. He demanded
more; I gave him 10s.; he demanded more; I gave him 10s. Altogether I gave him
£2. Then he felt satisfied. I asked him to help me get into a lorry to go to
Onitsha. He led me to a point inside the bush. He told me to stay there and not
to go out, that they were very many, I stayed there.”
Later
on he came back, say, after ten minutes, and demanoec1 another £1
from me saying that his friend who had got no money had come, that I should
choose between money and my life. I gave him £1 and he went back. But after
waiting for him for some time I decided to go on my own to look for a lorry.
When I got to the road, I saw some ten of them. They held me. I told them that
I had given money to one of their relatives. They asked me to bring the
remaining money. As I was trying to bring the money, they took away my hand
from my pocket, opened my trousers, looked for money there. They searched for
it in my drawers, tore it off, took all the money I had in my drawers and then
they poured petrol on me and lit it.
I
fell down.”
Q. 5800: “They poured petrol on you?” “They
poured petrol on me, Sir.”
Q. 5801: “So you were on fire?” “They poured
petrol all over my head and face and lit a match Then, I became unconscious and
did not know what I was doing. It took time for me to know what I was doing.
After a few minutes, the fire went off. I stood up, and they were looking at
me. I told them that they could finish my life at once instead of burning me
and leaving me half-dead. They asked me whether I wanted them to finish my
life, I asked them whether I was the person who told them to pour petrol on me.
They told me to show them the rest of my companions. I said “no.” Then I crept
into the bush and told those people in the bush that I was poured with petrol.
I urged them not to come out, and that they should tell people at home what
happened to me.
I
went back to the road. Later on I saw one soldier in a big lorry; he looked at
me and went away. I then saw one European and begged him to take me to the
hospital, he looked at me and went away also. The Hausas came back. They saw I
was not dead and one young man started to hit me with a stick on the neck. I
looked up and saw him. He struck me again and told me that they meant me to
die. I said ‘May God forgive the Hausas for they do not know what they are
doing. May God bring unity to Nigeria.’ One told me: ‘Shut up’ that I would be
killed. But one elderly man said: “Leave him alone.” He asked me: ‘What is your
name?' I told him my name. He asked me whether I was an Igbo. I said, yes. He
asked me whether from the East, I said yes. He asked me who killed Sarduana. I
told him it was Chukwuma Nzeogwu, a person from the Mid-West. He asked me
whether he did good work. I told him, no, he did not do good work. He asked me
why he was not killed. I told him I don’t not know, that I was not in
authority. If I were in authority I would have killed him. He said: ‘All
right.’ He kept quiet. Then some of the young men came to that place and told
him that they had got some of my colleagues and that one claimed to be a Yoruba
man. They told that one who claimed to be a Yoruba to go. They killed the rest
with sticks. After some time, one of them reported to the man that they had all
died. He told them to go and burn them. So when one of them returned and saw
that I was alive, he was annoyed. He started to strike me with sticks on my
neck. Later on, they said that this man that refused to die will be burnt with
woods. They collected woods to burn me, but the elderly man said they should
not burn me. So, they left me. One returned and continued to strike me with
sticks, on the back and the neck. After doing so, he went away. I was surprised
that I was still alive. In fact my prayer was that I should die and be released
from this ordeal. So when I realised that I was still alive, I crept into the
bush. There I saw a running stream and started to drink water. After drinking
for a while, I sat there. They came back and met me. One said ‘Inyamiri’, I
answered, yes.” They said: That man is still alive’ and that they would shoot
me with a gun. The elderly man said ’no’, ’don’t shoot him.’ He said: This man
has had enough wounds to make him die there’ and that they should leave me
because I would certainly die of the wounds. So they left me. When I realised
that they had gone away, I crept further into the bush. I crept for some time
and stood up and went far into the bush. Then rain started to fall and later
on, I fell asleep in the bush there. I saw in my dream that nobody would strike
me again and that if anybody tries to strike me again that person would die
first. Then I saw some people with whom I was living in Kano and they all
promised to go and take my loads. So later I woke up.”
Q. 5802: “What happened to the lorry and the
loads?” “I could not tell yet. I heard their voices when they were removing the
loads from the vehicle. They said they had got the loads but that they had not
got anybody yet. So I slept in that bush for about three days and then started
to wander about in the bush. And I started to move towards the waterfalls and
thinking it was Kainji Dam. After a while, I met a running stream and then a
bridge on a road. I looked over the bridge and saw it was there that the water was
falling. So I continued to walk along the road and saw that very lorry. They
had already loosened the engine and many documents were lying scattered all
over the place. I did not see anybody on the lorry again. I continued my
journey. Later, I heard the sound of a motor-cycle and became apprehensive and
went back into bush. When it passed, I came out. After walking for a time I saw
a group of Hausas. One of them after passing me, came back and started to look
at me. He asked me whether I wanted bread. I said, yes. He gave me bread. I saw
water running in the gutter; I drank and continued my journey until I got to a
house I was thinking was a church but when I approached it, it was a P.W.D. camp. I entered
there. A woman inside the house started to cry and said she did not know who
was entering into their house. I look terrible as my head was swollen and my
face burnt. Flies were hovering all over me, and I was naked.
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