Miss
Mercy Okpithe joined the Dance Troupe on the Orientation Camp of the
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Anambra State in November 2012.
But four months later she was severely beaten up by the Camp Commandant.
Captain
S.O. Beke attacked her about 11:00p.m on Monday, March 18, this year.
She allegedly fainted and was rushed to the camp clinic. The following
day, she was transferred to the Anambra State University Teaching
Hospital, Awka. At the hospital, she was diagnosed with dislocation of
coccyx, a small triangular bone at the base of the spinal column.
The
hospital further referred her to the National Orthopaedic Hospital,
Igbobi, Lagos, for special attention. It was gathered that she might be
flown abroad for surgery.
Mercy
was visited by the correspondent in her home at Lagos. As she lay down
on a couch in their living room, the young lady writhed in pains, even
as she struggled to answer the reporter’s questions. “When the Batch A
corps members were in the Orientation Camp in March, this year, the NYSC
officials invited members of the Dance Troupe to the camp to teach the
new corps members how to dance. We got to the camp in the evening of
Sunday, March 17.
“We
were 15 all together: 11 boys and four girls. The girls were not meant
to stay together in the same room with the boys. But we had to because
there was no vacant room. The following morning, the NYSC State
Coordinator gave a directive that a separate room should be given to the
girls. But the officials could not find a vacant room for us.
“So,
they put us in one of the rooms occupied by some Batch ‘A’ female corps
members. We took two mattresses each to the place. There were no bunks.
So, we spread the mattresses on the ground. Thereafter, the other three
girls slept but I was still awake. I was listening to music on my
phone, using an earpiece.
“Around
11:00p.m., some soldiers came into the room. They were both males and
females. I felt it was a normal thing because they did the same thing
when I was in the camp for orientation exercise in November 2012. Then, I
noticed that a female soldier was arguing with one of my friends,
Ifedayo Fakehinde.
“Then,
the female soldier forcefully removed one of the mattresses which she
slept on. Ifedayo sought to know her offence and the soldier hit her. I
quickly rose up and caught her as she was falling. Otherwise, she would
have hit her head against the wall. But she sprained her hand.
“The
incident caused a scene. Many corps members came out and argued with
the soldiers. As this was going on, Ifedayo was crying. We calmed her
down. Then, the NYSC Schedule Officer came around. He sought to know
what happened. As I was explaining what I knew about the incident to
him, I heard the voice of the Camp Commandant telling all the corps
members to go inside.
“Before
I finished my explanation, the commandant came and pushed me. I sought
to know why he pushed me. But he pushed me again. I told him to stop
pushing me because he could not push his sister like that. But he
continued until he pushed me to the wall. Then, he kicked me from the
ground and I hit the ground with my back. I couldn’t move. Then, I heard
other soldiers saying ‘die, die, die’ till I passed out.”
According
to a sourse, the Schedule Officer ran to call the State Coordinator,
Mrs. I.B. Ekpe, when the commandant was purportedly beating the corps
member.
Mr.
Solomon Okpithe, Mercy’s father, said an official of the NYSC called
him on phone in the afternoon of Tuesday, March 19, telling him that
Mercy was involved in an accident and that he should come to Awka
immediately.
The
official told Mercy’s father to come with somebody who would stay in
the teaching hospital to take care of Mercy. When he got to the hospital
with his wife at about 12:30p.m the following day, they were shocked to
hear that she was brutalised by the camp commandant. Okpithe said the
first thing that came to his mind was how to save his daughter’s life.
He sought to see the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the teaching
hospital but could not see him until about 7:00p.m when he came out from
the theatre.
“I
asked the CMD about my daughter’s condition, but he said the hospital
could not handle it and he would refer her to Enugu. I told him that I
was from Lagos and asked if he could refer her to any hospital in Lagos.
Then, he said he would refer her to Igbobi. Immediately, he instructed
the doctor that was in charge to write the letter.
“On
Thursday morning, we were at Igbobi. The doctors at the hospital tried
but the sad thing is that they told us they could not handle it too.
They said it’s not just an orthopaedic case but something that has to do
with the spine. They treated her and asked us to take her home. Then,
they gave an appointment,” he said.
On
the next appointment day, according to Okpithe, the hospital said the
first option, which was the treatment by orthopaedic doctors, had
failed. “They said they were taking another option now and if it fails,
the third option would be a surgery.” Okpithe, who has since been
responsible for his daughter’s hospital bills, disclosed that Mrs. Ekpe
promised the family that NYSC would reinburse whatever amount spent on
the treatment, adding that Ekpe said she had informed the national
secretariat of NYSC in Abuja about the development and had also written a
letter to the NYSC in Lagos State about the incident.
“I
have received calls from one Mrs. Daniel from the NYSC Office, Lagos,
telling me I should accept their sympathy on my daughter. But on the
other hand, Mrs Ekpe never stated the cause of the dislocation. I know
she’s doing that to protect the officer.” Okpithe, an engineer, urged
the Chief of Army Staff to ensure proper reform of the army, especially
those in charge of NYSC.
He
also advised the Federal Government to provide necessary items for
corps members on the camp. The issue of inadequate mattresses, he said,
caused the problem. When contacted on phone to react to the claims,
Captain Beke neither confirmed nor denied the incident.
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