Around 11:00 am, Aliyu Sheidu was heading to his tailoring shop on October 20, 2020, along Setraco, Abuja, when he ran into the brawl scene of the #EndSARS protesters at Police Signboard Junction. The police soon arrived and rained bullets on the agitating youths.
Unfortunately, Aliyu was shot on his thigh. The bullet pierced his veins and he has since been subjected to unbearable difficulties.
READ MORE: INTERVIEW: How I Was Stabbed Multiple Times for Seeking Justice — #EndSARS Protester
That was the second time Aliyu would be running into the protesters. He was going to his workplace but was confronted by a barricade of #EndSARS protesters.
“After I pray in the morning and fetch water for my wife, I say make I dey go work around 9:00 am,” Aliyu told FIJ on Thursday. “When I reach junction for Police Signboard, I see crowd. Everywhere lock.”
He said he tried to find his way out but to no avail. “I went back to house again around 10-11. I say make I try go back to shop,” Aliyu said. “I just stand dey look people wey dey protest. I no be protester. Police just came and shoot me on my leg.”
Immediately the police shot him, those who knew Aliyu called Ashraf, his younger brother. Ashraf called Nurudeen, their eldest brother, and they took Aliyu to a nearby hospital where the leg was bandaged. The hospital later referred them to Camek Orthopedic Hospital in Jabi, Abuja.
At Camek, an x-ray was conducted to determine the extent of the injury. A doctor at the hospital charged them N430,000. Aliyu said they could not afford the money. “But the Doctor Charlse give us one number to call. He say the people dey help anybody wey get problem during #EndSARS.”
Nurudeen told FIJ that he called an #EndSARS helpline and complained to the agent. Subsequently, the money was transferred to him and he was treated.
BULLET HANGING IN-BETWEEN VEINS
Aliyu is now using crutches. When the incident happened, Sadaht, his wife, was nursing their two-month-old daughter, Zinat, now a year and four months old.
Despite the treatment, the bruise was still fresh when Aliyu spoke with FIJ, “but not like when it happened,” he said.
The bullet remains in his thigh and cannot be removed because it is hanging in-between his veins.
When contacted, Dr. Charlse told FIJ the bullet perforated Aliyu’s veins and any attempt to remove it could cause additional damage. Aliyu said life has not been easy for him since the incident happened. “I be tailor. I use Industrial machine, and if I say make I work, my legs go dey pain me,” he said.
READ MORE: ‘You’re Next’ — #EndSARS Protester ‘Gets Death Threat’
Sometime last year, Aliyu said he and his friend went to the National Human Rights Commission in Abuja in search of justice. But he was discouraged by the bureaucracy involved in their documentation, coupled with the agonizing pain he was enduring. “Dey tell us to come back the next day, but I no go again.”
Responding to FIJ’s enquiry, an agent of the National Human Rights Commission, who simply identified as Zainab, asked if Aliyu had a reference number so she could track his case. She also said an #EndSARS panel had just closed its hearings, stressing that Aliyu could have easily got justice if he had gone to the panel.
Aliyu is imploring Nigerians and the government to come to his aid.
This report was produced through the ‘You Matter in this Matter’ Project being implemented by YouthHubAfrica, Onelife Initiative, Cedar Seed Foundation and FIJ, with support from Voice Nigeria.
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