An ex-police corporal, Sunday Ige, recently retrenched from the Nigeria Police Force after an auto crash that left him bedridden, at the weekend cried out for help following an eviction order served him by the Federal Ministry of Housing.
The crash which occurred in 2001 while on active service, as a mobile policeman in Lagos State, resulted in a spinal cord injury and one of his legs amputated.
Ige, aged 57, who was retrenched as a Corporal in the Nigeria Police in 2006, had been bedridden for about 21 years
Narrating his ordeal to newsmen in Akure, lge said his house located in Shagari Estate, Akure, the Ondo State capital was allocated to him in 1993 but he has yet to fully pay the N1.250 million he was asked to pay for the purchase of the apartment in 2007 by the government.
According to him, in the letter he received from the presidency in March 2022 as regards the eviction notice, he was given two weeks ultimatum to vacate the property which will expire this week.
While lamenting about his predicament with a teary-eyed, the ex-Corporal said his condition had made it difficult for him to raise the balance of N1.125 million after paying the initial deposit of N125, 000 out of N1.250 million for the purchase of the house from the Federal Ministry of Housing.
Ige said that he was enlisted into the Nigeria Police in 1991, adding that he was paid N225,000 in gratuity following his retrenchment which was occasioned by the accident.
“I was enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force on September 1st, 1991 and I passed out from the training school, Iperu in 1992. After the training, I was posted to Ijero-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
“In 1993, I was mobilized to the Nigeria Mobile Force, Akure. On January 16, 2001, I was posted for special duty in Lagos and I was attached to Itire Police Station where I was knocked down by a vehicle while on duty.
“When the accident occurred, I was rushed to General Hospital, Ikeja and I was later moved to a private hospital. When my situation could not be handled at both the general and private hospitals, I was moved to Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife. OAUTH.
“At Ife, my leg was amputated. After the leg had been amputated, it was later discovered that I had a spinal cord injury which has made movement to be difficult for me. I was discharged from OAUTH in November 2001. Then all the medical expenses were over N1million. The police did not assist me to pay a single kobo out of the entire medical bills. I paid with the little I had as well as with the assistance of my family. My parents died because of the situation.
” In 2006, December 31st, I was retrenched as a Corporal from the Nigeria Police and my salary was immediately stopped. In 2009, the police authority paid me N225, 000 as my gratuity with my pension pegged at N5000 monthly, later it was increased to N8000 but with the minimum wage, I now received N16, 000 as a monthly pension.
“In 1993, the house was allocated to me. And in 2007, Federal Housing said that it wants to dispose of the house at the rate of N1.250 million and we were told to pay 10 per cent first. I picked up interest to buy the house since I have been living there and I paid the 10 per cent.
“Since then, I have not been able to raise the balance because of my condition. Just last week, the ministry brought an eviction letter that I should pack out of the house,” he said.
Ige added that “if I’m evicted from this house, I have nowhere to go because of my condition. I have no wife because when the accident happened I was yet to get married. I begging the government and well-meaning individuals to come to my aid there is nowhere for me to go and there is no how I can raise the money.” (Vanguard)
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