Man shot by Policeman decries abandonment, calls for help amid escalating medical needs
Man shot by Policeman decries abandonment, calls for help amid escalating medical needs
Mr Charles Mkpang, the lone survivor of the March 23 shooting by an alleged berserk police officer in Calabar, says he has been abandoned by the authorities.
Mkpang made the disclosure in calabar on Sunday while answering questions from journalists who followed up his matter.
He said that he had suffered series of complications since the incident, and that he could not undergo a recommended surgery due to lack of funds.
It would be recalled that on March 23, an alleged mentally unstable Police Inspector, Effiong Bassey, opened fire on people in front of the Atakpa Divisional Police Station, Calabar.
The shooting which led to the death of four persons, left Mkpang, 46, badly injured and currently battling to stay alive.
He told newsmen that the incident had left him with partial paralysis, and that a hole in his mouth had affected his ability to eat and speak.
“If I drink water or eat anything, it comes out through my nose. I cannot lift my left hand and leg. I am living in pains. After the initial surgery, I was moved to a stroke centre.
“Support from the police and government has drastically dropped. After the incident, the AIG, sent me N50,000 through his wife. The following day, he sent another N100,000.
“I got N50,000 through a woman from the police command in the state I also received N400,000 from the governor’s wife, and N500,000 from a private individual called Very-Dark-Man,” he said.
Mkpang, a window fabricator, said that the monies he had received so far had been spent, saying that he had no money to continue further treatments.
He said that efforts to reach out to Mr Stanley Nsemo, the Member Representing Calabar Municipality in the State Assembly had been fruitless.
“He promised to take the matter to court, but nothing has happened. My business is currently shut down because of my condition.
“My family is passing through a period of torture, my two children are facing hardship” he said.
When contacted, Olusegun Omosanyin, the Commissioner of Police in Cross River, said that the shooting happened before he assumed duty.
Omosanyin stated that all efforts by the command to get the state government to pay the bills for the survivor’s treatment had not yielded results.
“We forwarded requests for both the deceased and the injured to the state government, but it seems that the government takes the matter as purely police negligence.
“The shooter has been dismissed from service, and charged to court, he is currently remanded at the Calabar Correctional Centre,” he said.
The police commissioner said that he had personally contributed financially to the survivor’s treatment.(NAN)
