Reddington Hospital: ‘We treated a large number of Lekki shooting victims’

Lawson said he did not extract any bullets from the patients he treated.

Dr Babajide Lawson, trauma and orthopaedic surgeon with Reddington Hospital in Lekki, Lagos has affirmed that the hospital treated a large number of persons who sustained injuries after soldiers shot at #EndSARS protester at Lekki tollgate in October 2020.

Lawson said the hospital’s facility at Lekki was “literally overwhelmed” by the crowd of wounded persons, adding that some of the victims had to be transferred to the Victoria Island branch of the hospital.

The surgeon gave the account while appearing before the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the alleged killing of protesters who gathered at Lekki tollgate to protest against police brutality and poor governance last year.

Lawson also told the panel that some of the injured persons presented “entry and exit” bullet wounds. He said many of the victims passed through him first as the hospital’s surgeon in charge of trauma.

He said, “Being in charge of trauma means anybody that is involved in any form of traumatic injury, accident, gunshot and others, will have to go through me first. I saw a couple of them, the ones that needed admission, I admitted and the ones that did not were taken care of.

“The thing is on that October 20, a lot of patients presented at the Lekki office, that’s the Lekki hospital. I was shuttling between there and the VI office, which I represent.

“Later on the night of 20th, I also went to the Lekki office to assess and determine what amount of assistance they would require from me. I transferred some of the patients from the Lekki Hospital to the VI office.

“On the first night, there were about six patients that I saw, subsequently, other patients came, trickled in, as days continued.”

While responding to the claim by Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, the lawyer representing some #EndSARS protesters that one of his clients Samuel Asola, was treated at the hospital but his medical report was missing from those submitted by the hospital to the panel, the surgeon said a lot of cases might have been compromised because the hospital was overwhelmed on the night of the incident.

He said, “On the night of this event, in the Lekki facility, when patients were brought in, it was a mass gathering situation in which case you have a large number of people presenting at the same time, literarily overwhelming the facility.

“In that kind of situation, there are lots of cases that might be compromised. If this patient says he was treated at the hospital, he can present at the hospital and get a medical report.”

Lawson also said he did not extract any bullets from the patients he treated, adding that there was no need to remove pellets from the patient that came to the hospital with pellet wound.

“If there is a gunshot injury and the bullet does not in any way endanger the body, the pellet can remain”, he said.

Meanwhile, the Commander of 81 Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Taiwo while appearing before the panel to defend the military had said that soldiers only fired blank bullets into the air to scare off the protesters.

Taiwo told the retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel that some of the soldiers deployed to the tollgate on the night carried live bullets but didn’t use them on anyone.

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