Protesters in Waterside LGA, Ogun State, on Thursday locked down the area over the death of a pregnant woman, Waidat Adedeji, who reportedly died afte
Protesters in Waterside LGA, Ogun State, on Thursday locked down the area over the death of a pregnant woman, Waidat Adedeji, who reportedly died after she was unduly delayed by policemen enforcing a lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The protesters also accused one of the policemen of ‘mistakenly’ hitting the victim while she was on her way to access medicare. The police have denied the allegation.
The protesters, who later besieged the Abigi Divisional Police Headquarters, said the victim would have survived “if she was not delayed by the police officers” as she made her way to Ita-Otu General Hospital, Ibiade.
A source said the victim who was carrying a seven months old pregnancy, woke up around 6 a.m. bleeding. While her husband would have taken her to the hospital with his motorcycle, the lockdown in the state would not permit him. Instead, he called on a neighbor who is a ‘Man O War’ member to assist him “so he could talk to the police officers at checkpoints”.
As expected, they were reportedly stopped by officers at Sore River checkpoint who asked them why they refused to use face masks, obey social distance and lockdown order in the state.
“They were delayed for hours while she (Mrs Adedeji) continued to bleed,” Oduroye Akintayo, the cousin of the deceased said.
“Not happy with the delay, the man (Man O War) driving the motorcycle had ‘tough talks’ and disagreement with the officers condemning them for not considering the ‘dying’ woman. In the process, an officer in anger tried to hit his torch light on the bikeman. Unable to dodge, the torch light was mistakenly smashed on the pregnant woman,” he said.
He said after they were eventually released, Mrs Adedeji died before getting to the hospital. Angered by the development, youth in the community took the remains of Mrs Adedeji to the Abigi Divisional Police Headquarters.
“When we got to the police station, we dropped the remains of the woman on their counter and some of the officers ran away,” a protester said.
However, the police spokesperson in Ogun State, exonorated his men from the incident.
“Our officers were not responsible for the pregnant woman’s death. There were three occupants on a motorcycle as against the directive of the state government that only two people should occupy a motorcycle at a time.”
He explained: “They were stopped and interrogated on why they did not obey the sit at home order. They informed the police that the woman was being conveyed to hospital for delivery and having noticed that the woman was in pains, our men allowed them to proceed.”
