The motorcyclist (Okada rider) took his
passenger on a ride to Masaka in Nasarawa State. When they got there,
the customer decided he wanted to steal the motorcycle. Well, one would
not say whether that was the passenger’s initial plan. Anyway, the rider
refused and he received a stab in the head. The passenger hoped that
the Okada rider would fall off the bike so that he could then steal it.
Alas, the rider did not. Instead, he continued his ride with a long
dagger stuck in his head.
The man with a dagger in his head
The Police
The saga ended up in hospital. First,
other Okada riders took him to the local police station to report the
attempted murder. The policemen filled the incident form and directed
them to the nearest hospital (Pan Raf Hospital, Nyanya). Thanks for
coming, they said! Did they take pictures of the knife or the victim?
Did they follow him to the hospital or offer any support whatsoever? You
must be joking. He is lucky they did not arrest him for stealing the
knife!
Emergency care
Dr. Odia and members of his staff at Pan
Raf quickly admitted him and stabilised his condition before referring
him onwards for expert management. I got the call from Cedarcrest
Hospital at 6am. They had also emailed the shocking pictures of the man
with a dagger buried in his head. The hospital had mobilised a team of
doctors and nurses to review, manage and operate on this chap in the
quickest possible time. An X-ray of the skull showed the dagger had gone
in from the right side of the face just in front of the ear and was
nearly poking out from the cheek on the other side. The two hospitals
had undertaken the immediate cost of care without demanding a single
Naira. Time was also of the essence in case the chap bleeds to death.
The team
The ophthalmologist had reviewed and
luckily, the dagger had not damaged the eye. He could move his eyeballs
equally on both sides and without pain. There was also no blood in the
eye. The maxillo facial surgeon was happy with him as well. No obvious
bleeding from the nose or ear and all looked calm in the face. Except
for this long handled dagger sticking out of him. The brain evaluation
was also satisfactory. He could give a good account of the incident.
We proceeded with plans for removing the
dagger. First, we sent him for a CT brain scan to see what damage the
dagger had done and the likely injured structures in its path through
the head. The brain and the eye as well as the big blood vessels
supplying the brain all seemed well. It did appear that he had escaped
major brain injury, stroke, blindness and immediate death. He bled a bit
from the wound but was alive and still talking. Lucky bugger!
The operation
Under general anaesthesia, we cleaned the
area thoroughly, including the knife and applied our sterile drapes
around it. We then made fresh cuts in the skin to help expose the skull
bone and the area where the dagger actually entered into the bone. It
required a big hammer and an outstanding effort to whack the dagger back
through its track in the bone. A great effort was required and this
gave further evidence, attesting to the severity and savagery of the
attack. He did not bleed to death on the table and instead went on to
make a safe and satisfactory recovery.
Finally
This type of violent and brutal attack
happens on a daily basis and the behaviour persists because they are not
investigated. The perpetrator in this case has a distinctive knife that
may be identified in the local area, had the police bothered to
investigate. Secondly, the Okada riders associations need to find ways
to prevent the attraction of motorcycle thefts. Could the cycles be
marked in some way, be traceable and recovered if stolen, perhaps
because they have electronic tags or computer chips in them?
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