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When Bashir Abdullah, 45, a staff of the Kaduna State Water Board was feeling pain on the lower part of his abdomen, he went to a nearby hospital and he was diagnosed with appendix. Days later, he went to the Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital for treatment but a staff of the hospital introduced him to a private hospital at Unguwar Mu’azu. Bashir’s 24-year-old nephew, Ahmed said they were on queue at the Dantsoho Hospital when a man told them that the centre has exhausted their budget for this year and that the operation would not be carried out until the next. Ahmed said the man referred them to one Dr. Sani. “When we met Sani, he described his hospital to us but we could not locate it because there was no signboard. So we called his GSM line and he led us there,” he explained.

Ahmed said when they reached Sani’s hospital, the doctor asked them to get him razor blades in order to perform the operation. “Few minutes after we gave him the razors, he cut my uncle open and brought out an object. He then told us that that was the problem.” Ahmed told Weekly Trust that his uncle who went to the Hospital with his motorcycle could no longer walk or talk after the surgery...

Few days later, he said the condition of his uncle deteriorated and that they rushed him back to Sani’s hospital. “When we reached the hospital, pus was coming out of the operated area. We later rushed him to a government hospital, where he died. It was after his demise that we got to know that the so-called doctor, Sani, has killed over 20 people in our area,” Ahmed alleged.

Like late Bashir, Alhaji Abdulraheem Gambo of Ruma Road in Sabon Gari went to Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital for medication where one Alhaji Abbas introduced him to Dr. Sani. According his son, Adamu Gambo, who is a fashion designer in Kasuwar Barchi, his late father was suffering from urine-related disease. He said when they got to Sani’s hospital, he was operated on the 15th of June, this year. “Sani demanded for N38, 000 and we paid him N24, 000 but my father died the following day after the operation.’’

Speaking to Weekly Trust, Dr. Sani denied the allegation of using razor blades to perform the surgery. “When they brought the patient to me, I asked them to get me a razor blade which I only used to clear the hair around the patient’s abdomen,’’ he said. Sani heads the theatre unit of the Yusuf Dantsoho Memorial Hospital, owned by the Kaduna State government. “You know the society we find ourselves in, people call me doctor because I have been working in the hospital for years. I have never for once told anybody that I am a medical doctor. Yes, I perform minor operations in my private hospital, even here at the government hospital at times, but it’s because of my experience,’’ Sani said.

He said he secured approval from the Kaduna State Ministry of Health to operate the clinic and that he removed the signboard of the clinic because he has concluded arrangement to renovate it. He also said that he has stopped admitting patients because of the renovation.

Sani continued: “I don’t have any syndicate I use in diverting patient from Government hospital to my own. People always come to me for assistance. Like the case of the Water Board staff, he came to me that I should assist him and I did. He was only able to pay me N10, 000 out of the N15, 000 naira I charged them. Hours after I operated him for appendix, he insisted that I should discharge him, which I did. He was anxious to leave.’’

On reports that 20 people died at his hospital, he said: “No. No-one has died in my hospital. But you know death is natural and it comes at any time. People are only out to dent my image.’’

The Chief Medical Director of the Yusuf Dantsoho Memorial Hospital, Dr. Mrs. A. E. Usman said the case has been referred to the technical committee of the hospital and that she has reported the case to Director in charge of Nursing in the state Ministry of Health. “We are not going to hide anybody but I am not aware that a syndicate is diverting patients from our hospital to private ones,’’ she added.

However, when contacted to verify Sani’s claim that he registered his private hospital with the state government, the Head of Private Health Establishment in the Kaduna State Ministry of Health, Dr. Dogara Bok said the name of the hospital was not on the list of registered private health centres in the state. “He is operating illegally. Even as a maternity clinic, he is not expected to perform surgery,” Bok said. When Weekly Trust visited the clinic at Ikara Road in Unguwar Mu’azu, three ladies wearing nurses’ uniforms were seen, but no patients.

When next you are flagged down at a checkpoint by policemen, especially at lonely spots between the hours of 9pm and 5am, you need to be careful and more vigilant as the men in black may not be genuine policemen.

A gang of armed robbers arrested by the police in Lagos State on their way from a successful operation at a spot in Ijebu Ode area of Ogun State, told PUNCH METRO that what one needed to rob successfully along the route were confidence, torch and black clothes that look like police uniform.

The quartet of Anayo Nwaga, Christian Obika, Johnson Onie and Chukwudi Nwankwo, were arrested by policemen attached to Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Government.

The Lagos State police spokesman, Mr. Frank Mba, who spoke with our correspondent, said what attracted the policemen to the suspects when they were stopped at a checkpoint was a big wound on the arm of one of them.

Mba said, “Further search into the bus they were driving revealed a number of telephone sets, which obviously were not their own because they were packed in a bag. There was also a large amount of money on them among other things. The policemen became suspicious and decided to take the suspects with them.

“It was not long before one of them broke down and confessed to the policemen how they robbed unsuspecting motorists at a spot at Ijebu Ode, pretending to be policemen.”

Obika, who divulged the information that put other suspects in trouble, said he was reluctant to join the gang because of the risks involved.

“But I have to do the job because I need the money. For instance now, my father has just died and I need a lot of money for the burial,” he said.

Obika said they usually selected a lonely spot on the expressway. According to him, “We are usually in colour clothes and we drive to the place like any other drivers. We usually operate around Ijebu Ode because there are so many lonely spots there.,

“Once we select our spot, we change into black clothes and cut some sticks from the nearby bush. We will wrap these sticks with black celotape and in darkness, it will look like gun. We will them mount a road block and we will start flashing oncoming vehicles with our torch. Once the driver slows down, we quickly assess the occupants and once we suspect that they might have things in their vehicles, we will stop them and rob them. Some of us will point the stick at them, making it look as if we will shoot them if they don‘t cooperate. But we have never killed or injured anybody during operation.”

Chukwudi also said the aim of the gang was not to injure people but to get money from them “in order to survive and we don‘t even do it everyday.”

But Mba said the police would need to conclude their investigation before arraigning the suspects in court.

He said, “However, the confession of these men has brought to the mind the need to be careful when driving. If people stop you on the highway, be sure that they are policemen before you stop.

“And if the journey is not absolutely necessary in the night, why not make it in the day time? The police will not however stop at ridding the society of bad elements like these suspects.”