Mrs. Ofem was also accused of administering treatment to the leader of the robbery gang, Patrick Ogah, who sustained bullet wounds during an encounter with the police.
She was arrested in her residence in Onitsha by a team of policemen from
the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, three days after Easter Sunday. And
her younger brother, Jude Eze, was nabbed in Ogbakogba in company with
members of the gang at a hideout where they were receiving treatment.
But Ofem tearfully told Crime Digest that she was innocent. "All my life, I have had nothing to do with robbers until I got a call from my brother (Eze) sometime in March. He told me that he needed me at Atani to treat a friend of his who had been involved in a car accident.
"Although I didn’t know who this person was, I went to Atani. Ogah was wounded in his lower arm. During the treatment, which lasted three days, I dressed his wounds and gave him injections.
"The bullet was already out before I treated Ogah. I had no way of knowing that it was a gunshot wound. When I noticed that he had a broken bone in his lower arm, I advised him to go to the hospital. Eze told me he would take his friends to the hospital and I went back home to Onitsha,” she said.
Mrs. Ofem said she received another telephone call asking her to come to Ogbakogba, where her brother and his friends had gone to seek the services of a herbalist, who was also a bone setter.
She said: “After the broken bones were fixed, the herbalist asked my brother to invite the nurse who had been caring for his friend before he would set the sticks that would be used to support the broken arm. I got this call on a Saturday and told Eze that I couldn’t make it to Ogbakogba until after Easter.
“On Easter Monday, I finally left Onitsha for Ogbakogba. When I met Eze’s wounded friend, I applied Cicatrin powder to his wound, and gave him an injection and went back to Onitsha that same day. I was shocked when the following Wednesday, a SARS team from Lagos traced me to my shop at Fegge, Onitsha.
"They told me that I had to lead them to a group of fleeing robbers with whom I had been in contact. Although I was horrified, I agreed to cooperate with them. We had to board a canoe from Onitsha to Ogbakogba on that day. I never suspected for once that Eze’s friends were robbers.”
But on his part, Eze, the only son of five children, admitted that he had known that Ogah was a robber. He however added that he was compelled to help the criminal because of his kindness to him in the past.
But Ofem tearfully told Crime Digest that she was innocent. "All my life, I have had nothing to do with robbers until I got a call from my brother (Eze) sometime in March. He told me that he needed me at Atani to treat a friend of his who had been involved in a car accident.
"Although I didn’t know who this person was, I went to Atani. Ogah was wounded in his lower arm. During the treatment, which lasted three days, I dressed his wounds and gave him injections.
"The bullet was already out before I treated Ogah. I had no way of knowing that it was a gunshot wound. When I noticed that he had a broken bone in his lower arm, I advised him to go to the hospital. Eze told me he would take his friends to the hospital and I went back home to Onitsha,” she said.
Mrs. Ofem said she received another telephone call asking her to come to Ogbakogba, where her brother and his friends had gone to seek the services of a herbalist, who was also a bone setter.
She said: “After the broken bones were fixed, the herbalist asked my brother to invite the nurse who had been caring for his friend before he would set the sticks that would be used to support the broken arm. I got this call on a Saturday and told Eze that I couldn’t make it to Ogbakogba until after Easter.
“On Easter Monday, I finally left Onitsha for Ogbakogba. When I met Eze’s wounded friend, I applied Cicatrin powder to his wound, and gave him an injection and went back to Onitsha that same day. I was shocked when the following Wednesday, a SARS team from Lagos traced me to my shop at Fegge, Onitsha.
"They told me that I had to lead them to a group of fleeing robbers with whom I had been in contact. Although I was horrified, I agreed to cooperate with them. We had to board a canoe from Onitsha to Ogbakogba on that day. I never suspected for once that Eze’s friends were robbers.”
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