One week after the killing of eight persons by operatives of the State Security Services over alleged link with the Boko Haram Islamic sect, families of survivors have given the Asokoro General Hospital, Abuja a three-day ultimatum to release the medical reports of their relatives  or risk legal action.

The relatives had asked the hospital to release the medical reports of the survivors to them to enhance their treatment in Wuse General Hospital where they were transferred. But the hospital said it could only release the medical reports to the police.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that the families of those who were in the hospital but later transferred over alleged neglect, were considering serious options to tackle the Asokoro hospital.

The families of the survivors, who spoke through their Lawyer, Mr. Sanusi Musa, told Saturday PUNCH that they had given the Chief Medical Director of Asokoro Hospital, Dr. Ahmadu Abubakar, an ultimatum to release the medical reports or be prepared for  legal action.

Musa said, “The management of Asokoro Hospital does not want to give us the medical reports despite my application through writing, and so we are giving it until Saturday (today) to release them and if it doesn’t give us the medical reports, it will not find it funny.

“The medical director is trying to be difficult. He is insisting that  only the police  can get  medical reports, but I told him to put it in writing but he has not done that.”

Several calls and text messages to the CMD (Abubakar) were not replied.

Meanwhile, four victims of the shootings  had been discharged from Asokoro General Hospital where they had been  receiving treatment for gunshot wounds.

But three  others have been referred to the Wuse General Hospital, while two are in Kubwa General Hospital.

While some sources claimed some survivors  were discharged based on the improvement on their state of health, another source informed our correspondent that those who were discharged were not comfortable with the treatment being given to them.

The victims of the attack who are currently receiving treatment in the hospital are Ibrahim Mohammed, 32, (Zamfara State); Ibrahim Lawal, 25, (Zamfara State); Shamshudeen Abubakar, 20, (Zamfara State); Sani Abdulrahman, 17, (Katsina State); Yusuf Abubakar, 20, (Zamfara State) and Yahaya Bello, 20, (Katsina State).

Others are Abubakar Auwal, 18,  (Kano State); Muritala Abubakar, 20, (Zamfara State); Ibrahim Bala, 18, (Kano State) and Nuhu Ibrahim, 20, (Zamfara State).

When our correspondent visited Asokoro Hospitalon Wednesday evening, the beds of Mohammed, Lawal, Abubakar and Abdulrahman had been assigned to other patients.

Musa confirmed that four of them had been discharged.

He said, “Two were discharged on  Tuesday; I personally took them away. Another two were discharged on Wednesday, making the number four. There are three in Wuse Hospital and two in Kubwa.”

Earlier in the week, there was confusion at the premises of Asokoro General Hospital, as relatives of 10 victims besieged the hospital, lamenting their neglect by the hospital management.

A source in the hospital, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, “They have started transferring them to other hospitals in Wuse and Kubwa. Relatives of other victims have demanded that their brothers should be transferred to their home hospitals where they will get better treatment.”

A friend of one of the victims, Mallam Isah Moriki from Zamfara State, confirmed this to our correspondent.

He had said, “The problem on the ground in Asokoro Hospital is that the patients are writhing in pains. Some of them are even crying and there are bullets still inside their bodies.

“The bullets have not been removed. As I speak with you, the victims are very hungry because the hospital refused to give them food. They were told that the money deposited by some members of the National Assembly from their region for their feeding was exhausted.

“When they asked for food, they were told that the money had finished and they needed to pay more. It was one woman who came and assisted them with N20,000.

“One of them is my friend and he is a good footballer and not a Boko Haram member. We are playing in the same club and he’s my striker and he also plays defensive for some clubs and my state. I always take him on bike to play football.”

But a doctor on duty at the hospital denied the allegation that survivors were not getting good treatment in the hospital. The doctor, who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media,  told our correspondent that those who were transferred  were people who had bone-related problems.

Saturday PUNCH saw Nubu Ibrahim and Sani Abdulrahman on their hospital beds during a visit to Wuse Hospital on Thursday. But Sani Usman was sleeping following a surgery the he underwent.

Ibrahim and Abdulrahman confirmed that some pieces of pellets had been removed from their bodies and that they were  recovering.

Meanwhile, condemnations have continued to trail the claim by the State Security Services that victims of the shooting were members of Boko Haram. The Chairman of  the National Commercial Tricycle and Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria in Abuja Municipal Area Council, Musa Ibrahim, said the claim was untrue

He said, “They are my members; they are not Boko Haram and we are not happy with what happened. Five of the people who died were tricycle operators and they were  our members.”

The  chairman of the association in the FCT, Alhaji Usman Buba Gwoza, called on the Federal Government to “immediately set up a commission of enquiry to unravel the mystery behind this inhuman act.” According to him, killing innocent and harmless citizens should not be tolerated by any government. Gwoza added  that NATOMORAS  would embark on protest throughout the Federal Capital Territory if the demand for enquiry was not heeded within the next seven days.

In its reaction, a civil rights organisation, Right2life Hope Foundation,  also called on the Federal Government to set up a judicial panel of enquiry to investigate the killings.

The Programmes Director/Head of Public Communication of the group, Mr. Aja Aja, in a statement obtained by Saturday PUNCH in Abuja, also suggested that the security agencies should maintain “a delicate balance” in view of the constitutional  rights of citizens.

He said, “We welcome the decision of the Inspector-General of  Police to look further into the matter; but we also suggest that a judicial panel of enquiry should be set up to conduct a thorough inquest into the matter with a view to doing the needful to protect innocent lives, even as our security agencies carry out their statutory duties.

“Boko Haram is a cancer that must be scorched, but hunting its members must not be an excuse to trample on the very rights the fight against terror is programmed to protect. Otherwise, we may not be better than those we seek to stop.”

According to him, the Foundation received with shock and grave concern the incident, adding that the manner of the killing cast a serious doubt on the credibility of security agencies that carried out the action.

Aja said, “While appreciating the peculiar security challenges facing the nation, we are of the strong view that executing their professional mandate requires the security agencies to maintain a delicate balance in view of the constitutionally guaranteed rights of citizens, chief of which is the right to life.

“It is only by the security agencies playing by the rules that the confidence of the public can be earned and its cooperation guaranteed.”

Although, the SSS claimed that those killed were members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, eyewitnesses and survivors had denied the allegation.

The SSS Deputy Director (Public Relations), Marilyn Ogar, had claimed that the victims were gunmen who engaged the SSS operatives in a gun battle.

According to Ogar, the SSS operatives were attacked by the sympathisers of the Boko Haram sect when they went to a building on Soji Aderemi Close, off Bamanga Tukur Street, Apo Quarters, to exhume weapons  buried in an uncompleted building  by people suspected to be members of the Islamic sect.

But Musa told our correspondent that from past experiences, it was obvious that security agencies were trained to kill.

He said, “I think the security agencies need to come up with more plausible reasons to convince Nigerians with their claim of what happened there.

“We are going to court on behalf of those who were killed and those who received gun shot injuries and are now receiving treatment in hospital. All those who will allow us to pursue their cases and get redress for them, we are going to do it free.”