He was a super cop. He had served the Nigerian Police Force diligently, professionally, and responsively. He had led many successful counter-insurgency operations in the North East, fighting Boko Haram sect members with his entire soul and body. He led a team of security joint task force to flush out Boko Haram fighters from Fika town in 2016. He once led a Rapid Response Squad to rescue 18 policemen who were held hostage by Boko Haram extremists in Borno State. He was ambushed at four different times by blood-thirsty insurgents, but he escaped unscathed. As a matter of fact, he once had an enviable record that no other police officer and men deployed to the troubled North East could boast of.
But since he was shot by troops of an Army Battalion in Yobe State on April 13, 2017 and then sustained a life-threatening injury in his hips, life has never been the same for CSP Dauda Buba Fika.
Not only have the fortunes of one of the finest Mobile Police officers terribly nosedived, but things have taken an entirely different turn for him. He has now become a shadow of his once-upon-a-time fearless, bold and combat-ready self.
Fika, who was the Commander of MOPOL 41 before he was shot, told PRNigeria from his London hospital bed that his predicament started in April 2017 when some policemen travelling in his convoy had a minor scuffle with a soldier at a traffic point in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.
The son of a former Assistant Inspector General of Police, late Buba Fika, said though the altercation was eventually settled, some hooded soldiers stormed his house, tortured him and later whisked him away to a military base inside a bush on the outskirt of Damaturu, the next day.
Fika said: “I was taken to an Army Battalion from my house. The soldiers, who whisked me away, would have killed me when we arrived at their Battalion. They threw me and one other MOPOL officer inside a ditch and they cocked their rifles to shoot. But a senior Army Officer immediately arrived the scene and I was taken out of the ditch.
“The Army Officer took me to his office and ordered me to go and calm my boys who had already laid siege at the entrance of the Battalion. By then, my boys were already shooting into the air sporadically. They were insisting that I must be released unhurt. So, I came down to meet my boys. They lifted and threw me into the air to welcome me, when I got to their place.
“They touched my body to check if I was fine and wasn’t hurt. I eventually calmed their frayed nerves and ordered them to go back to their base. They all left, leaving behind two other MOPOL officers and myself. But it was at that moment some soldiers who we did not know were trailing us opened fire.
“They killed the two people with me. I was shot twice in the hips and left in a pool of blood. But thank God, a high-ranking Army Officer, who came and met me lying on the ground, ordered that I should be taken to the Army Hospital. It was while I was there that the State Police Commissioner called to inquire if I was truly the one alive.
“After we spoke, the Commissioner directed that I should immediately be flown to Abuja for better medical attention. And because the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport was closed for rehabilitation then, I was first taken to Kaduna and treated in a Hospital. The next day, I was brought to CedarCrest Hospital in Abuja by an ambulance.”
At the Abuja-based private hospital, PRNigeria gathered that Fika was wrongly diagnosed by a doctor of having a “large” tumor inside his head after he complained of severe headache head and dizziness.
The doctor who performed the MRI scan and diagnosed him of having “tumor in the brain” immediately carried out a surgical operation on Fika’s head. No sooner had the operation been performed than the MOPOL Commander started having acute migraine and experiencing other intense pains.
But the medical surgeon had by then left the country after realising he incorrectly diagnosed and operated a patient.
It was at that time Fika, who was a Chief Superintendent of Police, received a timely aid from the Police Force, who fully sponsored the cost of his medical surgery abroad.
But PRNigeria reliably gathered that Fika has been paying from his pocket for accommodation and medication since he traveled to the United Kingdom for another surgical operation.
The distraught MOPOL Commander, who said he will be returning to Nigeria soon, expressed shock that the Nigerian Army did not reach out to him to render any assistance.
Fika said: “I am surprised the Nigerian Army didn’t reach out to me since then. I strongly believe the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, could have assisted if he learned of my present predicament considering my exploit in a joint military-security operation in the North East.
“I must thank the leadership of the Nigerian Police for their uncommon love, generosity, and kindness in the payment for the operation while I shoulder my accommodation and living cost here in London. Nevertheless, I will still plead to our indefatigable and dynamic Inspector General of Police, who is my boss, and the Chief of Army Staff to assist me financially.
“Meanwhile, contrary to what the CedarCrest Hospital’s doctor said, I was told by my doctor here that I never had any kind of tumour in my head. Yet, another surgery was then performed, where the doctors removed an infection which was affecting both my eyes and tooth.”
Fika called on the Police to file a suit and also seek damages from the “quack” doctor at Cedar Hospital who wrongly operated him, maintaining that the “ill-fated” surgery only aggravated his deteriorating health.
He said: “Though, I have since lost my sight, I remain grateful to Allah for keeping me alive. My doctors in London successfully replaced my natural hip with an artificial hip. And right now, I am learning to walk steadily with the support of aid. With time, I will be able to walk unaided, my doctors have assured me.
“But the thing is, I don’t know where I am going to start from once I return to Nigeria. I don’t know where to go. I sold everything I had to gather money for my medication and accommodation in UK. I sold my entire belongings, house, cars, you can name them. I even had to sell our family house, and relocated my extended family members to rented apartments, just to raise money for my treatment. It is very traumatic.
“As I speak to you now, my landlord in Nigeria, who gave me a quit notice some months ago, has already ejected my belongings out of his estate. I don’t know where to go. I don’t know who I will run to for help. My health condition is becoming critical. I am suffering and dying gradually.”