•Isaac Oseteru Timilehi Photo: Sun News Publishing

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Not a few would have thought that the hullabaloo and outright condemnation that trailed the recent assault by naval ratings attached to Rear Admiral Harry Arogundade on Miss Uzoma Okeke in Lagos would serve as a deterrent to the men in immaculate white uniform.

Okeke had been beaten to a pulp and almost stripped naked for ‘obstructing’ traffic as the convoy of the naval officer passed by.
Yet again in Lagos, some ratings have brutalized one Isaac Oseteru Timilehin, an Assistant Inspector of Prisons attached to the Arms Squad Unit, Nigerian Prisons Service, Lagos Command, Kirikiri.

Sunday Sun learnt that the problem began when one Chinedu, son of a Prisons official, Anthonia, who resides at the Medium Prisons Barracks in Kirikiri, beckoned to a commercial bike rider. His alleged rude response to the fare proposed by the Okada rider was said to have provoked an argument, which attracted other colleagues of the bike man.
Unknown to Chinedu that the rider was a military personnel, he was said to have replied: “What is my business with that? Is this Navy Barracks?” when one of his colleagues queried him (Chinedu) for arguing with the other man.

So the Okada man, identified as Shaibu Suleiman Oseni, a rating attached to the Naval Air Station, Navy Town, Ojo, alighted from his bike and reportedly slapped Chinedu. This resulted to a fight before passersby intervened.
But no sooner had Chinedu gone to his mum’s apartment at the Medium Security Barracks than the Navy rating allegedly brought out his phone and called three other of his military colleagues and the four of them in mufti were said to have marched to the residence.

As they tried to gain entry into the apartment, there was an uproar which attracted a neighbour, Mr Timilehin, an Assistant Inspector of Prisons. He, however, drew the ire of the naval personnel when he queried their audacity to come into the Prisons barracks to start a fight and for preventing their entry into the flat.
An eyewitness said before they knew it, Shaibu had brought out a dagger with which he sliced the left side of Timilehin’s stomach open. Immediately his intestines bulged out, the naval ratings reportedly bolted.

Timilehin was lucky not to have died as he was rejected by six hospitals where he was rushed to, with his intestines in his hands, until the Lagos General Hospital accepted to treat him.
According to our source, Timilehin would have died but for the prompt attention of doctors and nurses at the General Hospital, who were said to have performed surgery on him from 5pm to about 1am the following day. He would still undergo further surgery as the doctors said the injury affected the intestine leading to the anus.

At the Divisional Police Headquarters, Kirikiri, Sunday Sun gathered that the naval authorities had rebuffed a letter requesting them to produce Shaibu for thorough investigation of the matter. Rather, the naval authorities have set out to investigate the incident.
Sunday Sun also learnt there had been several face-offs between naval personnel and residents of the Kirikiri area, prompting the residents to call for help. When contacted, the Director of Naval Information, Commodore David Nabaida, confirmed the incident in a telephone chat but denied that the naval rating stabbed the Prisons official.

According to Nabaida, the attack could have been carried out by one of those that thronged the scene when the fighting broke out.
He, however, said they were collaborating with the police in the investigation, and assured that the culprit would soon be apprehended.
Meanwhile, at the General Hospital, where he is receiving treatment, Timilehin insisted that he was actually stabbed by Shaibu Suleiman Oseni.

“He actually stabbed me and admitted in front of my younger brother Kunle; the Deputy Controller of Prisons and Madam Anthonia, Chinedu’s mother, that he did it.”
Timilehin further described the assailant as being dark in complexion and stout with a scar under one of his eyes.
Sources at the hospital told Sunday Sun that “the patient (Timilehin) urinates via a pipe which the doctors passed through the wound.”