A former videographer with Wale Adenuga Productions, Emmanuel Tomori, has recounted how a police bullet shattered his right hand at a checkpoint in Lagos in 2011, leaving him unable to pursue his ambition of becoming a Nollywood director.
Tomori, 47, said the incident occurred at about 10.30pm on 30 September 2011, while he was driving from Ajao Estate Airport Road to Egbeda with a friend. He said police officers had mounted a blockade around Akowonjo and stopped his vehicle as he waited to have his identity card returned.
According to him, two gunshots rang out while officers at the checkpoint were shouting at one another, before another bullet tore through the boot of his car and struck his right hand. He said blood began gushing from the wound as he repeatedly called for help, but the officers allegedly left the scene.
Tomori said he and his friend eventually made their way to Dopemu Police Station, where officers questioned him about his identity and why he had been shot. He later collapsed after losing a significant amount of blood and was taken to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, where he spent about a month.
He said doctors performed two operations and admitted him to intensive care twice after he suffered severe blood loss. Attempts to restore circulation using veins taken from his left leg failed, and doctors later suggested amputation. He subsequently travelled to India after being advised that reconstructive surgery could be performed there.
Before the shooting, Tomori said he worked as a video editor, motion graphics and visual effects editor with Wale Adenuga Productions, which produced programmes including Super Story and Papa Ajasco. He said he was also managing the Nnenna and Friends brand and was aspiring to become a video director.
However, the injury severely affected his career. He said he could no longer use a computer mouse with his right hand and had to switch to his left while taking small remote video-editing jobs on platforms such as Fiverr.
Tomori said his lawyer, Monday Ubani, began legal proceedings against the police in 2012, leading to a 2015 Federal High Court judgment ordering the police to take responsibility for his reconstructive surgery, estimated at about $47,000.
