The Nigeria Police Force has confirmed that 44 of its operatives were involved in auto crash while they were on their way for election duties.
The accident occurred in Gwagwalada Area Council of Abuja.
The Inspector General of Police, Ag. IGP Mohammed Adamu, speaking after a visit to some of the injured police officers in the hospital on Saturday, said: “It is because of the election that we decided to deploy our men to polling units.
“On their way, a team that was deployed to Gwagwalada had an accident and a lot of them were seriously injured.
“You can see that we are at the trauma section of the National hospital where some of them are admitted.
“They have various degrees of injury, ranging from fracture to head injury that requires further investigation which I have ordered that they be taken to other hospital with the necessary equipment to treat them.
“We are here to make sure that they are given proper treatment to recover.
“Policing is nothing but a national assignment and what has happened to our policemen here can happen to anybody but we are encouraged to serve our country the best way we could because no sacrifice is too much for the nation. All we have to do is to make sure that they are properly taken care of.”
The injured personnel attached to the Operations department of the FCT Police Command, were being conveyed in one of the big Police trucks when the accident occurred.
36 of them were immediately rushed to Air force Base hospital, six to Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) hospital while two were rushed to Police hospital in Area 1, Garki for treatment.
33 out of the 44 injured were treated and discharged while 11 are presently on admission at various hospitals in Abuja.
