Two individuals sustain injuries during a confrontation between DSS operatives and NSCDC officials in Edo.

Officials from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and operatives from the Department of State Services (DSS) engaged in a violent confrontation at the Edo Specialist Hospital in Benin on Monday.

The clash erupted when DSS officials brought one of their colleagues, who had collapsed during a meeting at their office, to the hospital. Allegedly, the medical staff refused to attend to the patient.

According to reports, the situation only calmed down after the intervention of the Chief Security Officer of the Government House and the police, who were called from the Oba Market Police Station.

Numerous individuals, including private security guards and female NSCDC personnel, sustained injuries during the chaos.

A DSS official recounted the incident to The Nation, stating, “While we were in a meeting, our colleague suddenly collapsed, and we immediately rushed him to our health facility for assessment. However, we were met with poor reception at the Edo Specialist Hospital.”

The official further explained that their team had to manually transfer the patient from their vehicle because the hospital staff refused to assist. They expected that the hospital would have demonstrated some level of commitment by attending to the patient upon arrival.

Dr. David Odiko, the Medical Director of the hospital, clarified that although the DSS staff refused to accept the patient’s death, the attending physician promptly attended to him.

Dr. Odiko clarified, “I was not at the hospital during the incident as I was in court for a case. I was informed about the situation and found policemen present when I arrived.”

He continued, “The patient was brought in as an emergency case. The doctor on duty found him lying unconscious in the car, with no signs of breathing or pulse. Despite attempts at CPR, there was no response. The doctor’s diagnosis was that the patient was brought in deceased.”

According to Dr. Odiko, the DSS personnel disputed this diagnosis and forcefully moved the patient into their facility, causing injury to the Civil Defence p

ersonnel on duty.