How police bullet ended my promising career – Ex-Papa Ajasco videographer

A former videographer and visual effects artist with Wale Adenuga Productions, Emmanuel Tomori, has recounted how a police bullet allegedly fired at a checkpoint in Lagos in 2011 left his right hand severely damaged and disrupted his career.

Tomori, now 47, spoke about the incident in an interview published by The PUNCH on Saturday, October 3, 2026, saying he was 32 when he was shot while travelling home on September 30, 2011, the eve of Nigeria’s Independence Day.

According to his account, he had picked up a friend and was travelling from Ajao Estate Airport Road towards Egbeda when they encountered a police checkpoint around Akowonjo at about 10:30pm.

Tomori said an officer stopped his vehicle and requested his identification card. While he was waiting for the officer to return the card, he heard gunshots from behind the vehicle.

He said a subsequent bullet travelled through the boot of his car and struck his right hand, causing severe bleeding.

“I have been shot,” Tomori recalled telling the officers, according to the interview.

He said the officers at the checkpoint subsequently left the scene, while he and his friend made their way towards the nearby Dopemu Police Station.

Tomori said he was eventually taken to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), where he spent about a month receiving treatment. Doctors reportedly performed operations in an attempt to restore blood circulation to the hand, but the procedures were unsuccessful.

The former production worker said doctors later recommended reconstructive surgery in India. He travelled there after raising money from his family, employer and personal assets, including selling his car.

Tomori said specialists recommended several procedures to restore the hand, but he could only afford the first stage of the treatment.

His account of the shooting and subsequent legal battle has also been documented in other reports. A 2021 consolidated report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters included a case involving a petitioner identified as Tomori Gbolagade. The panel report said the petitioner alleged that he was shot by police officers at a checkpoint near Dopemu and subsequently sought medical treatment, including possible reconstructive surgery in India.

The panel report further stated that a Federal High Court ruling delivered in September 2015 awarded the petitioner $31,562, $15,500 and ₦5 million for medical expenses and general damages, while noting that the police had not complied with the ruling at the time of the panel’s report.

In his latest interview, Tomori said efforts to enforce the court judgment have continued for years without the payment being made. He said his lawyer pursued garnishee proceedings and that subsequent efforts involving government institutions and the police had not produced a resolution.

Tomori also said the injury significantly affected his professional life. Before the shooting, he worked in video editing, motion graphics and visual effects at Wale Adenuga Productions, the company behind programmes including Papa Ajasco and Super Story.

He said he had hoped to progress into directing but struggled to continue at the same level after losing the use of his right hand.

“I could not continue doing what I was doing or grow in the industry,” he said, describing the impact of the injury on his livelihood.

He has since relied partly on remote freelance work, including video-editing jobs, while adapting to using his left hand for computer-related tasks.

Tomori also said he continues to experience pain and mobility problems in the affected hand and is seeking funds to undergo the remaining stages of reconstructive treatment.

He has called for renewed attention to his case and the enforcement of the court judgment, while his lawyer has reportedly submitted another petition to the Inspector-General of Police.

The allegations concerning the shooting and the conduct of the police officers remain matters arising from Tomori’s account and the documented legal proceedings. The 2021 Lagos panel report independently records the petition and the Federal High Court ruling, but does not establish every detail of Tomori’s account concerning the circumstances surrounding the shooting.