A member of the presidential guard brigade caused a stir on Monday morning when she collapsed at the parade ground shortly before the commencement of the inauguration programme.
The undisclosed female soldier, who was in her twenties, was quickly rushed to one of the makeshift clinics positioned for emergencies at Eagle Square, the venue for the swearing-in ceremony.
Multiple sources told The PUNCH that they can recall seeing the young guard feeling uncomfortable while mounting guard before falling to the ground.
“It happened so fast. When she slumped, there was panic. We thought she had died before she was carried on a stretcher to one of those mobile clinics around.
“Some moments later, she was brought back but couldn’t continue with her duty. In fact, she almost fainted again. I heard she has been rushed to one hospital,” a source said.
Further findings at the mobile clinics confirmed that the report was true.
A medic, Alkali Yusuff, told our correspondent that he was one of the few officials who came to her rescue.
He said, “You mean the lady that fainted? Of course, we were the ones that evacuated her. We first brought her here for first aid. When she recovered, we discovered she was feeling dizzy and weak because she had earlier vomited.
“Even when she left, she was brought back by some soldiers and placed on a stretcher in one of the makeshift tents since she still can’t walk well. She has been conveyed to military hospital and placed on admission.”
However, one of the high-ranking medical officials on duty confirmed that the young soldier was diagnosed with food poisoning and not as a result of exhaustion as many speculated.
The trauma surgeon, Dr Olanrewaju Olatunji, further explained that she probably have eaten unhealthy food or meal prepared in a not-too-tidy environment.
“We managed to resuscitate her. But after a while, she went back to the parade ground and vomited again. So we started the resuscitation process all over again. However, when we were not satisfied with her level of consciousness, we had to evacuate and gave her a referral to an army hospital.
“As you must have noticed, each of the four tents (mobile clinics) you see around here is managed by a consultant, which could be an army physician, general surgeon, cardiologist and others. The road safety guys, on the other hand, have more paramedics. If there is any emergency on the parade ground, the FRSC or Guards brigade will do an evacuation because they don’t like seeing civilians going in and out there.”
