HELP ATTORNEY PAUL DURU SURVIVE THIS GUN ATTACK

My name is BARR PAUL DURU. I am an indigene of Okwudor in Njaba LGA, Imo State. I am 53 years old, married, with five children (two females and three males).

I am a legal practitioner by occupation, having been admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 2009 as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Nine (9) armed assassins attacked me on Friday, November 12, 2021, within the vicinity of my Njaba Local Government Area, Imo State. They ambushed me and blocked my car ( a Mercedes Benz 190 car), brought me down from the vehicle at gunpoint and shot me in the face twice. They later burnt my vehicle.

The gunshots on my face pulled off my left eyeball completely, damaged the eye socket, destabilized the lens of the remaining right eye, and pulled off my upper jaw and gum, as well as all my sixteen (16) supper teeth. It also shattered my facial bones, sinking my nose into my face. They forcibly deposited me in the car's booth and set it on fire, and all left, perhaps hoping that the fire would consume me. This incident happened around 9 pm on Friday, November 12, 2021.

Luckily, I managed to open the booth of the car from inside the booth where I was locked, climbed out and escaped into the bush with blood all over me.

I hid in the bush, bleeding all through the night, came out around 8 am on Saturday, November 13, 2021, and started looking for help. People who saw me all ran away. I laid down on the ground, trying to get some rest until those who knew me raised the alarm, and my wife's younger brother came with a motorcycle and rescued me from there. I was rushed to St Mary's Hospital, Umuowa, in Orlu Local Government Area, Imo State, but the hospital declined to accept me because of my injury. I was immediately taken to the Federal Medical Center, Owerri, a more extensive medical facility about 25 kilometers from St Mary's Hospital Umuowa. At the Federal Medical Center Owerri, I was given first aid and stabilized between November 13, 2021, and November 15, 2021. On November 15, 2021, I was further transferred to the University Of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, where significant surgeries were performed on me.

I was in admission to the University Of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu for about six months, after which I was discharged and recommended for further surgery for facial reconstruction outside Nigeria. Thus I came to AAKASH HEALTHCARE SUPER SPECIALITY HOSPITAL, DWARKA, NEW DELHI, INDIA, where I am present.

The hospital, after examining me, recommended that I undergo a total of five (5) surgeries in all: one on the remaining right eye and four surgeries on the face to bring up the fallen face, the mouth to replace the upper jaw and gum, the left eye socket for replacement, the upper nose region and finally to replace the teeth.

The surgery for replacing the right eye lens has already been successfully carried out and paid for. Also, the second surgery to correct the upper nose ridge has been successfully carried out, and I have duly paid for those surgeries. What remains now is the three surgeries to replace the facial bone, the upper jaw and gum, and the left eye socket. That is what is left. The run down in the cost of the said remaining surgeries is Twenty Two Thousand US Dollars (USD 22,000.00)

I am already financially depleted and, as a result, need public assistance to the tune of Twenty Two Thousand US Dollars (USD 22,000.00) to enable me to complete the surgeries.