EMORI Imo Daniel turned 39 on June 6, 2021. He had left Community Secondary Commercial School in Adadama Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State in June 2000 after writing his Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).
“After two years, I went for a six-month driving training and thereafter converted to a driver/salesman.” Emori trained as a driver so he could convert from a mere machine operator to a salesman. Things got better but shortly afterwards, fate dealt a fatal blow to his destiny.
“We went to supply goods on the fateful day. When we got to close to the Niger Head Bridge, an unrestrained cow appeared suddenly and took over the road. In my effort to avoid hitting the animal, I swerved and rammed into an electric pole,” said Emori, who was on the trip in company with three assistants.
He said: “I was rushed to a nearby clinic where I was told that I sustained an internal injury. They then referred me to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu where they discovered that I had suffered a spinal cord injury. I spent four months at the hospital. The company I was working for did not provide the funds required for the needed surgery throughout the period I was in the hospital. My brother then took me away from the hospital to our village in Cross River State.
“I was in the village throughout 2013 lying helplessly in bed. By early 2014, there was a communal clash between our village and another community in Ebonyi State. As the clash escalated, most people fled the village. I was the only one left in the house.
“From the bed, I started using my phone to communicate and chat on Facebook. It was on Facebook that one journalist saw my condition and started chatting with me. After he became convinced about my condition, he visited me and thereafter shared my story. An Adamawa State indigene that was based in London saw the story and sent someone to my village to evacuate me to Abuja on February 1, 2014. That was how I got to Abuja.”
When this reporter visited Emori in a remote village called Azhi-Garam in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), his condition was pitiable. He was lying helplessly on a bed, unable to help himself to anything.
He spoke further: “Since October 10, 2003, I have been lying down like this. I am not able to sit or stand. I do everything on this bed. A younger relation of mine who accompanied me from the village to Abuja has stayed with me ever since and been taking care of me.
“The company took me to the teaching hospital the day after the accident, which happened on a Friday as the director usually travelled to Enugu every Friday. He was then informed that I had been taken to the hospital in Enugu where he had travelled to the previous day. He immediately visited me.”
That was the last time any official from the company visited him in the hospital.
“After two months of not hearing anything again from the company, my elder brother came to Enugu to see my condition. He then went to the company in Onitsha where the director showed him a document showing the list of expenses the company had allegedly incurred on me through the sales manager. Nothing got to us because the manager never visited me in the hospital. We deduced that whenever the company sent him to visit me in the hospital with either money or material, he just pocketed the money and went home with the materials.
“My bother confronted the sales manager in the presence of the director but he was not able to give a concrete explanation. The director later released some money to my brother, which he used to settle accumulated hospital bills and took me back to the village. Life has been quite difficult.
“After getting to Abuja, my case file was taken to one Indian hospital in 2015 and they charged me $44,250. The man who sponsored my movement to Abuja and was responsible for my upkeep and medication was unable to foot the bill. Meanwhile, even if I am able to pay this amount, there is no guarantee that I will be able to walk again. The hospital made it clear that they could only treat me to the extent that I would be about 60 per dependent on myself instead of the current 100 per cent dependency.
“For some time now, my benefactor has been unable to even provide for my feeding. There are days I don’t have anything to eat, especially when the young man who takes care of me is unable to get a job at building sites. As I am unable to procure drugs, the sores on my body are festering.
“I know that things are hard for most Nigerians presently and so I am not even asking for help concerning medical treatment; they should just help by giving me money to feed.”
Emori gave his account number as UBA 2072008766 and phone number, 07031655209.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents
In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state…Six months after Six months after
Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train
The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…Six months after Six months after
and then