Boko Haram and Citizen Ahmadu’s story

IN a country where the Hobbesian theory: “Life is short, brutish and nasty”, remains a child’s play, the unfolding story of Ali Ahmadu, child victim of Boko Haram’s recklessness, is more interesting and captivating. Citizen Ali Ahmadu is one of the surving victims of Boko Haram insurgency in the North East.  In one of their senseless raids, the pregnant mother was too frightened to wait, talkless of safeguarding the life of her son in the melee, and the unexpected happened!  Citizen Ali Ahmadu was run over by one of Boko Haram’s rampaging motor bikes.  When the dust settled, he had lost his spinal cord, among other injuries.  He was three years old then in 2014.

His travails were better imagined. The boy and his mother scampered to safety and were left under a tree in a nearby bush for three days.  In those agonising days, Little Ali bleed from his mouth and nose, while his perplexed mother watched helplessly with a forlorn hope.  The helpless mother and child, with a damaged spinal cord with it’s concomitant result that he could not walk again became a burden.  A burden inflicted by animalistic instinct on an innocent boy, whose future holds a lot of promise.  A burden made worse by the fact that a heavily pregnant woman in such an inclement environment had to fend for herself and carry a three year old boy, as he could not do anything for himself. For three years, it was traumatic for mother and child.  The mother was hopeful, the son had a strong will to survive and fulfil destiny.  They needed help, good help for that matter and very urgently too, they would have wished.  Days turn to weeks, weeks turn to months, and months turn to years.  Like all mortals, their hope for succour continues to wane.  Will help ever come their way, they would have wondered severally?

As fate will have it, the unseen hand brought Ali’s case a non-governmental organisation, the Global Initiative for Peace, Love and Care (GIPLC), which drew the boy’s plight to Nigerians.  The NGO, headed by public spirited Nuhu Kwajafa, had approached notable Nigerians for assistance, which eventually culminated in Dickens Sanomi Foundation picking the bill for the corrective surgery. As in every special situations, one thing kept him going to confirm that Citizen Ali Ahmadu, is a child of destiny.  He would have been destroyed permanently, if not for the kind intervention of Sanomi, chairman, Taleveras Group, through Dickens Sanomi Foundation.  This medical procedure in far awayZulekha Hospital Sharjah in Dubai, no doubt, would have cost the Foundation a huge sum of money.

The lesson Sanomi is teaching all of us, particularly men of means in our society, is to be more responsible and extend hand of kindness to the needy and the less privileged, rather that wasting our resources on senseless ostentatious life styles that do not glorify God.  Ali’s case and Sanomi’s intervention no doubt, is a metaphor for a society that takes delight in vein glory.  We should as a matter of urgency improve on our emotional intelligence on the plight of the needy in our society. The Sanomi example, is one that should be emulated, so as to put smiles on the faces of many who may need our help.  I beseech God Almighty to bless and enlarge the coast of Sanomi, protect his family and give him rest of mind that passeth all human understanding. Today, it is gratifying to  note that Citizen Ali Ahmadu’s prayers have been answered.  His supplications, “I want to begin to walk with my legs again.  For God’s sake, assist me.  I want to go to school”, have become a reality.  He can now walk, thanks to Sanomi, and by God’s grace, he will surely go to school.

My prayer also goes to the irrepressible development journalist, Yusuf Ali, for his untiring efforts in bringing Citizen Ali Ahmadu’s case to the fore and the credible follow up on his recovery in far away Dubai.  It takes your type to achieve such a feat.  May God increase your tribe in our society.

• Oluwadamilare is Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of Communications