‘…I’M
AFRAID THIS AKIYANJU IS INDIRECTLY KILLING MY MUM,’
She
is eight years old. The health conditions and peculiarly isolated life of an
only child of a single mother has made her grow so fast that she reasons older
than her age. She is Mirabel Usonwaka Edward, the only child of a Human Right
Crusader who has been on the news since the turn of the century fighting with all
her might the ills in the society.
The reporter decided to get the little child
to bare her mind on the recent throes of health crisis her mother has been
going through and how she has been coping. One would be surprised at the
avalanche of wisdom that oozes from her lips.
Following
are excerpts:
‘My
school teacher taught me that anyone who tells lies to obtain anything that
does not belong to him is a fraudster. She said it is obtaining by tricks and
is the same thing people call 419. Lately, my mum has been so sad because of
one man called Professor Akiyanju, who has been begging on TV on behalf of her
kind – those living with Sickle Cell Disorder. My once jolly good and
free-spirited mother has turned into a shadow of herself since she watched that
video clip, as she is now pushing herself so hard to get justice for sicklers.
When I asked my mother why she was so affected by the video clip, she replied
that this man called Professor Akiyanju has managed to ridicule her painful
challenge in order to enrich himself, his family members and his cohorts. My
mother cried for days after she made inquiries and found out how people,
including the president, are pouring in money to this man’s sickle cell
foundation, when, according to my mum, the foundation has made no impact on her
kind. I wept bitterly with her.
This man who has made me so sad because of my
mum’s mood should be ready to face the law if anything happens to her. My mum
said that this Akiyanju has only succeeded in victimizing her kind the more with
his fraudulent approach as it presents those living with Sickle Cell disorder
to the general public as mere helpless beggars. My mother believes a lot in
hard work and just enrolled me in an institute, this holiday period, to learn
bead-making, so I don’t stay idle. I learnt that when she was in the military,
she lived the same lifestyle of discipline and hard work, against all odds. Why
would someone in his right senses want to kill my mother with depression and
shock by using her condition as an object of ridicule and money-making? I
wanted to be a teacher when I grow up but I have promised my mother that I will
be a doctor to save her from dying, yet, looking at the injustice shown to the
people living with Sickle Cell like my mother, I wish I could be a lawyer to be
able to make those who unjustly worsen her condition to face the full wrath of
the law.
I
have the right to enjoy my mother’s love and happiness. Please, Professor
Akiyanju, stop begging on international television with the name of sickle cell
when you do nothing for them. It traumatizes my mother and breaks her down
health-wise. As a single parent, she has served her nation well with her
challenge, even better than most healthy ones. She still defies the pains from
her hip challenge to go about visiting churches and schools and media houses,
preaching on moral values. I’m so proud of my mother who denies herself of
pleasures to give me and her society the best. I hope Akiyanju heeds my humble
appeal now that he still has the time and opportunity to change his ways. I
look forward to seeing his grand-children in the future as friends and not
foes.’ End quote.
The
reporter was able to get the said Professor Akiyanju on phone to react to the
heavy allegations leveled against him. Below are excerpts from the phone
conversation:
Orient
Daily: Good afternoon, sir.
Professor
Akiyanju: Professor Akiyanju on the line. Who am I speaking with?
Orient
Daily Reporter (O): I am O’star Eze, a reporter with Orient Daily Newspaper.
Please I wish to confirm some information about you to aid a story I am working
on concerning Sickle cell Anemia.
Professor
Akiyanju (O): Ok?
O:
Are you the founder and director of one Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria?
P:
Yes, I am.
O:
Do you have annex offices and representatives in the South-East like Enugu,
Anambra?
P:
No, we don’t. You see, it is not easy to run an organization. You have to fuel
the generator and pay your staff. But we have specialists who come from the
South-east to our programs.
O:
I understand that recently a lot of donations were made by both international
bodies and the government towards furthering the cause your foundation
represents. There are allegations leveled against you by some sickle cell
patients in the South-east that these donations are not being used for the said
cause and that your foundation, contrary to what you make people believe, does
not fight the cause of sicklers in anyway but rather stigmatizes them by
presenting them as handicapped people who are helpless and need financial aid.
How do you react to this?
P:
You see, I am not comfortable answering these questions on phone. We have some
Human Capital projects we are running here in Lagos, and things like that. If
anybody feels aggrieved about how we run our organization, he or she should
write us and not sit in one corner and point fingers.
O:
How can people living with sickle cell disorder down here in the South-East
partake in your program, Prof?
P:
They should come here. We cannot be everywhere at the same time.
O:
So, they should travel from Anambra, for instance, to Lagos to be able to
partake in your programs for them?
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