For six-year old Boko Haram victim Ali Ahmadu, who is battling a spinal cord injury, it is not over – thanks to his courage and help from a foundation.
He left yesterday for corrective surgery in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The surgery is being bankrolled by Dickens Sanomi Foundation, which was established by Mr. Igho Sanomi who owns the Taleveras Group. It will cost $48,000 (about N17.5million).
Ali, who left the country aboard an Ethiopian Airline flight with his aunt, is expected back within three months.
He said repeatedly in Hausa: “Ina so insake tafiya da kafana…Don Allah ataimakamu…Don Allah. Ina so in je makaranta”. (“I want to begin to walk with my legs again. For God’s sake, assist me. I want to go to school”).
Ali’s aunt, Mrs. Hannatu Madu, told reporters: “We are looking forward to God to make this surgery successful. He is a promising boy.
But he became a victim of Boko Haram’s invasion of Chibok. In the last three years, he has not been able to walk.”
The Founder of GIPLC, Mr. Nuhu Fulani Kwajafa, explained that Ali was overrun by Boko Haram terrorists’ motorcycles when they ransacked Chibok community a few days after abducting the Chibok girls in April 2014.
He said: “Ali has spinal cord injury.
“Ali was being carried by his pregnant mother who was struggling to escape from the Boko Haram attackers but fell down as she was trying to run and Ali fell off her back and he was overrun by the terrorists.
“With mother and child seriously injured, Ali was kept under a tree for about three days awithout any form of medication. He was bleeding from mouth and nose.
“Ali has remained bed-ridden as a result of his spinal cord injury.”
He explained how GIPLC and Dickens Sanomi Foundation collaborated on the corrective surgery.
“We got to know about his condition and began to mobilise for his treatment when someone called from Chibok and narrated his pitiful condition to us.
We brought him to Abuja and began to mobilise support for his corrective surgery in Dubai.
“We are taking him to Dubai today and hopefully he will be restored to his normal condition. We are confident that after the surgery he will be back on his feet.”
“We moved into action immediately to raise the $65,000 required for the surgery in Dubai.
“Fortunately for us after meeting some Nigerians for assistance, including Senate President Bukola Saraki and some Nigerian lawmakers, we approached the Dickens Sanomi Foundation, which has graciously made available the balance of $48,000 needed for the surgery.”
A member of the foundation’s board of trustees of Dickens Sanomi Foundation, Hayi Goodluck, said: “We decided to mobilise the funds required to give little Alli Ahmadu corrective surgery in Dubai so as to save his life and give him a future.
“We are already so excited about the prospect of a new lease of life for Ali and we promise to stand by him before, during and after the surgery in Dubai.
“The Dickens Sanomi Foundation will not only cater for him in Dubai but will also take up his education upon his return from surgery all in a deliberate bid to stabilise him and help him to live and actualise his dream as a man created by God.
“We want to assure Ali, his family and Nigerians that the Dickens Sanomi Foundation will not abandon him in his moment of dire need. We stand by him to the end. Indeed, the Chairman of the Dickens Sanomi Foundation has set his heart on Ali. He has a soft spot for him.”
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