On Friday, December 3rd, time was 11.30 pm when I drove into my street. Crawling at the centre of the road and crying was Tunde Odewobi, a 20-year-old, who had just “graduated’ as a welder.

Tunde is an #EndSARS stray- bullet victim. His frantic waves and refusal to leave the road forced me to pull the brakes.

Where was he going and what was he looking for were the questions I asked myself.

To get the answers, I came off the wheels. Behold, the young man turned out to be a familiar face.

Tunde had done a few jobs for my family. The last was when my kids lost the bunch of keys to our apartment. My wife had called him to saw the padlock and he responded immediately without asking for payment.

That Friday night, Tunde went in search of food but found none. Luck, however, smiled at him. I had a loaf of bread and a can of malt in my car that I offered him.

Thereafter, I followed the ‘graduate’ welder to his place of ‘abode’ under a tree before returning to where I parked

After driving the car home, I went back with a walking frame and a mosquito net for Tunde. Time then was a minute to midnight. I was safe because all exit and entry points to the street had been shut.

Tunde’s journey to his present predicament is a pathetic one.

He had malaria during the peak of the #EndSARS protests. All hospitals, chemists and pharmacies in our area were shut. His only option was Bariga, a neighbourhood with a number of drug stores. But on his way back from Bariga, he ran into a face-off between hoodlums and policemen.

Stray bullet pierced through his right leg. Since then, Tunde’s condition has degenerated.

He cannot walk. He sleeps on the street.

Tunde was first taken to Gbagada General Hospital where he was referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja. LASUTH directed him to the National Orthopaedic Hospital (NOH), Igbobi.

NOH managed him for a few days but returned him to his ‘under-tree abode’ when there was no one to foot his bills, including that of an X-ray, meant to determine the extent of damage to his leg.

A few days ago, I passed through Tunde’s ‘abode’ and saw a trado-medicine practitioner attending to him. The trado-medicine man’s bill and the cost of pain killer he takes are paid for

by his fellow artisans, including mechanics.

The artisans are tired. Tunde needs our help. I was heartbroken seeing him in pain today.

Tunde needs to get back on his feet and proper medical attention is the only way. The cost? I cannot say.

I have taken up the challenge to see Tunde through.

Let’s get him back walking and put a roof over his head as well. Even if it is a room ‘FACE ME, I FACE YOU.’

You can help me achieve the two objectives with a minimum N2,000.

I have created a WhatsApp group known as “N2kforTunde 2Walk.”

Please pay into Tunde’s uncle’s account: 1244601231 (ACCESS BANK) ABASS ABASS LANRE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Nation