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| Mirabel Usonwaka Edward |
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 learn't 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.
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| Mirabel and her mother - Aisha Edward |
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:
Reporter: Good afternoon, sir.
Professor Akiyanju: Professor Akiyanju on the line. Who am I speaking
with?
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 Capacity building 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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