TheCable

Ali Ahmadu, a six-year-old boy from Chibok, in Borno state, who was left paralysed by Boko Haram insurgents has been flown abroad for corrective spinal cord surgery.

Ahmadu was overrun by insurgents’ motorcycles when they ransacked Chibok community barely a few days after abducting 276 girls in April 2014.

Dickens Sanomi Foundation, a charity group based in Abuja, paid $48,000 (N17.5million) for Ahmadu’s medical trip.

The money was raised by the foundation after Global Initiative for Peace, Love and Care( GIPLC) kicked off the process of raising funds for his corrective surgery.

Speaking shortly before Ahmadu departed for Dubai, Nuhu Fulani Kwaja, founder of GIPLC, said: “Ali has spinal cord injury after being overrun by Boko Haram terrorists’ motorcycles when they ransacked Chibok community barely a few days after abducting the Chibok girls in April 2014.

“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 in the process and was overrun by the terrorists.

“With mother and child seriously wounded, Ali was kept under a tree for over three days and had never been given any form of medication. He was bleeding from mouth and nose for the period of staying under the mango tree.

“Since his mother was able to remove him from under the tree to the house in Chibok, Ali has remained bed ridden as a result of his spinal cord injury.

“We got to know about his condition and began to mobilize for his treatment when someone called from Chibok and narrated his pitiful condition to us.

“When we heard of his traumatic condition, we brought him to Abuja and began to mobilize 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 the 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.”

L-R: Founder, Global Initiative for Peace Love Care, Nuhu Kwajafa; programme Officer GIPLC, Peter Kenti, administration officer, GIPLC Victor Thomas, the victim, Ali Ahmadu, and the victim’s mother, Hannatu Madu, during the departure for Dubai at the international airport in Abuja on Sunday

Hayi Goodluck, a member board of trustees of Dickens Sanomi Foundation, said: “We decided to mobilize 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 wil also take up his education upon his return from surgery all in a deliberate bid to stabilize 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.”