By Leonard Okachie
A 45-year-old man, Mr Franklin Okafor, has been rescued from a tragic incident that would have claimed his life, after being left bleeding for several hours.
He was brutally attacked on Saturday in Umuahia, Abia, by the driver of a commercial tricycle popularly known as “Keke NAPEP”, and his cohort.
He was attacked because he tried to withdraw cash through a POS point to pay the N250 transport fare, since he had no cash on him at that time.
He was beaten to a pulp and he lost consciousness while blood gushed from his head.
He bled for several hours from that Saturday evening till Sunday afternoon, as he was suspected to be a criminal by passers-by, with nobody to attend to him.
He was attacked because he tried to withdraw cash through a POS point to pay the N250 transport fare, since he had no cash on him at that time.
But respite came his way through the Machiani Foundation for the Needy and Community Development (MFNCD), a humanitarian organisation that cares for the distressed and the underprivileged.
It was the foundation that rushed him to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Umuahia on Sunday afternoon, to be resuscitated.
Okafor was admitted at the Accident and Emergency Unit, where doctors battled to save his life, having lost a huge amount of blood.
He was later discharged from the hospital on Monday night, after the doctors had confirmed him okay.
The foundation offset the medical bills and other expenses that worth over N100,000.
The foundation also offered to pay for a new accommodation for Okafor, since he was being threatened to pack out from.his residence.
Okafor said he hailed from Onu Ebonyi – Okkoffia in Ezza South Local Government Area, Ebonyi State, but resides in Onitsha, Anambra State with his wife and five children.
Okafor, a carpenter, came to Umuahia by the end of September for a roofing renovation job, but he got a call from his wife that fateful evening that the roof at his residence was being removed by the new owner of his apartment.
Narrating his ordeal to News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Umuahia, Okafor said that he was falsely accused of being a criminal by an impatient driver while he was trying to withdrawal cash from a POS operator.
Okafor said: “My wife called me that Saturday while I was working at the site, and told me the man who bought over our residence, was removing our roof and destroying somethings in our apartment.
“She told me that the man said that since we have refused to park out of the house he has decided to use force on us.
“I quickly boarded the Keke (tricycle) from Abia Tower to Isi Gate, Umuahia, that Saturday evening, in order to travel back to Onitsha, to attend to the emergency.
“But, since I didn’t have any cash on me, I begged the driver to allow me withdraw sone cash from the POS at my bus stop, when we got to Isi Gate.
“I was in the process of withdrawing the money when he rushed me and hit me on rhe head heavily from behind, shouting that I’m a thief, a criminal
“He raised the alarm and other people joined him in beating me.
“The driver heat my head on a standing iron and blood started rushing out while others kept slapping and hitting me hard.
“He also broke my ATM card and collected my Android phone while nobody cared to listen to me.”
Okafor said that his clothes were torn while left he was left with only a pair of boxers, with blood all over his body.
“I decided to find shelter inside an open stall in the midnight as my condition was getting worse with my blood all over the place.
“At the dead of the night, I knew that I would just die like that if I kept quiet, so I knocked at the door of the owner of the stall, but the woman yelled at me and asked me to leave her shop immediately,” Okafor continued.
He said that he staggered to another place he didn’t know at that hour of the night until he got exhausted and fainted.
But a ray of hope came on Sunday afternoon when a young man approached him to listen to him, after being despised and labelled a suspected thief by several passers-by.
Okafor said it was while he was still narrating his ordeal to the young man that he encountered a ‘Good Samaritan’ in Mrs Peace Ezeka, who incidentally is the Nigerian Coordinator of MFNCD.
In an interview, Ezeka said that she was on her way from church that afternoon when she saw the young man with blood all over his body.
“He told me his story and I was deeply touched, especially when he said that he had a wife and five children.
“I arranged for him to be rushed to FMC for a quick medical treatment.
“I quickly called the Founder and CEO of our foundation, Mrs Mercy Nwaubani, who gave the approval for adequate attention to be given to him.
“I’m happy that God used us to save the young man’s life because if nothing was done that Sunday, maybe, he would not have been alive,” he said.
Ezeka said the foundation, with the motto: “Help the needy,” was established in 2017, to improve the quality of life of the distressed and the under-privileged by providing essential resources, heath care services and others.
“We also help to restate those people that have mishap, such as all forms of natural disaster,” the MFNCD coordinator said.
Okafor’s wife, Mrs Ngozi, expressed gratitude to God and the foundation for saving her husband.
“The foundation sent me transport money to come to Umuahia after informing me that my husband was on admission in the hospital.
“They also gave us pocket money while in the hospital and our transport fare back to Onitsha,” she said.(NAN)
