By Editor
Moved with passion at the plight of two Ekiti elderly citizens who were drivers to Colonel Inua Bawa, the first Military Administrator of Ekiti State, Governor Biodun Oyebanji has expressly ordered immediate medical intervention in order to regain their sight.
Addressing newsman in her office on Monday, the DG, Community Communications, Mrs Mary Oso-Omotoso, said the duo were drivers to the ex-Military Administrator of Ekiti State but in the course of performing their duty, something happened which affected their sight and since then, they have been going through hectic time managing the situation until recently when they approached the Governor.
“When they sought for help from Mr. Governor through a letter, the governor said no, it’s not for me to just say take money and go and take care of yourself but I will take care of you because I pitied you as my parents and you are special to us having served the state in your capacity many years ago.
“To demonstrate Mr Governor’s sincerity and compassion to the plight of these senior citizens” Mary Oso continued: “The Governor instructed his personal physician and MD State House Clinic Dr Yomi Oshatimi to personally take them to EKSUTH where they were subjected to series of medical assessments and reviews of their cases and the Governor has taken it upon himself to offset all the medical bills”
“This is one of the several interventions of Mr Governor to the vulnerable citizens of Ekiti people in the past one month”. She said.
Speaking in similar vein, Dr Yomi Oshatimi said: “Emerging from the compassionate heart of Governor of Ekiti State, the DG called me about a week ago saying that there are two gentlemen who were both drivers to the first military administrator of Ekiti State, Colonel Inua Bawa and that they have sight issues. Mr Governor in his usual way, has directed that we should do an intervention and immediately we swung into action by taking them first to EKSUTH where we were able to do the assessment and while doing this, we discovered that one of them Pa Adeyemi, had a medical ailment that we can’t do surgery for but he would need medications and these medications don’t come cheap. The man equally admitted to the fact that he had tried on his own to buy the medications but he did not find it funny and moreover, he’s not even regular on the medications because he cannot afford it
“The Governor then directed us to go ahead with procurement of drugs for one year period and the man would subsequently on a monthly basis come over to government clinic to take the medications, this apart from the routine follow up on the other investigations that we’ll do for the eyes” he said.
In a related development, Dr Oshatimi who reviewed the case of the second former driver to the security detail of the ex-Military Administrator Mr Adewumi Benedict Idowu said the old man would require surgery.
According to him, “We discovered that he had cataract in both left and right eyes, one was almost matured and we have decided to do a surgery for the eye whenever it is matured. So we are doing a serial follow up of the eyes so that at the appropriate time, we would operate on it. That’s apart from other rehabilitative measures outlined towards gaining his sight back and for him to be productive in whatever he’s doing”.
Speaking for the two beneficiaries, Pa Adeyemi John Adebayo a.k.a ‘Baba Bawa’ who narrated their experience said; “On 2nd September 1997 there was a bomb blast by the back gate of Governors Office around 9am in the morning on our way to the office. The blast shattered all the glass of my vehicle and the back- up security car on the governor’s convoy. It was a tense moment as we had to protect the No1 citizen of the State. In the ensuing commotion, the blast generated an upsurge of strong wind in my car and the other car behind me. That was where the problem started.
“After some few days I noticed some strange infections on my eyes which I did not take serious at the initial stage but after some time, the situation was becoming unbearable for me as I have exhausted my earnings as a retired person on buying drugs to no avail until when we approach the office of the DG who directed us to write a letter to the Governor.
“We have been hearing that our Governor is a man filled with milk of human kindness and compassion through many people he had supported in the past and still supporting. Today being the eight day our letter was submitted to the Governor and our matter was given this prompt response shows that our Governor has a listening ears and committed to the welfare of the people especially we the elderly.
We are using this opportunity to pray for the success of our governor in all ramifications as he has shown this rare kind gesture to us at short notice” he said
