(UPDATE) It was all praises for Dickens Sanomi Foundation on Sunday as it fulfilled its pledge to fly Chibok boy, Ali Ahmadu to Dubai for corrective spinal cord surgery.The move will give fresh hope to the boy who is a victim of Boko Haram terrorist attack.
The medical trip which the Foundation has bankrolled with $48,000( N17.5million) is expected to last three months.
As the boy arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja many passengers prayed fervently for him and the Founder of Dickens Sanomi Foundation, Mr. Igho Sanomi, owner of Taleveras Group.
The Foundation offered to foot the bill on the heels of an appeal by a humanitarian body, the Global Initiative for Peace, Love and Care( GIPLC) which was raising funds for Ali’s corrective surgery
While speaking with newsmen at the departure lounge of the airport, the Founder of GIPLC, Mr. Nuhu Fulani Kwajafa said Ali was overrun by Boko Haram terrorists’ motorcycles when they ransacked Chibok community barely a few days after abducting the Chibok girls in April 2014.
According to him: “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.”
Explaining how GIPLC and Dickens Sanomi Foundation collaborated on the corrective surgery, he said: “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.
A member board of trustees of Dickens Sanomi Foundation, Hayi Goodluck 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. Indeed, the Chairman of the Dickens Sanomi Foundation has set his heart on Ali. He has a soft spot for him.”