House of Reps member-elect offers paralysed youth N.1m monthly stipend
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Succour has come the way of a spinal cord Injury patient, Oscar Ebere Okoli, as the House of Representatives member-elect for Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State, Chief Amobi Ogah, has placed the youth who has been paralyzed for 11 years now on a monthly stipend of N100, 000.
Okoli who hails from Obiagu Lekwesi community in Umunneochi local Government Area, was a student of Abia State polytechnic, Aba. After his Ordinary National Diploma (OND) Course, he desired to enroll in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), for a degree course in Computer Engineering.
Fate played a cruel one on him as he was among victims of a ghastly auto crash in 2012 along the Isiala Ngwa axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway while commuting from Aba to Umuahia on a mission to submit his application for Direct Entry into MOUAU. He was diagnosed at the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia of having suffered spinal cord injury which has left him battling with paraplegia (paralysis of the lower half of the body) since the unfortunate motor accident occurred. The condition has consigned the young, enterprising 37-year old to his wheel chair, thereby truncating his educational ambition.
The Oracle Today learnt the giant killer, Chief Amobi Ogah of the Labour Party, who inflicted a crushing defeat on the Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon. Nkeiru Onyejeocha of the All Progressives Congress, who was aiming to clinch her fifth term in the Green Chamber, established contact with Okoli during his electioneering for the Saturday, February 25, 2023 National Assembly poll and has since maintained that contact till date and has been extending occasional financial assistance to him.
With his victory at the poll, Amobi decided to upscale his financial aid to Okoli, as he, after attending a thanksgiving service at the Methodist Church, Lekwesi, organized in his honour following his election victory, took time off to visit his bed-ridden friend in his family house where he announced the heartwarming financial package to assist Okoli to continue accessing his medication. The gesture by the incoming federal lawmaker threw the large crowed that accompanied him into wild jubilation.
Okoli, overwhelmed with joy, thanked Amobi profusely for his kind gesture and prayed God to bless him and open doors of greater opportunities for him.
Okoli’s mother, Ezinne Louisa, a widow, while expressing happiness with Amobi’s gesture, noted that the monthly stipend would lift huge financial burden off the family and prayed God to grant Amobi successful political career.
