Saraki pays bills for kid with gouged out eyes
From Abiodun Fagbemi,
Ilorin
K WARA State Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki at the weekend paid a visit to Jamiu Issa, the 14-year-old boy whose two eyes were allegedly gouged out by suspected herdsmen, at Ipaja, Ifelodun local council area of the state.
The visit, around 4 p.m. to ward eight, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), where Issa is being treated, was not without its emotional side, as the governor's wife, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Saraki, who accompanied her husband burst into uncontrollable tears on sighting the patient.
Saraki, who proceeded straight to the ward, after being received by the Chief Medical Director of the Hospital (CMD), Dr. Suleiman Kuranga, asked Issa to narrate the episode that led to his ordeal.
Issa, who spoke in Yoruba, said suspected Fulanimen gripped him and gouged out his two eyes while working on his father's farm around 7a.m. on July 17, 2004.
The governor, who described the crime as barbaric," especially for it to have occurred in the 21st century, promised to use all government machinery to bring to book the perpetrators of the crime."
Saraki, who tried to hide his emotion, added that the government would not only assist in the treatment of Issa but would ensure his rehabilitation.
According to him, "we will look for those who are behind this crime. We are not going back by God's grace. We will look for them and this will never occur again in our state.
Already, the governor has directed all traditional rulers in the area to convene an emergency meeting towards assisting the law enforcement agents to track down those behind the crime.
The governor, who later asked his Special Assistant on Non Governmental Affairs, Alhaji Suleiman Yusuf, to pray for the boy, gave an undisclosed amount of money to the parent of the victim.
Besides, he donated some money to other patients and their relatives in the ward.
The CMD of UITH, thanked the governor for his assistance, promising to do all within the medical field to make the boy comfortable "for the rest of his life."
