Job Osazuwa
Mr. Emmanuel Sunday Obanigba has been struck with a yet-to-be-diagnosed disease. The man has become a shadow of himself and every tick of the clock poses a threat to his life.
The 66-year-old man, who hails from Imoga town in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area (LGA) of Edo State, has been battling with the unknown illness since 2014.
When the reporter visited him recently at his residence, 34, Moyinoluwa Street, Lafenwa-Itele, in Ogun State, he was incapacitated and writhing in pain. The patient needed assistance to do virtually everything. He lay on a six-inch mattress in his sitting room, even as he laboured to breathe. He could only manage to mumble some incoherent words to the visitor.
But his wife, Mrs. Virginia Obanigba, revealed that her husband was told in 2014 that he was merely suffering from typhoid fever. She said, later in 2016, Mr. Obanigba was said to be suffering from a heart disease and gastric ulcer, which was gradually eating up his kidney.
She told the reporter that his doctors advised him to carry out some other tests to ascertain the true nature of the illness. Unfortunately, the family could not raise the over N100,000 required to conduct the test.
The father of six has lost his job since 2015 and now solely depends on the generosity of his family and friends to eat and run foot sundry expenses.
Mrs. Obanigba said: “My husband, who is a horticulturist with a private company in Lagos, lost his job as a result of his ailment. We have spent all he had saved to ensure he gets well but our efforts have not yielded any positive result, as his health keeps deteriorating.
“We treated the typhoid fever, yet he was not okay. We have visited many hospitals, including Igando and Ota general hospitals, but we could no longer continue when there was paucity of funds. We have not been able to give him any medication in the last two years.
“Now, we need money to take him back to the hospital but cannot do so because there is no money on us. He cannot even walk because the ailment has caused him partial paralysis.
“We are appealing to well-meaning Nigerians, public and private organisations, as well as the government and people of Edo State, our state, to save my husband’s life.”
Emmanuel Sunday Obanigba’s account number at Access Bank is 0695160180. The wife can be reached on 08086139777 and 08113793299.