Posted by By GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka on
Even without a male organ, 15-year-old- Michael Monday Ikechukwu still hopes to raise a family of his own in future.
• Cries 15-year-old- Michael whose manhood was cut off for ritual, four years ago
Even without a male organ, 15-year-old- Michael Monday Ikechukwu still hopes to raise a family of his own in future.
This hope can, however, be realised if the plan to take him abroad for a surgical operation to fix an artificial male organ works.
Consequently, about N15 million is said to be needed to take Michael abroad for the operation. He is therefore appealing to Nigerians to save him the agony of growing to a full-fledged man without the means of procreation.
In 2003, Monday then 11 years old and living with his parents at No. 11 Okafor Street, Onitsha, had his penis chopped off by his relation, one Tochukwu now late and a friend of his for ritual purposes.
The late Tochukwu and his friend, according to the interview they granted Daily Sun then, had an arrangement with a ritualist for them to procure a male organ at the cost of about N1.5 million. They were unable to collect the organ however, as they were apprehended shortly after they attacked the young boy.
Tochukwu, who Daily Sun gathered died in prison custody confessed then that Monday always ran errands for him, hence it was easy for him to get the boy that unfortunate afternoon when he, alongside his friend, took the boy to the bush and chopped off his penis.
The boy's cry however attracted passersby who found him in the pool of his blood and on inquiry, he mentioned Tochukwu, who was immediately apprehended with his friend while trying to escape.
The boy was then hospitalized at the Borromeo Hospital Onitsha where the doctors worked very hard to save his life.
Today, Monday who later got baptized and given the name Michael is 15, and is hopeful and optimistic that God would shame those responsible for his predicament by making him raise his own children.
After the incident, when the poor parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ikechukwu could not cope with caring for him, one of the Reverend Sisters at the Immaculate Heart Convent Nkpor, Sister Mary Teresse was said to have taken him and was responsible for his upkeep and medication.
She however, with the consent of the parents transferred him to Mary's Perpetual Help Foundation Orphanage Home, Asaba, where he is now under the care of a former monk and proprietor of the orphanage, Brother JohnMary Ihezue.
Being the eldest at the orphanage, Michael has automatically become the big brother of the home, taking charge of all things and running most of the errands.
Michael told Daily Sun that he usually has pains in the area and had doctors to attend to him.
He said, 'I am fine though sometimes, I feel pains there and brother would call the doctor and they would treat me and it will stop. I hope and wish that it would be permanently treated for I feel bad when I look down and do not see anything."
He is, however, optimistic that he would have his own children.
'I strongly believe that I will marry and bear my own children so that my enemies will be put to shame. The doctors said I can be operated upon and I will be able to marry and impregnate a woman. That is why I am appealing to Nigerians to come to my aid, so that I can be taken abroad for the operation.
'I did not do this to myself; it was our brother whom I went on an errand for that did this to me. I feel terribly bad and ashamed when I look at other children when they are naked and look at myself.
Please brother, help me beg the rich people and spirited groups and individuals, even the government to help me out of this," pleaded the boy.
Speaking to Daily Sun the proprietor of the orphanage, Brother Ihezue said the home has been trying the little it could to keep the boy on.
His words: 'Many a time, the young boy has pains and we call in doctors to give him medication, but we want to get a solution to his problem.
The poor parents are worried about how he will feel about his manhood when he grows fully. Then a doctor suggested to them that he could be taken for treatment abroad where he could have a surgical operation to perfect an artificial urinary path for him.
We are therefore appealing to government, corporate bodies and spirited individuals to come to this young boy's aid."