Posted by By MOSHOOD ADEBAYO, Abeokuta on
•Though an amputee, but he led the first hunger strike in Igbobi
An accident victim, Mr. Musibau Oloyede has appealed to the Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel to come to his aid with a loan so start a petty trade.
Oloyede who had his right leg chopped off in a train accident in 1969 said:'It is only the divine intervention of God and Governor Daniel that I could now receive help.
His words: 'I have tried writing appeal letters to many chairmen of local councils and individuals in the state without any assistance. I have resisted attempt of begging. As at now, I don't have a means of livelihood as I live from hand to mouth.I have now resolved that a loan would assist me start all over again. I consider this more honourable than begging.
A trained as an electrical technician, Oloyede said a loan would assist him to practice his trade which he learnt at the Manchester Radio Institute, London after which he began work with the then SCOA, Lagos.
Recalling the day he had the train accident, Oloyede who was moved to tears said: 'It was a bad day for me. I was on my way to attend an interview at the BEWAC factory in Lagos when cruel fate involved me in a train accident that later forced me to be hospitalized for years at the Orthopaedic Hospital , Igbobi.The severity of the accident was so much that the doctors who struggled to save my life had to amputate the affected foot. While on admission I watched with dismay how patients in critical condition were just dumped on the bare floor while relations of important personalities with minor health cases were given hospital beds'
While in the hospital, Oloyede led a revolt against bad administration and the first hunger strike in the specialised health institution. 'The incident that sparked off the first hunger strike happened following the discriminatory treatment usually given to relations of a popular politician who is now deceased.
'The politician brought one of his relations with fractures and the nurses in the hospital drove one of the patients in critical conditions from his bed and gave it to the new patient.We became infuriated and angry having witnessed many similar instances where most of us were sent to our early grave. We were not happy with the situation and efforts to make them change met with their deaf ears.
'After a while, my colleagues felt that I would be in a better position to lead the revolution as the eldest patient around and because of my education and rapport with the hospital community. I took up the challenge of mobilising the rest and we later fixed a date for the hunger strike.
'We knew it was not easy for us as sick and physically challenged people to embark on hunger strike, but we were determined that we wanted the world outside the hospital to know what we are going through, particularly the deplorable conditions in the hospital'
'The whole of Lagos literarily visited us, including the Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon who came and begged us. To many people who did not know, it was the strike that later made late Sir Bank-Anthony to donate a building as a way of alleviating the problem of accommodation in the hospital'
'After the strike, we witnessed a lot of positive improvements. The inhuman habit by nurses of dumping perceived poor sick patients on the floor for the rich relations also stopped."
Oloyede who said he spent many years on admission also recalled that life in the hospital was terrible. "That I am now alive is through the grace of God. I saw hell because of my low financial status then and now", he said while urging spirited Nigerians and corporate organisation to assist him.
"I need peoples' help. I don't want to beg, but I must not deceive you that things are hard for me. People that I think would have come to my aid are not doing so. Only few of my friends are kind hearted and because of their own domestic affairs, I can't continue to be a hanger-on on them. Please tell Nigerians that I'm suffering and I need their help", he said with self pity.