Nigerians Crowdfund For Hawker Who Donated Profits To Prisoners

IT was an awe- inspiring moment that sunny Wednesday afternoon as a young traffic hawker identified as Ekuma Jerimiah Iziogo gave out a chunk of his profits to several prison inmates aboard a Nigerian Correctional Service vehicle in the Ajah axis of Lagos.

The young man, who was spotted by a Lagosian who shared the video clip on social media via his Instagram page @ rockyemmyphotography, was seen to be freely distributing N100 naira notes to the inmates through the tiny windows, completely oblivious that he was being filmed by a motorist.

The gesture, which immediately went viral across social media, inspired the sharer to mobilise a crowdfunding that saw the young Iziogo being gifted with over N300, 000 cash reward by kindhearted Nigerians.

According to @ Rockyemmyphotography, Iziogo’s gesture was shocking and it spurred him to realise that kind people still exist.

“I was totally surprised. I had to collect his phone number. But after calling it later on, it didn’t ring. I really wanted to raise N250k for him, at least, and set him up properly. However, we had to go there again on Thursday to look for him. And it was not easy to find him, but we did. His account was flagged as at 1pm, due to all the donations as it was a studenttype account. We hope to still raise more for him, and set him up properly.”

Iziogo narrated that his act of kindness was spontaneous and was not deterred by his own sufferings.

He said, “I just felt about them. I pitied them. I didn’t do it because I have been to the police station or whatever. I have never been to police custody. Despite seeing my self- suffering, I still have my freedom. I just considered myself being in their shoes.

“As a prisoner, they don’t even have choice