Passion for the Vulnerable
Gboyega Akinsanmi, writes about a man’s passion to see the vulnerable live a normal life and be given priority in states like Lagos, where other priorities of government tend to place them at the tail end of the food chain
It was a warmth morning at his Ikoyi home. The meeting was informal and short. He was watching a match between Barcelona and Real Madrid with perhaps one of his relations. His guest was enjoying the quiet moment with him after a week full of activities that was focused on engaging different groups in the state. Every trick in the match caught the attention of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the APC governorship candidate in Lagos State.
At the other end, his wife, Bolanle, was having her breakfast at about 11:30 a.m, interjecting into her husband’s discussion with journalists when and where she deemed necessary. Her views were excellent, demonstrating the scale of support she could give her husband, if eventually the decision of Lagos electorate favour him on Saturday, April 11, especially when it comes to the affairs of children and women for whom she has passion.
However, no journalist could really resist the passion for people, especially the vulnerable Ambode shared at the meeting. He started with a narrative, citing examples of people, who could not afford a meal per day. He cited the example of some elderly people that he described as living lonely life, because of the absence of relations who are supposed to care for their needs. He also talked about his dissatisfaction on children roaming about the street when they are supposed to be inside classrooms.
Among other instances, Ambode said the state of these special people often troubled his minds, arguing that there should be wellinformed institutional response to bring smiles on their faces. But he reflected on how he had come “to the rescue of hundreds of such people at different points of his life journey and taking responsibility of their sponsorship, sometimes from the primary school through secondary level to the tertiary level.”
Ambode, therefore, said all these interventions at individual level “make fulfilled just because God used me to make other happy.” He quickly pointed out that he did not tell the narrative to give account of what he had been doing long before he came into partisan politics. However, he said, the records are there and still speak for me today. Rather, he simply told the narrative “to attest to the sense of urgency the status of these special people require.”
Provided the people of Lagos State give him the opportunity to serve, Ambode, the state’s former Auditor-General for Local Government and Accountant-General, unveiled a well-packaged programme for the vulnerable people in the state. He said his policy and strategy team provided broader definition of vulnerable, which he said, comprised the physically challenged, the children, the women, the youths and the elderly in particular.
Ambode said these people “are more exposed in time of shocks and adversity and there is need to make adequate provision through institutions and laws just to make their lives secure; help them realise their dreams and give the future that guarantee fortune and prosperity.” Already, he said there “is a blueprint for protecting and securing the vulnerable in the state,” to which he said he was committed if the people finally give him their mandate.
The participants at the meeting no doubt had an interesting moment listening a teacher’s son, who discussed his different plans on how to touch the lives of ordinary Lagos residents roaming the streets, living in the slums; hawking in the gridlocks across the state and those whose lives are endangered in the firm grip of slave masters and human traffickers. He said he relied on the institutions and law “to turn things for the better for them.”
For clearer understanding, the Deputy Director-General of Ambode Campaign Organisation, Prince Kazeem Adeniji did a brief presentation on Ambode’s programme for those he had described as the vulnerable in the state. Adeniji said the programme sought to address the prevailing conditions of five special people in the state namely, “the elderly including senior citizens, children, women, youths and the disabled persons.”
He explained that the programme was deliberate citing the potentials of most vulnerable people, which he said, could