AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
A group known as Hospital Visitationaries of Mary has called on the
Federal Government of Nigeria to address the agitations and concerns being raised by Nigerians with a view to restoring peace in the nation.
The group made the call while donating drugs worth about N350, 000 to
the victims of Ebonyi-Benue herdsmen attack in Abakaliki.
Led by its founder, Rev. Fr. Chidi Obasi, the group made the donation
at the Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki Ebonyi State
where the survivors are receiving treatment.
They also donated cooked food and carbonated drinks to the victims.
The gift items were received by the Director of Administration,
AEFETHA, Azubike Okonkwo, on behalf of the hospital board.
Presenting the gift items, Rev. Fr. Obasi, in charge of Saint Maximum
Colbe chaplaincy Abakaliki, said that as part of the group’s
objectives, they had been doing charity works including payment of
hospital bills for indigent patients.
He said, “We have been doing it for all these years, paying hospital
bills of patients and feeding the patients. This has taken us to
almost all the hospitals in Ebonyi State.
“So when we heard about the herdsmen attack, of course, I always come
here to pray for them. But I said it’s not just prayer, let us do
something physical to assist. So I asked for the list of the drugs
they needed and they gave me the whole list so I decided to go and get
the drugs in more quantity.
“What we have here is almost N350, 000 worth of drugs. And in some
cases we also feed the patients, all the admitted persons, so that is
the food.
“Sometimes evil tends to defeat, bring fear, kill the zeal to show
love and charity, but by this, we are just saying in a loud way that
evil will never triumph, rather it will bring the best out of our
society. The spirit to love, the spirit to forgive, the spirit to
give, the spirit to assist and that is what we are trying to manifest.
We are also calling on good spirited individuals in our society to key
into this. All of us are involved. Today it’s them, tomorrow it maybe
me or you. So let us get involved in assisting such victims.
“We will continue to pray for them that the good Lord will heal and
also give them succour and consolation to their individual families”.
He also thanked those who contributed to the success of the donation,
adding that he appealed to friends and they responded favourably.
He expressed optimism that when federal and state governments would
address agitations in the country, so that peace will return for the
progress of all and sundry.
We will continue to pray for them that the good Lord will heal and
also give them succour and consolation to their individual families”.
“It is their responsibility, they the chief security Officers. If
there are certain agitations, they should go into dialogue with people
like that and not to just to neglect those issues they are agitating
about. So they should look into those issues and see how they will
address it to bring peace back to our society” he added.
Receiving the items, Okonkwo, thanked the group for the donation and
said that the drugs would go a long way in making sure that the
victims received the desired medical treatment.
While calling on more good spirited individuals to come to the aide of
the victims, he said the hospital was running out of supplies of the
drugs.
