|
David
Obinaya Anyaele, Charles Taylor’s Amputee 9-year Agony
Nigerian amputated by Charles Taylor still waiting for
justice
For David Obinaya Anyaele, an amputee from Igbere, Bende
Local Government of Abia State, it is true that when
there is life, there is hope. Anyaele, 38, survived the
pogrom in Liberia in the days of the despot, Charles
Taylor. He was among the lucky Nigerians who went to
Liberia and returned alive, the fact that he lost his
limb, notwithstanding.
Since January 19, 1999, when kid soldiers, on the order
of disgraced genocidist Charles Taylor, cut his too
hands, it is an understatement to say that things have
not remained the same for him. His journey to the club
of amputees is as chilling as the story of how he has
been carrying on without his hands.
Finding solace
Anyaele's deformity not withstanding, he has found love,
not only that, he is blessed with children. The joy of
being a proud husband and father has fired the zeal in
him to continue the search for justice and
rehabilitation to live a life of dignity.
He joined thousands of disabled persons who stormed the
National Assembly for a one-day public hearing on a bill
to create a commission for the disabled among other
steps to bring out the best of persons living with one
form of disability or another.
Anyaele took the advantage of the public hearing to meet
with the House Committee on the Diaspora, led by Abike
Dabiri-Erewa to press further his search for justice and
compensation to rehabilitate him.
Addressing the committee, Anyaele narrated how he
escaped death by the whiskers, but had to return to
Nigeria as a disabled person.
With a standing instruction from Charles Taylor that
Nigerians must be taught a hard lesson on how not to
dabble into internal crisis of another nation, every
Nigerian was, therefore, marked for murder or at least,
maiming to serve as an evidence that they are not
welcomed together with ECOMOG, the military intervention
force put together by West African leaders to restore
peace to the war-torn countries of Liberia and Sierra
Leone.
Day of horror
One day, precisely January 19, Anyaele said that he and
other residents received a gang of gun wielding youths
as visitors and were duly informed that the visit was to
carry out the instructions of Charles Taylor, that
Nigerians must either be killed or maimed.
“I wanted to run, but one of the boys called me back. He
first gave an order that I should be shot, but another
one said no, that I should be sent to the Nigerian
government to tell the government that ECOMOG should
stop attacking them.
“He gave a fresh order that my hands should be cut, so
that I will go and show it to my country. I had to
stretch my left hand and it was chopped off, when the
guy wanted to fire me, I put forward my right hand and
it was cut off, that was how I lost my two hands.
“After the two hands were severed, it was like they were
still not satisfied. There was argument whether to kill
or not, but one of them poured kerosene on me and set
fire on me, until one of them said that they don't want
me to die so that I could show my scar to my people as a
testimony that they don't want Nigeria's intervention in
their domestic affairs.”
He described how he found himself at the United Nations
Observation post where he got treatment as a mystery,
before his evacuation to a safe point.
By February 3, he was back in Nigeria and taken straight
to a military hospital, where he was discharged on
August 30 for rehabilitation.
Through the Red Cross Society, Anyaele told the
committee that his plight was brought to the notice of
former President Olusegun Obasanjo, but could not get an
audience with the president because of the visit of
Charles Taylor, who had been elected president of
Liberia.
The nearest he got to see Obasanjo was an audience with
the then Minister of Health, Dr. Tim Menakaya, who
promised to rehabilitate him, that was in year 2000.
Waiting for reprieve
Eight years after the promise, Anyaele is still on the
waiting list. The waiting game to him was painful, but
not as painful as the recognition and succour given to
Charles Taylor by the Obasanjo government for a man who
gave instructions that Nigerians must be killed and
maimed, simply because of seeking peace in Liberia and
Sierra Leone.
So bitter he was when Obasanjo gave Taylor asylum that
he took the Federal Government to court, he had to
discontinue with the case after his repatriation to
Sierra Leone to face war crimes charges.
Now that Charles Taylor has been moved to The Hague in
continuation of his trial for charges against humanity,
Anyaele said that he was ready to testify against him.
Marriage
Since life must go on, Anyaele has scaled the first
hurdle of settling down, apart from involving in
advocacy for the disabled, he has found love, even in
his state of physical challenges of losing his hands.
The relationship is blessed with two children and he
begged the committee to assist him in facing the
challenges of life as an amputee who wants to live a
decent and dignifying life, instead of resorting to
street begging.
“Living without hands or limbs is an expensive life.
Somebody must help you to do anything. I am now in
advocacy to protect disabled from stigmatization.
“The way I survived is basically from charity on my
advocacy. My wife takes good care of me, and our little
children. I want to add value to myself, that is why I
wanted to committee the rise to the demands of disabled
persons in the country.”
For him to get artificial limbs as promised by a German
hospital, Anyaele said that he would need 35,000 Euros,
minus flight tickets, accommodation and sundry expenses.
Chairperson of the Diaspora committee, Abike
Dabiri-Erewa promised that the committee would rise up
to the occasion and take up issues of Nigerians who
suffered accidents or humiliation in other countries
with the appropriate quarters.
Back
|
