Born at Torkula village in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, David was thrown away by his parents for having no legs. It took the intervention of a Good Samaritan and wife of Benue State governor, Mrs. Eunice Ortom, who picked him up from the bush and took care of him.
Interestingly, David is also a victim of the attacks by rampaging Fulani herdsmen as he was also moved to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp at Abagena by members of his family. Constant staring by the people at the IDPs camp makes David uncomfortable, hence his constant disappearance from the camp to a neighbouring village to stay away from people.
But one faithful afternoon, the governor’s wife visited the Abagana IDPs camp and saw David and two other physically-challenged persons. Ortom was moved with compassion to provide wheelchairs for them as she had done on several occasions. Days after that visit, Ortom sent wheelchairs to the three physicallychallenged persons through a Humanitarian and Emergency Management expert, Princess Hetty Akaakar, who doubles as the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the governor on Emergency Management.
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But when the governor’s aide arrived the camp with the items, David Health Minister, Isaac Adewole David being assisted by Mrs. Abubakar was nowhere to be found, as he had again left the camp to avoid the staring eyes. It took three weeks to find David under a tree, lying down helplessly. He was taken inside the camp and a wheelchair was presented to him, after intense counselling.
David, who is in the camp with other close relations, has virtually nothing doing and relies solely on the benevolence and charity of spirited individuals. Speaking with our correspondent, David appreciated the governor’s wife for the demonstration of love to the less-privileged in the society. He said: “What the wife of my governor has done to me; goes a long way to show that she really loves and cares for even people like me.
“Frankly, I thought I will continue to crawl on the ground for the rest of my life, but she has lifted me up today and I have been made a happy man. My prayer is that she will continue to worship God in truth and God will also not leave her. “My advice to her is that she should extend this kind gesture to other people too who are in need.”
