Heart wrenching story of 66 year old Abiodun Adekunbi Nurse turned beggar

 Here's all the story as reported by Saturday Punch.

On Monday, May 23, 2016, a heavy rainfall in Lagos lasted about six hours. But while every man and woman, child and even animal ran for cover, 66-year-old Abiodun Adekunbi sat quietly on the median demarcating the road around the popular Ijaye Bus Stop in the Ijaye-Ojokoro area of the state
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Sitting alone and motionless without making any effort to dash for cover drew the curiosity of many residents who saw her from afar as few people ran to her to urge her to seek shelter.

But the elderly woman simply looked glumly on as she hugged herself. All entreaties by traders and passersby to encourage her to leave the rain fell on deaf ears.

By the time the rain stopped, residents of the area had called officials of the Kick Against Indiscipline, who came to the scene to help the woman.

Suggestions were made to give her food to restore her strength as she looked famished and tired. An official of Kick Against Indiscipline, Mr. Olusanya Temitope, bought a plate of rice and a bottle of soft drink for her, which Adekunbi accepted and promptly ate.

After the food, it became clear that she was an educated woman and one of our correspondents, who was at the scene decided to dig into her life and where she came from.

The elderly woman, who could clearly speak good English, told our correspondent in the earshot of shocked sympathisers who had gathered around her, that she had been sleeping on the street for months with the hope of locating her only surviving daughter whose whereabouts she did not know.

No one could have taken a look at Adekunbi and say she was once a respectable senior nurse at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba, Lagos. But that is exactly the case.

She said her dream was to spend her retirement from the active service of the LUTH in leisure activities such as watching television, reading inspirational books and engaging in civic and religious programmes with her husband.

 “I dreamt of seeing my grand-children and assisting in nurturing them. I love children a lot. I would have loved to help in taking care of my grandchildren,” she said.

But 22 years after 66-year-old Adekunbi, a native of Iyin Ekiti in Ekiti State retired form LUTH, all she became was a homeless woman living off the street.

 “My love for children was why I chose to become a nurse – a profession I loved so much until I retired as a Senior Nursing Sister from LUTH in 1994,” the elderly woman said.

With sad eyes, that seemed to have seen a lot of crying, Adekunbi said all she had worked for and acquired in her many years of active service at LUTH had perished in her presence.

She said, “Neither my family members nor my daughter has bothered to look after me in my state of helplessness.

 “I am from Iyin Ekiti in Ekiti State. I had four children – three girls and one boy. Unfortunately, I lost the first three. The last one, Omolola, got married a few years ago. But I don’t know her whereabouts now. She only came to take me to her house in Agege immediately after she got married where I spent a few days with her, but I can’t locate the place again. I don’t know her telephone number and she has not called me.”

Asked if she could recognise the only surviving daughter if she saw her, she said, “Why not? Why won’t I be able to recognise my own daughter?”

There were initial doubts about her sanity when she was rescued but it became clear when she began to tell her life’s story that she was sane and lucid.

Adekunbi, who was shivering as a result of the heavy rain that had drenched her that day, vividly recalled the address of her former house. According to her, she left the house and started wandering the streets when she could no longer lay her hands on any food to eat let alone pay her rent.

She said, “I used to live in a one-roomed apartment at 5, Olatunji Aregbe Street, Ijegun, Lagos State. My landlord’s name is Mr. Olatunji. But paying rent is no longer possible for me. I have not even eaten anything for the past three days.”

Her explanation on how she had been surviving since she retired from LUTH drew out tears from sympathisers when she said that she had lost contact with one Mr. Atta, the man who she claimed was giving her information on her pension.

She said, “Immediately after we retired, we were informed that we would be collecting our pension in Abuja, but I lost contact with Mr. Atta, who was helping me with information and sometimes assisted me to collect the money. I have not been able to locate him for some years now.

“I also lost my two ATM cards and diary on the day my third child, Omolara, died, and I could not contact anyone as regards my pension. Since then, my life has turned from bad to worse.”

Adekunbi alleged that her late Edo State-born husband, Augustine, sold the only plot of land she owned which she hoped to build a modest house on after retirement from LUTH, to his mistress.

“This is not the kind of life I planned to live in retirement. I could not imagine that my husband could sell my land on Debora Olayinka Street, Igando, to his mistress. He died not long after he sold my land,” the retired senior nursing sister said.

For Adekunbi, all her life’s belongings are few scanty items she carried in a black polythene bag.

In the polythene bag were a pair of bathroom sleepers, a hand bag, bra and a wrist watch.

When one of our correspondents visited LUTH on May 24, 2016 to confirm if Adekunbi actually retired from the hospital, officials at the public relations unit of the hospital, said the spokesperson, who they claimed was the only person that could confirm the issue, was not around.

An unidentified elderly woman abandoned at Iyana Ipaja, Lagos

The officials, however, asked the correspondent to officially apply for the information being sought with the promise to get the information across to him when the hospital’s spokesperson was back.

But as of the time of filing this report, the hospital had yet to either deny or confirm that Adekunbi retired from the hospital.

Stories like that of Adekunbi raise a lot of questions about the care of the elderly and social services generally in the country.