Succour has finally come the way of a veteran journalist with the defunct Lagos Weekend Newspaper, Elder Oluwole Falodun, who became blind in 1996, as the Lagos State government fulfilled its 17 year-promise, earlier made during the administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has given him an ultra modern three-bedroom flat at a highbrow area in the state; a reasonable amount of money to furnish the house; he placed him on pension till he dies; and has also given his son studying at the Federal University of Technology (FUTA), Akure, Ondo State scholarship for his undergraduate education.

The travail of the former correspondent of Radio Nigeria and Daily Times, who was writing the popular Waka About column for many years, started around 1995 when he developed eye problem, which was diagnosed as glaucoma.

He decided to get rid of the problem and was assisted to undergo the surgery in Israel. But he insisted on having the surgery done in Nigeria, not knowing that the decision will be his undoing.

He finally settled for the General Hospital in Marina, Lagos, but in the process of the surgery, he became blind. According to him, after there was an error during the procedure, the doctor, who presumably was unaware of it travelled out of the country without handing over his case to other doctors. Before her return, there was no solution to the issue anymore.

When Tinubu assumed office in 1999, he was approached and promised to do something to assist Falodun, but could not.On assumption of office, immediate past governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, was reminded of the promise, but like his predecessor, Tinubu, for the eight years could not fulfill the promise.

According to the veteran journalist, Ambode learnt about his plight in July 2015, just two months after he assumed office, on the pages of newspapers and got his contact from the newspaper house, after which a representative was sent to him.

“He sent emissary to me through whom the governor got to know what his predecessor promised to give me. He has given me keys and documents to the ultra modern three-bedroom flat, money to furnish the house and the scholarship for my son. Last Tuesday, I received alert for the monthly pension he promised, for the month of May.

“Though he told me not to announce it, but since he got to know my plight through pages of the newspapers, I need to let the whole world knows what he has done for me. I commend him; he has shown that he is a man of God. It is not only people on the pulpit that are men of God, but those who take care of the needy in the society,” said he.

Falodun, who is now 74, emphasised that he is not blaming any administration for failing to fulfill the promise, noting that one thing that fascinated him about the gesture is that he has never met Ambode in person. “He has always send people to me.”

While ruminating on his plight in the last 20 years, he said his condition had drawn him closer to God. “If it is possible I will ask God to make everybody blind for two years for them to stand up and move closer to Him. This is the time of the burning bush in my life, like Moses, when he was anointed to ferry the Israelites from Egypt.

“I have seen light in the 20 years, it has made me to know that God is there. Despite my condition, I prepare my food, I lock and open the gate, I put on the generating set and other things. My spiritual inclination has also increased a lot. Before the Boko Haram issue started, God had already told me. God would have shown me the song they’ll sing in Church before I get there, likewise the Bible passage for the day.”

He advised well-meaning Nigerians and corporate bodies to visit the school for the blind he attended in Oshodi, where he learnt mobility and similar institutions to assist the people who are in dire need of help, because “those things they are using there from the walking stick, computer and other things are every expensive. There is nothing free there.”