BLESSING Okon, a 28-year-old mother of one, is seeking help after years of battling depression. The mother of one had relocated to Lagos from Akwa Ibom in 2015, after losing her widow mother.
On getting to Lagos, she met one Samuel, a gardener at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), and they both explored a romantic relationship.
“I had my baby towards the end of 2017 for him. In 2018, my husband and a man from Ibadan stole some bottles of beer at a party. His friend managed to escape, but Samuel was unlucky. He was beaten to a pulp after being caught and taken to the office of the Odua People’s Congress (OPC) from where he was handed over to the police. He was consequently charged to court and has since been at the Kirikiri Prison.
“As if that was not enough, our building at No 2, Ewunmi Street, Idi-Araba, Lagos, was sold and our new landlord evicted all tenants. Since I couldn’t afford to take a rent, I took my eight-month-old baby at the time to start a life living under the bridge,” Okon said as she narrated the situations that plunged her into depression.
Okon, who is presently at Adejoke Orekoya ward at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre in Yaba area of Lagos State, is appealing to Nigerians to help her secure an apartment.
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“I don’t want to return to living under the bridge where I was picked up. I just want to have at least a room apartment of my own, so that I can look after my daughter,” she appealed.
When this writer reached out to Kenneth Obaraye, the Good Samaritan looking after Okon’s daughter, through his Twitter page @lakencreation, it was discovered that the child had already been enrolled in school.
“I picked interest in her case because I believe she wasn’t mentally deranged as many people thought. And thankfully, she was willing to be helped because she was the one that even recommended rehabilitation because of her addiction to alcohol. But now, even though I have enrolled her child in school, she needs to get her life back to escape from depression forever.
“She needs to get something sustainable doing, so she can feed herself and cater for her child’s needs,” Obaraye told this writer.
Obaraye further explained that any financial help secured for help would also be deployed for her rehabilitation programme.
He advised spirited Nigerians to make their donations into her GT Bank Account; Dokon Blessing Queen 0721307441.