Actress Sarah Martins has accused Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) operatives of maltreating her while cooking for the less privileged in Lagos.
She shared a video of her bruised hand on Instagram, expressing heartbreak over the incident.
Sarah admitted she was wrong to cook on the walkway but criticised KAI officials for taking away food meant for poor street children without empathy.
She questioned the lack of empathy, stressing the trauma caused to vulnerable kids who were excited about a meal.
In response, the Lagos State Government issued a statement on Friday defending the KAI operatives’ actions.
Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, clarified that Martins’ roadside cooking violated environmental and sanitation laws, posing risks to public safety and infrastructure.
According to her, she cooked on the street to bond with street kids, making them feel loved and valued, adding that her social media platforms aren’t monetised, and she does this to create a connection with them.
Sarah argued that she should’ve been allowed to finish the meal and be advised instead of being treated poorly.
She’s advocating for humanity and peace, supporting the government through her outreach work.
She wrote: “Yes I was wrong to cook on the walkway but KAI operatives were mean enough to carry away food meant for poor street children without empathy!
“What happens to empathy??? Not for me but for the vulnerable people i was cooking for. These are people that were already excited about having a taste of good meal for that day, these were children that probably haven’t eaten the entire day and the meal I was making for them was their only hope for the day.
“You cut their hopes short! You traumatized them! You took away a big cooler of rice meant for 200 street kids. I wasn’t crying because you took all my cooking utensils including the entire food meant for poor people, I cried because hungry children depended on that meal for dinner.
“And I ask again, what happens to empathy??? I do not cook on the street for content or for financial benefits because my social media platforms are NOT even monetized.
“I cook on the street in order to bond with the street kids, making them feel loved, appreciated, valued and cared for by watching me cook for them with so much love and care.
“They watch me cook from starting to finish and they see the amount of love I pour into each meal I make for them and that’s what makes my own style of charity different.
“There’s a difference between watching a loved one cook for you with so much love and admiration and seeing someone bringing food just to share to you.
“The bond I’ve created with the street kids is what has kept me going since the past 7yrs in this outreach.
“For the fact that I wasn’t cooking to sell, I feel I should have been allowed to finish the particular meal, share to the kids and then advise to discontinue for safety reasons instead of being treated like an animal.
“I chose not to wail at government and blame them for everything but rather support the government by feeding the poor from my hard earned money as an advocate of peace and humanity that I am.
“This is our Nigeria, and together we shall make it great again by impacting into one another in our own little way. The tiny voices of those poor kids with the tears in their eyes still echoes in my head. It is well. It can only get better”.
