Kaduna airstrike: Obi advocates foundation for care of orphans

The Labour Party Presidential Candidate in the last general election, Peter Obi, has called for the establishment of a foundation to take care of the orphans and victims of the drone attack in Tundun Biri, Kaduna State.

He stated that the orphans left behind with nobody to care for them should become the responsibility of the government.

Describing the unfortunate incident in the village as sad, he called on the federal government and security agencies to ensure that such incidents never occur again in the country.

Obi, who led his delegation to the hospital to visit the victims of the bombings that claimed over 100 lives on Tuesday, was received by the Chief Medical Director of Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital Kaduna, Professor Musa Tabari.

He was taken round the hospital to greet the victims on their sick beds, commending the efforts of the hospital management, particularly the health workers who have been caring for the victims since the unfortunate incident happened on Sunday, December 3, 2023.

“Bringing them (victims) and treating them in the hospital is one thing, but do we have the sustainable foundation to see especially the orphan children all through? We have somebody who lost 34 family members; do you know the trauma on that?

“The orphans, we must now join hands because they are now our children, our property; everybody must join hands to see them through. I, in particular, if I know the foundation is set up, I will contribute to it as long as it exists. It’s critical, it’s important.

“We are family; what happened might have happened somewhere where we think we are not from, but we are all family. I have always said the purpose of government is to take care of those in need,” he said.

He made a N3 million personal donation to support the government in taking care of the victims and a N1m for the health workers working in the hospital. Another N1m for miscellaneous in the hospital, making a total of N5m.

Obi expressed support for calls for an investigation but emphasized that the most important thing was to ensure that such an unfortunate incident did not reoccur.

He added that the military should always do the right thing by being more cautious in their operations and commended them for their work to protect the country.

He said the N1m donated to the hospital management was for the 1,000 health workers working in the hospital “to buy soft drinks” as a way of appreciating their work in taking care of the bomb victims.



FI