ENUGU, October 3, 2025 – The Executive Director of the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), Mr. David Anyaele, has narrated how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rescued and rehabilitated him after Sierra Leonean rebels amputated his hands in 1999.
Anyaele shared his emotional story on Friday evening during the Nkata Umuibe monthly speakers’ series organised by the Centre for Memories (CFM) in Enugu, with the theme “Onye Aghana Nwanne Ya” (Let no one leave his brother behind). He was accompanied by the Enugu State Chairman of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), Onyebuchi Mbah.
According to Anyaele, he was attacked by fighters of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a rebel group that waged war in Sierra Leone between 1991 and 2002. After his ordeal was televised, he wrote to various governments across Nigeria, including those in the Southeast, seeking help, but received no support.
“I later sent the same appeal to then Lagos Governor Bola Tinubu,” Anyaele said, adding that Tinubu directed medical experts to assess his condition. “After the examination, doctors recommended overseas treatment, and I was rehabilitated in Germany where artificial hands were fitted. I must thank the Tinubu administration and the good people of Lagos State for their hospitality and compassion.”
The disability rights advocate recalled that he was on a business trip to Freetown when he was attacked simply because he was Nigerian. He said his pleas for mercy were ignored, and that several Nigerians suffered similar brutality during Sierra Leone’s civil war before being rescued by Nigerian-led ECOMOG troops.
“That experience changed my world as I suddenly found myself in the disability community, without knowing what the future held,” Anyaele reflected, describing the stigma, discrimination, and isolation he later endured.
He lamented that persons with disabilities in Igboland continue to face neglect and exclusion, urging Igbos to promote inclusion and equality. “Disability can happen to anyone, anytime. We must not abandon our brothers and sisters living with disabilities,” he appealed.
Anyaele commended Governor Alex Otti for establishing the Abia State Disability Commission and called on Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State to replicate the initiative to foster inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities. GMTNewsng
