#Savemayowa: Ngos Speak On What To Be Done With Left Over Funds

A public appeal for funds to treat of a victim of ovarian cancer, Mayowa Ahmed, generated more than N80 million a few days after the campaign was launched through the efforts of Nollywood actress, Toyin Aimakhu, and Miss Aramide Kasumu, the director of Lifestake Foundation, a Lagos-based non governmental organisation (NGO). The idea was to raise funds for a surgery that would be carried out on Mayowa in a hospital in Atlanta, United States of America.
Nigerians, big and small, rose to the challenge and contributed generously to the #GoFundMe campaign such that about N82 million was raised within a short time But Mayowa’s ugly story would later turn uglier as efforts to save her life was later enmeshed in controversy, following Aimakhu’s alleged declaration in the social media that the fund raiser was a scam.
The police, who intervened in the matter and froze the account where the sum raised was deposited, after investigating the allegations the two parties levelled against each other, described the controversy as a mere misunderstanding.
Another widow of opportunity to save Mayowa, who at the time was a stage IV cancer patient, opened when the police lifted the ban on the account, opening the way for her to be transferred to a hospital in South Africa, whcih had allegedly offered to carry out a surgery to save her life.
However, it turned out an effort too little too late, as Mayowa, who was flown to South Africa for treatment on August 10 died 11 days later. Her death was announced by a family member, Asiwaju Foye, in a series of tweets.
The tweet had stated: “By Allah, in whose hands our lives is, Mayowa Ahmed has left us in this world. We pray that Jannat becomes her home #RipMayowa. She tried, we tried but God’s will prevailed #RipMayowa.