Letter From Aluko Tolulope Abayomi

By Okey Ikechukwu

He was a visually challenged young man whom I call “Okurin Meta”. I first heard this Yoruba expression (literally “three men” in one) back in 1989, when I was still a lecturer at the University of Lagos. It was the late Chief Adewoyin, my neighbour and much older friend, who often so enjoyed my visits and long conversations on various subjects that he inflicted the “title” on me based on his strange belief that there was nothing in the world I could not explain.

I, in turn, transferred the inflicted title on Aluko, whom I first met sometime in 2004. This was at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Abuja; and we have been friends since.

The circumstance of our meeting was that the minister to whom I was Chief of Staff and Special Assistant, Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu, called on the intercom to tell me he was sending a letter addressed to him and also referring the bearers of the document to me; to look into what looked like a criminal matter of forgery.

The letter was a badly forged document from a “prominent” person from the South West. The bearer of the letter, Aluko, was led into my office some ten minutes later by one of his younger sisters because he could not see.

The two visitors looked perched, bewildered and very apprehensive; but they were also confident in an unusual sort of way. I asked that they be given something to drink, and then listened to their full story. Aluko had paid forty thousand Naira to the ‘agent’ of the prominent politician, who then gave him the letter, assuring he would be automatically employed once he took the letter to the Minister of Information and National Orientation in Abuja.

Rather than Aluko and his sister being criminals and forgers of documents, theirs was the case of a visually challenged person swindled by a conman in faraway Ilesha. The man needed a job and had certificates for the purpose.

Before going back to the minister, I was able to confirm that Aluko had a Higher National Diploma, (HND) in Communication Arts. So, rather than call the police, I got back to the minister to present the new narrative.

Before that I had considered possible solutions because, one thing about Chikelu is that the whole point of identifying problems and genuine leadership is to find and propose possible solutions to specific and identified problems. He would want to know all the detailed issues involved and, above all, look for how to ensure that the best of any set of proposed solutions was applied.

The issue now shifted to how to get Aluko a job. I sought out a hotel for their lodging, because it was now about 5pm. In the end, Aluko was given a job at the Federal Radion Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).

Below is his letter of a few days ago; which is followed by my concluding comments, plea and and observations on his current predicament and how he might be helped. Please read:.

“I respectfully write to you, Sir, with a deep sense of humility and hope, to present my current situation and to seek your kind and compassionate intervention, as you have remained a rare pillar of support in my life and I am indeed indebted to you.

As I once told you, I became blind at the tender age of five. Despite this life-altering condition, and with the encouragement of my family, friends, and well-wishers, I resolved early in life that blindness would not define my limits. Through perseverance, discipline, and faith, I earned a Higher National Diploma (HND) and later obtained two Master’s Degrees in Mass Communication and Media Technology from the University of Ibadan and Leeds City University, respectively.

It was through your rare act of kindness and belief in my capacity that I secured employment at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Ibadan Zonal Station, where I was deployed to Gold FM, Ilesha, in February 2005 as a Producer and Reporter. During my time at FRCN, I produced and anchored two programmes dedicated to Persons with Disabilities, with a strong message that disability is not inability. These programmes focused on education, empowerment, and social inclusion for persons living with disabilities.

In my unrelenting quest for knowledge and self-improvement, I proceeded for postgraduate studies, earning my first Master degree in 2009 (University of Ibadan) and second Master degree in 2017 (Leeds City University).

In 2008, I joined the Federal College of Education (Special). Sadly, despite my qualifications and dedication, I experienced deep-rooted discrimination linked to my HND background, which eventually compelled me to leave the institution.

Subsequently, I was absorbed into the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, in the Department of Mass Communication in 2019. Despite having risen to the rank of Assistant Chief Instructor, I was required to restart my career on a lecturing line from the lowest level. Determined to prove that blindness does not diminish competence, I personally procured assistive technologies such as a scanner, Perkins Brailler, and other accessibility tools to enable me to teach effectively. Because the institution could not provide these tools, I took a bank loan from Fidelity Bank to finance them.

Unfortunately, repayment of this loan became extremely difficult. Out of desperation, not ill intent, I accepted a part-time appointment at Osun State Polytechnic to meet my financial obligations. In May 2024, the Executive Governor of Osun State graciously offered me a job at the institution, which I thought was an adjunct appointment on compassionate grounds.

However, after seven months, I was informed that this amounted to dual employment. Upon realizing this, I voluntarily resigned on 1st February 2025 without hesitation.

Two weeks later, I received a query from Federal Polytechnic, Offa, regarding dual employment. I responded honestly, explaining that my action was borne out of ignorance and financial distress, arising from loan obligations incurred to support my teaching work. Regrettably, the Rector was dissatisfied with my explanation and ordered that my salary be stopped immediately.

This was despite my resignation from Osun State Polytechnic. Consequently, both salaries were stopped, plunging me into severe financial hardship and making loan repayment nearly impossible.

Several appeals made through friends and well-meaning individuals were unsuccessful. On 8th September 2025, members of the Association of Visually Impaired Persons accompanied me to the Rector’s office to appeal peacefully. Sadly, this visit was misconstrued as a protest. As a result, I was suspended for three months and placed on half salary from 10th September 2025, a situation that has now lasted about five months.

I have since been living in acute financial distress, struggling for daily survival. On 29th October 2025, I appeared before the Staff Disciplinary Committee, where representatives of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) were present. I explained my situation exhaustively, and I genuinely believed that the committee resolved to show mercy in view of my circumstances. However, to date, my matter remains unresolved, and I continue to live under uncertainty and suspicion.

Prof, this is not the time in my life when I should be reduced to begging. I am not lazy, dishonest, or insubordinate. I am only a blind man who has consistently worked hard to prove that disability does not equate to inability. I therefore humbly appeal to you, Sir, as my benefactor and father figure, to kindly intervene by appealing to the Rector to temper justice with mercy and allow me to regain my dignity, stability, and means of survival.

Though I remain hopeful and not bitter, I wait anxiously to know my fate.

Thank you, Sir, for taking the time to read my story. May God continue to reward your kindness and humanity”.

I spoke to Aluko after reading the above letter. I reminded him of how I once took him to the office of the chairman of Thisday Newspapers Editorial Board, Olusegun Adeniyi, some three years ago, when he came to Abuja simply to visit me. I told him that it was because of how impressed Segun was at his resilience and deep sense of industry that he gave him fifty thousand Naira to add to the cost of his transportation. “You cannot afford the luxury of falling into depression at this point in your life”, I warned him after reading the letter.

Then, going to the substantive issues raised in his letter, I drew his attention to the fact that there seemed to be a legal angle to the Matter and that I was glad his approach had so far not been combative or confrontational.

I also told him that my major concern is to see how he can be rescued from the very situation of material dependency he had been doing everything possible to avoid for over forty years. What I did not tell him was that I was going to bring up this matter in the public domain through my column in the newspaper; as I am doing today.

I am doing this not to sensationalize the matter, or to bring any of the respective actors into disrepute. Quite the contrary!

It is easy for an outsider to draw conclusions about issues of this nature without having all the facts. To the best of my knowledge, the Rector who has given limited the limited penalty of half salary, and the principal officers of the institution, do not seem to have any personal quarrel or misunderstanding with Aluko.

The main purpose of my intervention here is more like a payer of intercession, pointing to a visually challenged but educated person who needs help and who should be helped. It is for the institution concerned, or any individual or organization reading this intervention, to see whether they can help Aluko in any way whatsoever.

I look back with joy at what has so far happened since I met Aluko 22 years ago. I made sure that his sister’s ambition of training to become a hair dresser after her O’Level examinations was aborted. She is working today, with a Higher National Diploma Certificate. I also ensured that another younger sister, a science student with good secondary school O’Level grades, ended up in the university and came out with a degree in computer science.

The latter sister is living outside the country today, with her husband and two children.

Let us think of Aluko as a man who should be helped to earn a living by his own skills and sweat. Let whoever can reach out. I rest the matter here.