People who know me well will tell you that the easiest and fastest way
to get money out of me is to tell me you’re sick. I hate seeing people
that helpless. Over the years, I’ve donated and also used my platform to
raise money for several sick people, including Mayowa Ahmed. Early
morning on July 28th, I received a call saying the #SaveMayowa campaign
was a scam. That the lady was terminally ill and the family had no
intentions of using the money raised for her health to treat her as they
had no invite from the hospital in Atlanta, neither did she even have a
visa to the US. Please continue…
They wanted me to blog it quickly so people could stop donating. I found
it hard to believe at first but it was coming from people who were
directly involved in raising money for the sick girl. I sent someone to
LUTH to investigate, he got there and found chaos. The Police was
already involved, people were being questioned, some folks were
shouting, he spoke to people in the hospital and many seemed confused. I
spoke with those who had called me, and they said 1000%, the whole
thing was a scam.
And I sincerely believe that at the time they told me this, they
genuinely believed it to be a fact. I don’t think it was done
maliciously. After they sent me documents showing the hospital in
Atlanta was not really involved in Mayowa’s treatment and LUTH medical
directors denied knowledge of a fund raising for the sick girl, I
believed it to also be a fact! And I wrote it. My mistake, I think, was
owning the story, I probably should have quoted them. And maybe
investigated more. My apologies to the family! The post has since been
taken down.
After investing properly, the police found it wasn’t a scam, that it was
more a miscommunication between the parties helping to raise funds and
the girl’s family. I spoke about the issue with the Lagos police PPRO
and she assured me that the family didn’t have bad intentions.
What I am happy about is that; even if the family had had dubious
intentions initially, now they can’t do any of that, as everyone is now
watching. So maybe a good thing came out of the whole chaos.
The happy news is that Mayowa has been flown to South Africa for treatment. She left Nigeria on Thursday August 11th.
May God use her case to show that He is God!
Let’s continue to pray for her!
Linda Ikeji
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