Man takes bold step to help injured 'madman' he saw on the road

NAIJ.com came across the touching story of a good samaritan who took it upon himself to help a mentally challenged man whom he had a chance meeting with.

With the state of things in the country and how helping strangers could end up getting you into trouble, a young man decided to change the status quo.

The young man identified as Itodo Samuel Anthony, took to Facebook to share his story after his chance encounter with a mentally challenged man who he decided to 'adopt' and become a helper to.

According to him, he met the 'madman' lying by the roadside where he had been for about 5 days after he was hit by a car.


The mentally challenged man was taken to the hospital

Sharing his story on Facebook, Samuel wrote:

"Yesterday I chanced upon a madman lying by the major road and my first thought was he was drunk and would find his way at some point when sober. Today I was informed he was actually hit down by a vehicle and is by the road simply because he can't move. I also learned today is about the 5th day since he's been there.

The above realization has left me agitated all day. This evening about four of us were there to see him and he just kept asking for water. On interrogation we learned he is from Ebonyi hence it is easy to see he has no 'family' around here who could take care of him. He says he had an accident. He sounds pretty sane to me in his limited English. I hear the police and road safety have been seeing him there since the accident he had but simply moved on.

He says it is his hand he has a problem with and we can see the swelling, yet we don't understand why he can't leave that place. I fear other body parts might have been affected, crippling him.


5 days. This fella has been living and sleeping on the hard surface by the road for five days. All that sunshine. All that rain. Helplessly waiting to die.

What government agency is responsible for cases like these? A couple of locals are concerned as it is evident people have been bringing him water and snacks to eat but shouldn't the government handle this? I don't know how human life came to be of so little value here.

I have to be honest, I don't know how to help this man, even though I agree we can't just leave him there counting down to his certain death. Tomorrow morning two of us will be going to the local Road Safety office to report the situation, even though I have been told the Road Safety vehicle had stopped once next to the man, paused a moment and driven off.

Please is there a Nigerian government agency whose responsibility it is to handle stuff like this? How can we help this man? I am drained from this helplessness."

He has since followed up on the case, see the development below:




Wow! This is a really nice way to be your brother's keeper. Bless your kind soul.