Okonkwo in tears as starving nursing mother collapses

…Lifts her with N200k

The Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) candidate in the Anambra governorship election, Dr. Obiora  Okonkwo, could not hold back his tears after a starving but nursing mother, Amara Nwachukwu, who hawks sachet water, collapsed before him at the Ndida Market in Okpoko, Onitsha, where he had gone to flag off a road contract he awarded to ease movement in the area.

The woman, who had her baby strapped to her back, was  rushing to buy a bag of sachet water, which sales for N200, when she collapsed under the weight of hunger.

She told the ZLP candidate and his runningmate,  Dame Jessie Balonwu,  that her last meal was a soaked garri which she and her baby consumed on Monday night.

She said that she was struggling to see if she could sale a bag of sachet water to enable her buy some food for her and her baby, the woman lost her balance and collapsed onto the dirty and muddy road of the market right in the vicinity of St. Charles Lwanga Catholic Church.

Moved to tears by the woman’s plight, Dr. Okonkwo, who ensured that she was immediately revived and fed with a quick meal, also gave her a cash gift of N200,000 to enable her start-up a trade.

He also directed priests at the Catholic church to move deeply emanciated woman and her baby to St. Charles Borromeo hospital for a comprehensive health check on his bill.

The gesture threw the market community into a frenzy as market women who witnessed the development prayed to God for more blessings on the ZLP flagbearer.

Addressing journalists after the road construction flag-off,  Okonkwo said it was unthinkable that anyone in Anambra state would go to bed hungry.

He expressed confidence that the story of the majority of Anambra people would change for good with a ZLP government led by him.

“What we have done here today is not about politics but about our common humanity. It is simply a continuation of what we have been doing and which we will continue to do election or no election”, he said.