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Emeka Ibemere
If you call
him a child of circumstances, you aren’t wrong. And if you decide to say that
he is a cat with nine lives; you are still in order. And if you think he has
something to share with fate, you may attract applauses.
But after
reading his story, you would eventually know that his story has nothing to do
with his star or character but just a mere peer group pressure.
Born in a
family of seven siblings, he is the only male child. Six others are girls. His
father was also the only son of his parents. A year before he was born his father lost his
only brother in 1977 and his own two brothers had died in their infants before
he was born.
By the time
he was a year older, he was stricken with strange attack and was ill for years,
which made everybody to lose hope of his survival until providence, intervene
to preserve him.
With three
failed attempted suicide, mental effect of sexual abuse, frequent visits to
rehabilitation homes, frustrated love life, suffering relapse and near mental
derange, Gilbert Olumide Akerara, surmounted his ordeals and was able to
survive what the cruel fate has stocked piled for him in the last 36 years.
The
stumbling obstacles later turned to be a stepping stone on which he rose to be
a founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gifted Hands’ Help Foundation, a
Non Governmental Organization that help drug addicts in Nigeria. This is the background in which Akerara grew
up.
Akerara was
on a mission to share his story. He wants to teach people under the influence
of drugs to look beyond their conditions and to help them to understand how
drug abuse happens and its effects on the drug user to acknowledge and embrace
their inner beauty.
Akerara is
no stranger to drug addiction. While on the trauma of drug addiction, some
people stare, make ugly comments or send vicious comments but this gutsy young man
has the grit to speak out. He is honest about the pain it causes him, though; he
refuses to let anything stop him from telling his ugly past. Recently at a three
day Media Roundtable organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC), entitled: Response to Drugs and Related Organized Crimes in Nigeria,
Abeokuta capital of Ogun State, a project funded by the European Union (EU),
Akerara shared his story with the Nigerian journalists across the spectrum of
the media. According to him, the essence of relating his story was to enable
journalists conceptualize illicit drug use and abuse from a former drug user’s
perception in order to let the society especially the youths to learn from his
experience and ‘say No to drugs’. The audience was stilled by the Akerara’s
experience as he narrates them in a chilling tale. Then he told the following
story:
“Greetings to
you all, first and foremost, I want to express my appreciation and in-depth
gratitude to UNODC for the privilege to share my story. Secondly, to tell you
all about myself, my family background and how I was given a second chance as
an ex-drug addict”, Akerara continued.
“I was born
into a family of seven children (6 girls and I’m the only boy). Incidentally my
dad is also the only male in his family, he has five sisters. I was told that I
had two brothers who died as infants. Our first born is a boy who died at the
age of five; our fourth born is a boy, who also died as a baby. When I was
born, I was told that at one year old, I was attacked with illness and I almost
died but God preserved me though, my parents never thought I would make it to
adult. I was told that my dad also lost his only brother in 1977, a year before
I was born”. But how did Akerara become
a drug- hooker? This is his reply:
“I got
addicted to drugs, precisely marijuana in 1999 via peer pressure. I was having
problems with my first love in a club in Kaduna, Kaduna State, in a club named-
‘A square Night Club’. She jilted me for my friend. I was actually feeling sad
that day and two other friends of mine offered me a ‘joint’ and I was glad to
oblige them, though that wasn’t the first time of seeing them smoking ‘ganja’
or offering me which I always politely turned down”, he stated. “But that
particular day, my state of mind was sad due to the break up with my
girlfriend. I wanted something that would lift my morale and after the 1st
and 2nd wraps of ‘joint’, I was hooked, that was the genesis of my
romance with illicit drug use.” As if the ‘ganja’ wasn’t enough, he went on to
experience other psychotropic substances.
“I went
further to experiment with other drugs like alcohol, volatile solvents.
Hallucinogens, crystal-meth, rephnol, crack-cocaine and ecstasy, but my
preferred choice of hard drug then was marijuana, followed by crack-cocaine. I
could smoke 30 wraps of ‘joint’ in a day. It became a full time occupation”, he
revealed.
“If I did not take ‘ganja’ in the morning, I
could not eat. There wo0uld be no appetite for food except after smoking
marijuana. Even if it is 3pm, in the afternoon and for some reason whatsoever,
I had not smoked a joint, I would not eat food till after I smoked a joint.
Sometimes, I would keep compulsive vigil just smoking marijuana from 11pm to
5am in the morning. It got to a point in my life then, that if you were not a
drug user, we could never have a rapport”. Akerara added that in March 2002, an
unexpected happened.
“Then in
March, 2002 after attempting suicide, I had my first psychiatric case and a
file was opened for me at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Kaduna. In
November, 2003 I was admitted in the same hospital for four months. In March
2004, I was discharged on Parole and I was sober for a full year in which I
rewrote my JAMB and WAEC examinations and also enrolled for a lesson in Kaduna
at Classic Tutors for tutorial classes in preparation for my examinations”. If
you are in doubt of how a psychiatric resident could pass his examinations,
then hear Akerara: “Miraculously, I passed the two examinations and gained
admission to the University of Abuja to study BSC Sociology in January, 2006”,
he stated adding that;
“In my first semester in school, my GPA, was
4.2 and I was doing relatively well not only in academics, but in
extra-curricular activities on campus. But somehow, I had relapsed into my old
ways of illicit drug use by the 2nd second semester in 100 level. I was taken
by the school authorities to the federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, because I
had broken down physically, mentally and the Dean of student Affairs, then who
was Dr. Yusufu Zoaka, now an Associate Professor of political science,
contacted my family in Kaduna and the school ambulance with school security
personnel and armed policemen forcefully took me to Kaduna and I was admitted
at the Federal Neuropsychiatric hospital with the consent of my parents”. “I
spent three months in the hospital and I was discharged and after I was
discharged, I attempted suicide with overdose of my medication and I was
unconscious and also readmitted in the hospital of which I spent another three
months making a total of six months”. Why the suicides, you may wish to know
from Akerara: “in my life as an addict, I had three failed suicide attempts of
which each, I ended up in the hospital but somehow, did not die. Really, I
meant to die, I meant it and wanted to die. I felt that the only way out of my
misery, despair, woes, pains and hopelessness of a life of compulsive illegal
drug use”.
His life as
a Neuropsychiatric hospital resident was challenging and terrible experience.
“I had been
to several rehab centres during my days of addiction. Sometimes voluntarily,
sometimes coaxed and some other times, out right forced, regardless of my own
stands then even though I was above 18 years, I had been rehabilitated in
Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Kaduna, Lagos University Teaching Hospital,
(LUTH), Lagos State University Teaching Hospital Ikeja(LASUTH) and House of
Refuge, Lekki in Lagos. When I was admitted at the psychiatric Ward of the
Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, I was chained to my
bed for two weeks. It was a terrible experience.” The former drug user turned
resource person for UNODC, his experience would soon hit the bookshelves when
he finished writing his story. “I’m presently writing a book entitled:
‘Reconciliation, Restoration, and Redemption; A Tale of an Ex-Drug Addict’.
It’s about my life, my mistakes, my experiences and God’s grace in turning
everything around for good and giving me a second chance not only to be
drug-free but privileged to be helping others in the process of recovery,
coping with cravings and dealing with relapse.” He added, I’ve seen it all,
I‘ve
experienced it all and somehow, I came out of it all triumphantly and
victoriously with an NGO, which is a non-profit organization named Gifted Hands
Help Foundation. The aims and objectives of this organization are to help drug
addicts, orphans, widows, sexually abused and destitute”. Speaking further, he
said. “The statement of Gifted Hands Help Foundation is to identify and
critically respond compassionately to the needs of those seeking healing,
reconciliation, restoration and recovery from addiction, abuse and
destitution”. According to Akerara,
“Our vision
is to help the needy, heal the broken hearted and build them up. Counsel those
plagued with addictive and compulsive acts and behaviour that affects them
negatively in all areas of their endeavours and relationships both their
inter-personal relationships and intra-personal relationships”.
Do you know,
that it wasn’t only addiction that Akerara suffered while growing up? He was
traumatised by a gay who sexually abused him at the age of 10 years.
“When I was
a child, I was sexually abused by a man in my neighbourhood whom I trusted as a
big brother, since I had no brother. I was only 10 years old then. To make
matters worse, I was too afraid to tell my parents and I was to travel back to
school in Jos. It was a boarding school, so there was no one close, enough to
share my pains with; it was a traumatic experience for me in which I lived with
the pain for so many years. I have since forgiven the man, I don’t know where
he is now but I wish, I could see him to share the love of Jesus with him and
let him know I have forgiven him and hold no resentment whatsoever towards him
for what he did to me 26 years ago”, Akerara stated. To the glory of God, it
had all been a worthwhile experience in my life as an addict and now an
ex-addict, I have learnt the lessons and I will dedicate the rest of my life,
time and resources in helping others”. In his kitty, are two books already
published-Drug abuse and pathogenesis;
Solutions that work and Overcoming
Drug addiction, a step by step guide to addiction recovery, dealing with
cravings and coping with relapse.
“I thank EU,
UNODC and NDLEA for the great humanitarian work you have been doing to help
traffickers and users alike. I’m willing and ready to be part of your team to
answer the clarion call and move at your bidding to help, speak, counsel others
and share my own testimonial with addicts, recovering addicts and ex-addicts
who are battling with relapse both locally, nationally and internationally”, he
added. Without the efforts of others and roles they played in my life, directly
or indirectly, consciously or subconsciously, I would somehow, somewhere needs
my own efforts and your own efforts, too”.
A wise man
once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst
them. Akerara’s case isn’t a case of once a hooker, always a hooker.
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