You remember the baby with a hole in his heart and the rather dramatic manner his father secured the emotional appeal of Nigerians who rallied round him to raise over N70,000,000 for the baby’s treatment?

While we were busy with the 2019 presidential election and its hype, Baby Benaiah lost his life while trying to get help from outside the shores of this country.

What if the leaders of this country had helped install whatever needed to be installed in our hospitals for patients like Baby Benaiah? But of course, human lives mean nothing to our leaders.

It saddens me when I read the statement released by the family on why Baby Benaiah is no more.

Read the full statement below:

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our son, Baby Benaiah ‘Braveheart’ Agoboye. Baby Benaiah died on our way to the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos for a flight to Dubai Scheduled for 12.55pm local time yesterday (Friday), the 15th of February, 2019. In our company at the time was the Doctor, whose duty was to manage Benaiah’s health on the trip. He battled extensively as we raced to Afriglobal Medicare, the nearest health facility on our way to the Airport, from where we proceeded to LASUTH; where unfortunately Baby Benaiah passed at about 10.30am. His body remains at LASUTH awaiting autopsy.

The family is deeply saddened by this event, as all arrangements had been concluded for Benaiah’s treatment at the Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital(FZ LLC) in Dubai. We were scheduled to Fly with Emirates Airline, which was specially equipped with the facilities to manage Benaiah’s condition at a high altitude. We got into Lagos (when) in preparations to fly earlier but had to wait our turn since we were informed by the airline that there were other passengers with medical conditions earlier scheduled for the same arrangement.