By Nsan Ndoma-Neji
For 23 years, 44-year-old Daniel Emori has lived in agony on sickbed after a stray cow knocked him down.
It was October 10, 2003. The Adadama, Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State-born young man was just 21, full of dreams and hustle. Born on May 3, 1982, into a poor family, he finished his SSCE in 2000 and left for Onitsha, Anambra State, in search of greener pasture. He worked for two years as a Machine Operator at Peter E Venture Plastic Company, saved every kobo and enrolled at Nchendu Driving/Training Academy. He later became a private and commercial driver before securing what he thought was his breakthrough as a delivery van driver with Rico Pharmaceutical Company.
That breakthrough turned to agony while on official duty at Fegge along the River Niger Bridge. Delivering goods to a customer, an uncontrolled stray cow emerged from nowhere and hit him with its horn. He fell and never stood again.
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He was rushed to a nearby clinic and later referred to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH, Enugu, where doctors diagnosed cervical spinal cord injury and demanded N75,000 for emergency surgery. His poor family could not afford it. Daniel alleged that money released by the company director for his treatment was diverted by a manager who fed management with false information about his condition. After months of hopelessness, he was carried back to Adadama, bedridden.
His agony deepened in 2013/2014 when a deadly communal crisis broke out between Adadama and a neighbouring Ebonyi community. Everyone fled into the bush except Daniel, who was locked inside a house, unable to run or crawl, waiting for death. He managed to call Mr. Richard Ndoma, then with National Mirror Newspaper, now LEADERSHIP, who published his ordeal. Help came from a UK-based Nigerian from Adamawa State who contacted Rev. Charles from Delta State to evacuate him, and from a couple from Northern Nigeria who sponsored his spinal surgery at an Indian specialist hospital in Karu, Abuja.
The surgery kept him alive but did not return his legs. Today, at 44, as he marks 23 years on sickbed on October 10, 2026, Daniel battles joint stiffness, terrible bedsores that refuse to heal and worst of all, daily hunger. He said: “Though I’m not even talking about medical treatment anymore. I just want to thank and appreciate the Nigerian media and the general public God has been using to sustain me till today of my 23 years on sickbed. I just need feeding to survive as I await God’s decision on my fate.”
He can be reached on 0703 165 5209 or UBA Account 3072008766, Daniel Emori.
