Before this writer rant on, can you quickly say a BIG Amen to this little prayer- May our helper never be the type of Toyin Aimakhu!
Toyin Aimakhu need to stay calm.
Ever since That woman divorced, she's been all over our faces on all gossip blogs. She is now more popular for her social media antics than her acting job. From one controversy to another, it is now like she thrives in it. If it's not about her Ex-husband, then it would be about her Ex-boyfriend. You all should be able to remember when she did that crocodile tears after one popular Instagram comedy skit actor, Twyse threatened to commit suicide over depression. This same tears shedding style was what she just showed over this #SaveMayowa campaign.
Can celebs not lowkey donate to a charity cause and privately engage others to also donate? Why the need for pictures and videos? Why go to that length without sufficient facts? Why cry when you heard that her condition is untreatable? Why shout scam after you were asked to excuse for a family meeting? It is apparent that Toyin was apparently donating to her ego.
It is clear that Mayowa is sick and she needs a saving. What if all these hullabaloo about her treatment fundraising get to her and she eventually dies? How would you feel? What if this scam thing didn't erupt and she died before travelling, would all donors have demanded a refund of their donations? You have donated, but does that mean that you must be among those that will make the final decisions of Mayowa's life? Somebody need to tell that actress to go back to acting. Her attention seeking antics is so glaring now and she can safely be called an attention whore.
Who want to have cancer? Who deserve to have cancer? God forbid, if you have Mayowa as a relative, would you just sit and relax after Nigerian doctors concluded that her condition is beyond revival? On her gofundme page, it was clearly stated that her cancer stage is now in IV, and clearly doctors who knows stage IV is close to death didn't raise alarm that no money should be donated. Why is it now that money has been donated that they think it is scam? The person we are talking about is still alive for Christ sake. They say "when there is life, there is hope," so would you just condemn someone to death because of doctors remarks? Are you God? Have we all forgotten that even our own President Buhari went to the UK to treat his ear infection?
Linda Ikeji's Blog is a gossip blog! Just like MTO, TMZ- they blog anything for traffic.
This is the dream of every bloggers; to have a blog post go viral. Maybe Toyin called Linda or not, Linda would have still posted the scam story. Linda would also not retract the post or apologize, she is a business woman and she risks everything. Truly, there's no "global best practice" in blogging because it isn't the same as journalism. We all know journalists who are bounded by ethics most times peddle fake or false stories as well, and in this century, bloggers would post anything for massive views. What I'd want Aunty Linda to know is that, in a case such as this which involves life and death of a person, at least collecting 100% facts before posting would have been reasonable. Imagine jumping on a campaign to raise 32million naira in the hope of saving a soul, then after the money was completely donated, they claim it is scam.
Imagine thousands of people who would've been misled by that post. Imagine hundreds of other blogs that reposted from Linda. Imagine the troubles the family members of the sick person would have faced after the post. In a culture like ours, decency and respect would have been expected of a 35 years old woman. You'd all expect Linda to be at least humane and stay off some stories. Avoiding one story won't drop her views and AdSense income. She famously drop all Wizkid news after both had that back and forth issue, isn't she still doing well? But then, Linda will be Linda, and she would die to have her exclusives go viral. She's up there with Facebook and Twitter in the daily Alexa ranking of top sites, so one should just forget about Linda. She remain a force in Nigeria's blogosphere.
Here is how the story unfolded as at July 28 evening;
The controversies surrounding the #SaveMayowa campaign, which began on Thursday morning with reports that it is a scam, have now heightened to the extent that the police is now involved.
Ahmed Mayowa Shukurat, a Stage 4 ovarian cancer patient at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, needed funds for medical treatment outside the country, leaving her family, friends and well-wishers kicking off a campaign to save her life.
‘I DIDN’T CALL LINDA IKEJI’
With the well-advanced fundraising now mired in accusations and counter-accusations of “scam”, TheCable visited the private ward of the hospital, where Toyin Aimakhu, an actress who claimed to have personally led the fundraising drive, was seen with a crowd denying allegations that she called a blogger to say that she was scammed by Mayowa’s family.
“Me, call Linda Ikeji? I didn’t call anybody; this is my phone check it. I didn’t say anything,” she said. “See my hand, I got injured when one lady was recording me; she claimed to be a reporter, she is downstairs.”
NOT A SCAM?
A family friend, who identified himself simply as Dami, said that the whole issue was not a scam and Mayowa would be taken out of the country on Friday for her treatment.
“It is not true that we scammed anybody; I am one of the people that were making pleas for donations. Mayowa’s dad has stroke so we always lock the house when we are going out for his safety,” she said in response to speculations that the family was on the run with the funds.
“If anyone says the police locked down their house or arrested Mayowa’s brother, it is a lie. Mayowa has a platinum HMO card and that amounts to a lot of money but all that got exhausted during her treatment so we thought to appeal to the public.”
TOYIN AIMAKHU: #SAVEMAYOWA IS A SCAM
Although Toyin Aimakhu denied personally calling the media to spread the “scam”news, she was unequivocal in her conviction that something was fishy.
She was also visibly upset at the turn of events, expressing disappointment that Nigerians thought she would partake in a scam.
An audio interview that surfaced online reflected Aimakhu saying she came visiting Mayowa in the early hours of Thursday and was upset when she was told to leave the room for a family meeting that was to hold.
In this audio recording by Ynaija, Aimakhu and Aramide Kashamu, founder of Lifestake Foundation, could be heard detailing the series of developments that made them conclude that the family was trying to dishonestly profit from Mayowa’s sickness.
Aimakhu recalled how one of Mayowa’s friends sent a message to her, saying the patient was her fan and she needed help. But she lamented that after calling “Okorocha’s son, Odili, AY, everybody”, the patient’s family members were trying driving her way.
She also spoke about how Mayowa’s told her that they would take the patient to Reddington hospital but after she offered to follow them, they said they were no longer going.
“On getting here today, the brother said they didn’t want to see anybody around,” she said. “I was trying to explain to her that this was a public thing, so he couldn’t say he didn’t want to see people around. But they told me that they didn’t even want to see me.”
MAYOWA GOING TO UAE
A discussion amongst friends of Mayowa revealed that she would be taken to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and not Emory hospital in Atlanta as posted on Twitter by some of her friends.
In another audio, the family said #SaveMayowa is not a scam, but a campaign aimed at saving a life.
POLICE TO INVESTIGATE #SAVEMAYOWA
Security operatives did not allow journalists speak to consultants but one of the police officers, who addressed reporters, said that the case had been referred to the commissioner of police who would investigate the matter.
“All of you that are waiting here, the case has passed this level,” a policeman said. “It has been referred to the CP so you people should go and talk to them here. This is a hospital, you cannot be standing around like this.”
Aimakhu did not address journalists before leaving the hospital, as she was seen holding a meeting with security operatives in a car park close to the private ward.
Credit: TheCable/Abusidiqu.com
