BY ALICE FESTUS

ABUJA- SOME might call this a miracle, others might say she is favoured, but whichever way one chooses to classify this, it is interesting to know that Binta Danjuma, 17, could walk again after being paralyzed for over six years with a strange illness termed “Tuberculosis (TB) of the spine”. The girl, who is now a star in her school because of her superlative performance, was taken to several hospitals within the period of her paralysis in search of healing but the best the medical doctor could do was to recommend a wheel-chair for her so that she could be taken anywhere she wanted to go.

However, her condition miraculously changed immediately she was taken to a prayer house for divine healing. Prophet John Musa Ihiabe, a pastor at the Jesus Solution Ministry, Zone 1, Lugbe, Abuja declared that the miraculous healing was not of his making but of his heavenly father. According to him, the family of Binta initially had doubts about bringing her to his church as they claimed they had taken her to several churches for healing but they all ended up without results. “I trust God that her own case will be taken care of, according to the mandate of heaven because on my own I cannot do miracles but with God all things are possible.”

“They brought her on the day of our deliverance, Thursday and God did not disappoint us. When I told her to stand up, she stood up and by the time she stood I said nobody should allow her to use the wheelchair again because God who allowed her to stand up for the first time will make her to walk. She was lying on the floor and I told her to stand up again and she stood up. I started thanking God because it is God that did it,” said Prophet Ihiale.

Findings by Vanguard revealed that the girl in question was born without any disability and took all necessary health care treatment the parents could afford as a child, but at a stage, Binta started missing her steps, and at 11, lost total control of her legs completely. She could not walk and as a result couldn’t do what her peers were doing including going to school.

Binta

The development put the girl’s parents, who couldn’t even afford three square meals in a day, in a tight position and entirely helpless. Consequently, the father deserted the family, remarried and moved to Nassarawa State with his new wife, leaving Binta with her mother and five other siblings, to live with their grandfather, Baba Ibrahim Ladalo in Gaube village, a small community in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

Binta’s Medical Treatment
Two years into the strange affliction, a Non Governmental Organization, Action Aid Nigeria in collaboration with Society for Community Development, SCD, came across Binta’s case during its child message collection in 2011 and took it up. The programme advisor, Action Aid, Mr. Albert Pam, narrated their experience exclusively to Vanguard in an interview, saying they helped Binta to access quality health care at the Abuja National Hospital.

His words: “Binta is one of the children we discovered in Gaube community. When her case was reported to us, we immediately decided to take it up. We did a preliminary assessment and discovered that they are very poor and cannot afford food to eat talk less of finding medication for her. The general conclusion in the community was that it was a witchcraft attack. We also did preliminary investigation at the community primary health centre, to find out whether they are aware of such situation, but they were no aware. We also met with the chief in the area to tell him about our intention before we took her to the National Hospital where we ran different tests on her for almost six months.”

Continuing, Mr. Pam said the tests revealed that the rare ailment is not transmitable, “so they said the best they could advise was to recommend her for some physiotherapy. They said something like the vertebra and some of the spinal bones were deformed and as a result, adding that she may never walk again. Finally, they suggested we get her a wheelchair, which we presented to her while placing her on local massaging with the hope that she will get some relief because she was determined to go to school as her mates.”

After her return, Binta started school with the wheel chair. According to the mother, she was very excited joining her mates at school. Her mother expressed delight immediately Binta started rolling that wheelchair to school, seeing a new determination in her face. “This girl was determined, not just to live, but wants to stand up on her feet and walk, and apparently the medication might have helped some bones as some muscles may have begun to receive life again no one can say,” the mother said excitedly.

After the healing at the church, a brand new Binta is now determined to become a medical doctor, so that she will be helping people with strange ailments.

Binta’s Class Teacher at the Local Education Authority, LEA, Primary School, Gaube, Mr. Enesiok Idopeyen, acknowledged the impressive performance of Binta in his class, noting that she now tops her class of 40 students. That shows that she is very intelligent. “I have been Binta’s class teacher since last year, even when she was on a wheelchair. Binta is now in primary 5, and based on her performance in class, she is so wonderful. She’s really upgrading her skill in academics.”

Said to be an introvert, Binta, while narrating her feeling in Gbagi language, expressed her gratitude to God for His good works in her life, and also appreciated those that saw her through her ordeal. “I was not happy whenever I found myself on wheelchair. I was sad seeing my mates walking on their two feet. I thank God that now I can walk. I am happy to join my classmates and I can now move from one place to another, I give God the glory. I feel like a complete human being and this has brought joy to my heart,” Binta said.