Baby abandoned as dead in dustbin turns successful Nigerian journalist
A veteran and successful Nigerian journalist, Otunba Gbenga Onayiga is no doubt a miracle child, who at birth was thrown into a dustbin, having being presumed dead by his family, coupled with hard experience mother faced and laboured for eight days before his delivery.
Penpushing reports that the 63 –year- old Onayiga while narrating his upbringing recalled that information relayed to him on his birth, while growing up was astonishing, adding that his mother went through life threatening labour and everybody around her had given up on both mother and baby.
The retired Director of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria(FRCN) and a frontline member of the Penpushing platform said, as at the time of his delivery at Igbotu town in Ese-Odo local government area of Ondo State, there no maternity home or any medical facility to attend to her expectant mother
Penpushing further reports that he said when her mother went into labour traditional birth attendants, Christian and Muslim clerics were contacted to at least, save the life of his mother, adding that as fate would have it he was given birth on November 23, 1959.
The former Vice President of Nigeria Union of Journalists(NUJ) said after his delivery, and because of the stress his surviving mother passed through, those in attendance were of the conviction that he was a stillbirth, and subsequently deposited him in a basket and thrown into a waste bin.
Penpushing also reports that Onayiga who submitted that his 34 years in journalism has been challenging and rewarding said, as fate would have it, a woman identified as Iya Pupa arrived the scene about 20 minutes after he had been abandoned in the waste bin
The lucky Onayiga recalled that Iya Pupa was told that the baby was a stillbirth, but even at that insisted on seeing the bin where the purported corpse was deposited, adding that as at the time the elderly woman got there, army of ants and other insects have already covered the body which they turned to prey.
Penpushing reports that Iya Pupa, noticing that the baby was still warm and breathing faintly, immediately sent for sand and a local leaf from a nearby stream; scrubbed them on the body of the baby.
The former Chief Press Secretary to Minister of Petroleum Resources in 1996, said to the amazement of those within the vicinity the baby responded to life, adding that that was how he cheated death, stressing that it was Iya Pupa who God used for him, and would remain grateful to the woman.
‘That was how God used the elderly woman to bring joy and celebration to the riverine community. So, you can now appreciate the basis for the special bond between my late mum and me. I was a miracle child!’, Onayiga emphasized
‘I am a child of glory and destiny; I found favour in God and men. My bosses and colleagues took interest in me and they encouraged me, notwithstanding the challenges I encountered along the way. Indeed, I have told some friends that I will like to remain a journalist if I happen to come to the world again.
Penpushing further reports that Onayiga who is now a grandfather is a graduate of Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Lagos, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism through distance learning, also holds a Degree in Political Science from the University of Abuja.
The cerebral media practitioner equally attended courses in Journalism and Public Relations at reputable institutions in Great Britain, the United States of America (USA) and International Public Relations course in London where he obtained a Diploma in Public Relations.
Penpushing also reports that Onayiga attended a certificate course in International Oil Supply, Transportation, Refining and Trading from the high-profile College of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Oxford, United Kingdom in 1997 among others
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