Physically challenged Kwara lawyer appointed aide by Speaker, Gbajabiamila

By Adebayo Olodan

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has appointed a 49-year-old physically challenged Kwara Lawyer, Abdulsalam Idowu Kamaldeen as his Special Assistant on Special Needs/ Equal Opportunities.
Abdulsalam who hails from Erin-Ile, Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State was former homeless street beggar who sponsored himself through school.
He was on Tuesday appointed alongside 26 others by Gbajabiamila.
The new appointee became physically challenged at the age of three due to polio infection and lost his mother a year after he lost his legs to polio. His father, he recalled in an interview was not concerned about the welfare of his children or whether they went to school. After his mother’s demise, his father married another woman who gave him six children in addition to his mother’s five.
Abdulsalam started primary education at age of eight (8) in 1978 at Erin-Ile. He however started street begging same year to raise money for uniforms, books and to feed. Thereafter he finished his primary school in 1993 and came to Lagos, where he found himself on the street begging for alms and sleeping under the Idumota bridge.
After his secondary school education, Abdulsalam then started evening classes and gained admission to study Political Science at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in 2006 and graduated in 2010.
From street begging, Abdulsalam reportedly bought GCE form in 2002, sat and passed the exam. In his determination to become a lawyer, he sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and gained admission to study law at UNILAG in 2010, the same year he graduated from the Department of Political Science. He graduated in 2015 and proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, where he passed all his papers at first sitting and was called to bar in 2016.
Gbajabiamila in his former capacity as the House Majority Leader discovered Abdulsalam and invited him to the floor of the House in 2017 for Special Recognition by the House.
According to him, Abdulsalam displayed resilience and hard work by studying political science and law from street begging and despite being homeless for years sleeping at Idumota Motor Park in Lagos.
Narrating his ordeal in an interview, Abdulsalam said, “As a kid, I watched all my peers go to school at Erinle Muslim Primary School, leaving me lonely at home. Soon I developed the habit of following them to school, where we played together and studied together, without anybody stopping me. I even wrote tests and examinations with them. However, when it was promotion time, all my friends were promoted but I wasn’t. I went to ask what class I was and got shocking news. I was told that I was not one of the registered pupils, and that they only allowed me because they didn’t want me to feel bad. That was in 1987 and I should have been promoted to primary one.
“I went home saddened. Luckily my father was home; I told him my experience but he was not bothered. He was to go back in another four days but I insisted he registered me before leaving.
“He said I was too young and cripple and therefore would not be able to contend with the rigours or defend myself. But I told him I had never experienced any bullying, yet he refused. Even his mother, my grandmother, supported him, until the neighbours intervened.”
He continued: “Finally, he registered me but told me I would be on my own. I was only eight years old. Inevitably, I had to devise a way of surviving. That was how my journey into begging started. In the morning I’d go to school; on market days, I made very good use of the 30-minute long-break by going to the market to beg. On other days, I would go in the evening around 4pm to beg.”
He finished primary school in 1992 and got admission into secondary school.  But another big problem reared its head. He needed N520 for his school uniform, but just couldn’t raise such amount through street begging in his village or nearby Offa town.
An idea however crossed his mind. “People always said there was money in Lagos. One day, I was in Offa begging when I noticed a train parked. I asked where it was going and they said Lagos; I said this is an opportunity, so I bought a ticket and got in the train. I was told to come down at the last bus stop in Iddo terminus.
“On arriving Lagos, I took a while to study the environment. I was told I could sleep on the street but could be disturbed by the police. After two days, someone advised me to go to Idumota, that there was a big market there.
“So I took the cue. But trekking from Idumota to Iddo terminus was very strenuous and I soon developed the idea of sleeping under the bridge. I stayed there for 12 days and realised N1, 900.
“I went back to Erin-Ile and paid my fees and had enough left for my upkeep. Thereafter, whenever I was short of money, I would go to Lagos to beg and return to Erin-Ile. During school sessions, I would stay for about two weeks and come back but during holidays, I stayed until we resumed.
“That was how I managed to pay my way through secondary school until 1999 and relocated to Lagos.”