A Facebook user Obasesam Okoiihas taken to his Facebook page to write about one Tony Anari who helped him twenty years ago when he was stranded in Lagos. He wants anyone with useful information about Tony Anari to reach out to him. He wrote: Please Help Me Locate Tony Anari About 20 years ago, I traveled to Lagos in search of internship opportunities. Before leaving for Lagos, I wrote to a high school friend who had promised to accommodate me. On arriving Lagos I realized my friend was living in a small kitchen space with 6 other occupants. I became the seventh occupant. I arrrived with a bag of food which I never ate because my friend had no stove, no pot, no plates, and no cutleries. I spent the first few days wondering how they were surviving. My briefcase was stowed in a storage compartment loaded with firewood and charcoal. I roamed the streets of Apapa Wharf in search of internship opportunities without taking a bath. My friend had a small mattress that could only accommodate two people. Throughout my stay in that place I slept on pieces of cartons spread on the floor. Only on lucky days did I sleep on a bench which mostly hurt my back. I didn’t grow up in affluence but my parents gave me a very comfortable life. And I had never slept on the floor in my entire life. So, Lagos was my first experience of real suffering. One morning, at about 1:00 AM the real owner of the kitchen space walked in and found 7 young men sleeping on the floor. He asked us to identify our bags. We did. He then threw our bags away and asked us to vacate the room immediately. It was midnight and I didn’t know where else to go. I couldn’t believe an Ugep man could do that to his fellow community boys even though we are not related. That night I slept in an open market inside Queens Barracks, Apapa. The man came again the next day and asked us to leave. I had nowhere to go. I went out of the barracks and slept on a Coca Cola stand located in front of a brothel. I woke up in the morning and started walking the streets of Apapa without taking a shower or brushing my teeth. I was desperate for change, willing to do any menial job available. I continued my aimless walk until I got to a Lebanese Hospital on Pelewura Crescent where I decided to buy cigarettes from a street vendor. Then, a young man walked up to me and introduced himself as Tony Anari from Igbo Ekureku in Cross River State. Tony was working as a Security Guard in a private hospital owned by a Lebanese physician, Dr Muhammed Tan. I feel that the spirit of God led him to me. Tony had a rough past. He was homeless in Lagos, got involved with bad guys and landed in Kirikiri prison. He came out of prison and found himself in the same cycle of hopelessness until he surrendered his life to Christ. It was in the process he got a job as a Security Guard. As a devoted Christian, Tony was concerned about my smoking habit. I made up lame excuses to justify my smoking habit. He started inquiring about me. I told him I am an engineering graduate looking for an internship opportunity. Even though I didn’t disclose my living condition, he could sense that all wasn’t well. He could see through my eyes that I was going through difficulties. Truth is, the day I met Tony I had not eaten all day but surviving on cigarettes. He inquired about my living condition and I told him I was putting up with a friend at Queen’s Barracks. He got troubled. He felt I have so much potential from just interracting with me and thought I don’t belong to the barracks because barrack boys are perceived as hooligans. Tony brought me a plate of rice and a bottle of water. After devouring the food I felt alive again. He then invited me to church. I joined Tony to church and was introduced to his pastor, a charismatic preacher. We returned from the church service and Tony was full of excitement. He introduced me to his boss as his brother and asked me to move in with him so we can pray together and go to church together. That was the first day I slept on a mattress since arriving Lagos. It was indeed an escape from hell. Tony offered me a place to live, fed me and paid my transport whenever I needed to visit a company to drop off an application. Tony comes from a poor family in Igbo Ekureku. But he was brilliant, passionate about education, with an inquisitive mind. I soon discovered that he had only attained primary education before leaving the village. At the time there were no cell phones in Nigeria. So, I could not communicate with my family. I had to face the world alone. Tony was my best friend and brother. Since internship opportunities were not forthcoming, I decided to return to Cross River to pursue further education. That was how I left Lagos. Thank God I did. While in Cross River I found a friend travelling to Lagos and gave her a box full of secondary school textbooks to assist Tony’s academic journey. Since then I’ve not heard from him. Tony was an Angel sent from heaven to help me navigate through a difficult time. I desperately need to connect with Tony Anari to appreciate him. My spirit tells me that Tony is somewhere in Lagos. He might be a Pastor, a businessman, a government worker, a company worker, a banker, a teacher, or just going through life’s challenges somewhere in Lagos. If you have any links to Tony Anari, please tell him someone desperately wants to meet him. Thanks you.

Wonderful!!!

lala pls move to the promise land. Lets find mr Toni