By Victor Nwegede
For 11 long years, Mrs. Mary Nwojon, popularly known as Mary Ezaka, slept in the open, scavenged food from refuse bins, and wore discarded clothes to cover her body. On Thursday 4th September 2025, her nightmare ended.
The Luke Chibueze Adonwe Human (LACH) Foundation came to her rescue, handing her the keys to a fully furnished apartment in Abakaliki, complete with food items, household essentials, and a promise of monthly stipends to restore her dignity.
Mary, a 50-year-old former federal civil servant retrenched from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in 2012, had lived on the streets of the Ebonyi capital since then, stripped of income, home, and hope.
“She has not had a proper bath since August 2014. For 11 years, she lived without shelter, income, or food security.
"Her life was the very definition of broken humanity, and we felt compelled to intervene,” said the Founder and Chairman of the Foundation, Barr. Luke Chibueze Adonwe, as he unveiled the support package.
The Foundation furnished Mary’s new home with a bed, rug, curtains, cooking utensils, gas cylinder, clothing, toiletries, and food supplies.
In addition, she will receive ₦50,000 monthly and will be attached to the Foundation’s office to oversee programs for vulnerable citizens," Adonwe told journalists at Abakaliki.
“What you see here are the items we bought for her. From today, she will not have to buy food again. We will take care of her, and she will take care of other vulnerable people under this office,” Adonwe said.
Barrister Luke Chibueze Adonwe, Founder of LACH Foundation.
The Foundation also pledged to fight for her unpaid retirement benefits, which remain stuck since 2013 despite official recommendations for her case to be treated. She last accessed any pension in 2018.
Overwhelmed, Mary wept as she spoke: “Before now, I wore clothes picked from the dustbin. Today, I feel human again.”
Her rescue was made possible through a coalition of humanitarian partners, including Beauty of Love International Ministries, Ogodo-Ekwanri Farmers Nigeria Limited, and Live Well Abakaliki, among others.
Adonwe urged government agencies and Nigerians of goodwill to do more for abandoned citizens, stressing that the mission of his Foundation is to “help humanity, rebrand humanity, reset the brain of humanity, and serve God with all our hands.”
NATIONAL PANEL reports that Mary’s story echoes that of thousands of federal workers retrenched during the 2012 biometric identity reforms and many of whom still languish without pensions or support.
