This is the case of yet another wasted asset. This afternoon in Lagos, a man with a doctorate degree who later fell on hard times was dying dejected and rejected – in fact, so bad is his case that he is dying in a heap of rubbish.

Olawunmi Thorpe, Ph.D, is lying, nearly dead, by the Iju Railway line not too far from the Lagos suburb where a Dana aircraft crashed last June 3, killing all 153 people on board in addition to ground casualties.
Details of Dr. Thorpe and his travails are sketchy. His case came to public notice about 4pm today when Larry Happiday, a Lagos-based journalist and company executive raised an alarm on the troubled academic’s ordeal.

“Here lies a silver spoon struggling with death, rejected, abandoned, unloved and unforgiven by his family. This picture may be relevant to any of the followings: Major Mrs Thorpe, Mr. Bode Thorpe and Ms. Gloria Adeyemi-Lawson. Does anyone know any of the above mentioned? Kindly ask them to check that this is not their own Olawunmi Thorpe,” Happiday, a Mass Communication graduate with two decades of journalism and political activism before settling down to training of manpower in the area of advertisement sales and self improvement courses, wrote on his Facebook page.

According to Happiday, “Born to a famous Abeokuta family, this man is almost dead and God have mercy! Can someone please get the paternal or maternal family to collect this man, no matter his many, many sins? God forgives and expects us to forgive too: even Olawunmi. Don't let him die here, by the Iju Railway line please.”

Happiday soon uploaded the photo of an almost lifeless Dr. Thorpe with the following message: “Born a silver spoon, now see how this Ph.D holder is left to die in a heap of rubbish: desolate, deserted and unloved. I understand that Dr. Olawunmi Thorpe holds a Ph.D in English and once worked at the Punch newspapers. Can anyone who knows any of eight (8) or so children please get them to pick their father and allow to get a dignified last moment please?”

Happiday, CEO of the Ikoyi, Lagos-based Myhappiday Communications, could not give details of how Dr. Thorpe fell terribly on hard times.

He said in response to a reader’s question in this regard: “There is really no time to ask these questions and he is not even able to speak any more nor to get up and do the normal conveniences. The pictures I have are worse but for decency sake, let's get his paternal or maternal families to get him away from here please. If you know any of them kindly contact them. I understand that he may be related to the Thorpe and Adeyemi-Lawsons of Abeokuta, Ogun State.”

Contacted by News Express, Happiday, who is a pastor, spoke of how he and another pastor have on their own tried to help Dr. Thorpe.

“Dr. Thorpe has lost speech and is unable to get up to help himself,” said Happiday. “I have been involved in efforts to get him off the street and have, in association with a co-pastor been trying to get his family to attend to him but they would not bulge. His case is clearly beyond tokenism now and so we need everyone's help to get his family to pick him or the government in the alternative.”

*Photo courtesy Larry Happiday.