Mary Daniel, the amputee hawker who has recently been accused of not being completely truthful about her condition, has apologized to Nigerians.
Daniel, who spoke with newsmen on Thursday, said she made a mistake by saying her father was dead because the man abandoned her.
Mary also denied claims that her presence in Oshodi was staged to garner sympathy.
According to her, she had been hawking in Onitsha in Anambra state, from where she moved to Asaba in Delta state and now to Lagos where she was hawking before fortune smiled on her.
Mary also denied claims of receiving strange calls from the people who staged her story as they want their share of her fortune.
She said it was her maternal grandmother who had been making the calls to demand for money even after she sent her N200,000.
Mary further maintained that she lost her leg to an accident, stressing that there was nothing to lie about being an amputee because it’s obvious.
The statement of her apology obtained by Heritage Times reads:
“My father abandoned me since I was involved in this accident, there was no one to take care of me, nothing! That was why I said he’s dead. But my mother is truly dead. I had an accident truly; I was not amputated from birth.
“It was my grandmother that called me that she does not have anything, that if I have, I should send it. I said let me give her small money so she can use it to manage herself for now. I wanted to send N100, 000, I sent N200, 000 instead. She called me and asked why I sent her such a meagre amount, that, do I think she doesn’t know what’s going on, that how will people be contributing money for me and all I do is to send N200, 000.
“She said I’d rather send more money or she will expose me and I will go back to selling ‘pure’ (satchet) water. I was shocked and asked what sort of thing is this. She’s my maternal grandmother, she is really old.
“My aunties and uncles from my mother’s side are the ones pushing my grandmother into this and if she continues like this, later she will regret it. I have told her to calm down that I will take care of her but she refused. She is busy following her children around, making videos, that’s their business.
“Nigerians should forgive me. People that stay on the streets and in noisy places, they hardly have a settled mind and I said my father is late so Nigerians can help me. I made a big mistake; Nigerians should please forgive me.
“I want to open a supermarket in Lagos. I have always been a pure water hawker. Lagos is not the first place, I started from Onitsha, from there, I sold pure water in Asaba from there I came to Lagos. I don’t beg, even in my condition, I hawk that water so I can survive. That’s the business I have always been doing.
