The National Chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). In this chat he spoke on his relationship with the former Minister of Information and Communication, the late Prof. Dora Akunyili, describing her as an outstanding woman, who was created uniquely by God.
What does Akunyili’s death mean to you?
Dora’s death came to me with a rude shock. But her death also summarised our journey in this world, that every life must taste death. It is the way God has made it.
Most times when we live by the grace of God, we do things and take God’s gift of life for granted, not knowing that one day we will leave the world. Dora, about one and a half years ago, was very ebullient, full of life; she was everything people knew her for. Suddenly towards the middle of last year, the news of her ill health filtered out. She confided in me that she was gravely sick; that was when she had travelled to Houston, USA. She called me from there and told me: ‘Brother, pray for me. I am very sick.’ It touched me. At that time, I did not know that her ill health was the type that would take her life so shortly.
I encouraged her. After a few months, she called me again and told me: ‘Brother, please if I have done anything to you forgive me. I also would like you to give me phone numbers of some people.’ She gave me names of people she wanted their numbers. I got the numbers and sent them to her. She called them; some of them confirmed to me that she called them from USA. It was not that there was anything she was afraid of; she wanted to ensure that anybody who was not happy with her, whether wrongly or rightly, was reached. I knew that she was preparing for the unimaginable. .
She later recovered and cane home. She visited me and I comforted her before she made her last trip that led to the worsening of her health. The last time I saw her I knew it was no longer good. Shortly after our meeting, she was taken to India where she passed on.
How would you describe her?
I would say that Dora was a courageous woman and of all the attributes she had, she possessed a strong Christian spirit. She was a Marian Devotee; she was given to great faith in our mother Mary. She built many chapels of Perpetual Adoration across Nigeria. She prayed fervently using the Rosary. She was always looking up to Mother Mary for intervention in any circumstances she found herself. When she was very healthy, doing her work, she never toyed with saying the Rosary. Even when she was battling her illness, it was becoming obvious to her that she was going down, despite her resilience spirit, not to submit to death she still found in her consciousness to make peace with everybody. It is a quality that is very rare.
Some people, when they know that they have wronged you, would never say sorry. But Dora tried to leave the world not hurting anybody. She did everything to leave the world in a saintly manner. That was why she called everybody and asked: ‘please is there anything you think I have done to you, which hurt you?’ The person she called would laugh and say no, no, you have not wronged me in any way. She would say in case there is anything I have done to you, please forgive me. That is the greatest way to prepare for transition.
Despite the great philanthropic work she did and her generosity to people, she still found it necessary to believe that she must have offended one or two persons in her life and she fought hard to make peace with those people. Going off her last stages, let me say Dora Akunyili was somebody God created with perfection. God endowed her with amazing intelligence, intellectual prowess that would astound anybody. From primary to secondary school, she had distinction. She made First Class in her first degree. She proceeded to postgraduate school to do her master’s degree and Ph.D. She taught in the university and got to the level of a professor.
How much of her early life did you know?
She was our big sister in the same environment. She was ahead of me by eight years. But we grew up from the same neigbourhood. Her maiden town is next to my home town. She came from Nanka, while I hail from Agulu-Uzuigbo. She got married to in Agulu, which is also next to mine. She was a woman that was everywhere. Even though, after her education, public service took her away from the vicinity, in Enugu where the husband has been living, we knew ourselves. You can always remember her depth of knowledge of everything. She could discuss anything with you. She would be laughing while discussing serious issues. She loved everybody. The way she would write you was always different and memorable. Anytime she wanted to send me a text she would start it: ‘Ezigbo Nwanne m’ (My very good brother). She would end it: ‘your sister always.’
Even at the height of her successful career, she was still down to earth. There was nothing Dora would not discuss with you. And because she was a great Christian and a Lady Auxiliary of Knight of St John international and I am also a Knight of St John, we interfaced very much as a matter of common faith. She knew the essence life. That is something I can tell you about her.
As a Christian, she knew that the greatest way to run a Christian race successfully is through the practice of faith, hope and charity. She did it outstandingly. She established a foundation that was used to feed widows and orphans, less privileged people. The name of the foundation is Poor Grace Foundation. She established it early in time, putting money there to look after people. You can hardly come across to Dora with a problem and she would let you go empty handed.
APGA under your leadership nominated Akunyili as its senatorial candidate for Anambra Central in 2010. Was that decision based on your understanding of her person or purely a political decision?
I am sure you have read some tributes that poured in on her death. Of course, we were very happy that she joined our party in late 2010. She didn’t join our party from nowhere. She resigned as the minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. On the day she submitted her resignation letter, she came straight to our party office in Abuja to inform us of joining the party. After that, she went to her ward to register as a member of APGA. Many Nigerians would not leave their jobs to do what she did. She was a Minister of Information and Communication but resigned to contest for a senatorial seat. She did that because she was very adventurous; she was a woman that wanted to do so many things at the same time.
Having served at the Federal Executive Council for some years, she felt that she had more to do at the Senate to pursue her convictions about human rights, how things can be done to improve the Nigerian nation through legislative processes. When she was NAFDAC DG, she realised that in certain areas she could not expressed herself according to the drive of her conscience and passion due to legal bottlenecks. And she had always said that we need to go to the lawmaking chambers and change a lot of things. If Dora had reached the Senate, she would have been prolific in sponsoring bills. She would have driven her convictions through lawmaking processes. Unfortunately, the enemies took her victory. She won that election. I have said that several times, but her mandate was stolen. We have results of the election. Her opponents knew that she won the election and decided to frustrate her election petition through frivolous applications that danced forth and backward at the Court of Appeal and the tribunal. Unluckily for her, she was caught up by the 180 day bar. The tribunal did not dismiss her petition; it was struck out because of time. We have the results of the election. On merit, she defeated her opponents very well.
Do you share the view that politics affected her reputation?
I cannot say that politics dealt a blow on her reputation. Dora had a reputation that was imperishable; nobody could impugn her integrity. What politics did to her could be described as human setback. Because she was very honest; she was not given to lying; she ventured into the murky waters of politics and participated in the political process and elections with open heart, believing that votes cannot be stolen. It was a shock to her that a result could be announced against her victory. Naturally, she would be disappointed, knowing the height she has attended, the position she resigned from, receiving the votes of her people but only for her mandate to be stolen. She went through the courts to retrieve that mandate but only to be disappointed that 180 days had caught up with her petition and it was struck out. It was a viable simple petition, but through intrigues and manipulation it could not be heard and determined on merit. It was a huge frustration for her. But in terms of her reputation, she did not diminish her person throughout the time she engaged in the process.
I was very close to her in fighting for the retrieval of that mandate. When they messed the election up, she ran to my house one early morning and cried:’ Ezigbo Nwanne m, look at what they have done to me.’ Immediately, I dressed up and went to Abuja with her to INEC to battle the matter. We were able to obtain a rerun in some constituencies they messed up. But, unfortunately the damage had been done.
Was she still in APGA till her death?
Yes she was still a member of APGA. It was because she was our member that made us to issue a statement when she died.
