The Enugu state governor spoke to journalists in Enugu on Monday. Below is what he shared...
“Late August or early September, last year,
I am not sure again of the dates, but it is about that time. I was privileged
to be one of those nominated by the Nigeria Governors Forum to go to Germany to
understudy their federal system. A Governor was picked from each of the six
geo-political zones. I represented the South-East and of course, we were led by
our Chairman, Rotimi Amaechi.
“On our way to Germany, I decided to go a
little bit earlier, passing through London to do my medicals because of what I
will call lack of our time. We do not have time here. So, I decided to take
that opportunity, got to London and did my medicals and was certified fit. I
was given a clean bill of health. But I had a little growth here (pointing at
the right side of his neck) that was not visible to anybody. I am a very
observant person. I noticed it, showed it to my doctor and he touched it and
said he didn’t feel it is anything serious, that I should just try and forget
it.
“So, I thought they would
have seen anything if there was anything wrong when they were doing the general
scanning and screening, but nothing was found. So, I just singled it and said,
please, this particular thing, I will like it to be investigated. I was
referred to GB who after examining me and asking me questions, because I told
him, no symptoms, no pains, no discomfort from anywhere. He said as far as he
was concerned, there was nothing wrong but as a professional advised me to
investigate it further because I was almost running out of time, short of time.
“I made arrangements with
them to help me set up appointments for closer examination of the growth. So
the next day I left for Germany to join my colleagues. On that trip was my
Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Dr. Jude Akubuilo and my SSA
Investment. They were already in Germany waiting for me and so, I joined them.
At the end of the day, about a week after they had set up the arrangement, I
left Germany. I left my colleagues. I told them where I was going, went back to
London and did the proper screening of that particular growth. They did
biopsies and all that. So, in the process it was discovered that it was
cancerous. The growth was cancerous.”
“Further investigation revealed that the main tumour, because this
actually turned out to be the lymph node, but the main tumour was behind my
nose. It actually turned out to be what they called nasopharyngeal cancer- that
is cancer of the nose. At that stage when you hear cancer, you will declare
yourself dead before any further examination.
Then I asked them what should be done, they told me straight away that
they will subject me to further screening to know if it had spread. So luckily it hadn’t spread, it is just only
in those two places.
“They said the good news is
that it was curable and not manageable. It was curable, that was when I became
interested. And they said as soon as I
was ready, they would commence treatment. Originally we had planned to go from
Germany to Lebanon on our way back to Nigeria but I cancelled that trip, went
back to Germany, informed my people I went with, came down to London with the
Commissioner. The SSA hadn’t UK Visa then, so he traveled back to Nigeria from
Germany. In London we made arrangement and agreed on when to come.
“So we came back to Nigeria
and within the two weeks, I was able to make arrangements for transition. I
wrote a letter to the Speaker of the House of Assembly in accordance with the
constitution, informing him of my decision to proceed on leave and of course
sought his cooperation to work very well with the Deputy Governor, who would
work as governor in my absence. Within the two weeks, we held two exco
meetings, the last was held on Tuesday, the week I left. After the EXCO
meeting, I told my EXCO members that I was proceeding on long vacation which I
wouldn’t know how long it would last to treat myself. That was the information they got and of
course I told them to cooperate with the acting governor. The following day, I
left for Abuja, which was a Wednesday and again attended the meeting of the
Governors’ Forum, that night. Then Thursday morning, we had National Economic
Council meeting and the Deputy Governor was there to represent me.
“I got to London and settled
in and the following day Friday went to see the Oncologist who had already made
arrangements for treatments to begin and on Monday, I started treatment. I
don’t think any of you has had an experience. Cancer is a deadly disease and
the cure is also deadly, the cure for cancer is not Panadol, the cure for
cancer is not these drugs you buy off the counter. By the time you go through
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy, you will be a changed person. So I started
treatment, the treatment altogether lasted for 12 weeks, throughout the period
of my treatment, I was an outpatient. I was never admitted in any hospital, all
my treatments, I took as an outpatient. During the period of treatment, I
personally had challenges with the treatment because like I said, except you
see somebody that has taken that kind of treatment, it is not easy to imagine.
“So when I started reading
in the papers, how I went to India, how I died at so, so place, to us it was a
kind of entertainment. Anytime we felt like being entertained, we call up the
Nigerian papers online and we will be laughing. So it was a lot of
entertainment to us but what became worrisome was the deliberate and sustained
attempt to undermine the government of Enugu State. Over the years, if you
people have been following events especially when we addressed our people, yes,
we have invested a lot of money in infrastructure and other spheres of life but
I have always said that one thing we would like to leave behind is a workable
system, that had always been topmost on our agenda because when we came in,
yes, I was part of the last administration but unfortunately when we came in
there was no system in place, not even a bad one. So we felt there was this
need to have a system in place because that is the only way you can encourage
continuity because in this place, a governor comes and he will want to chart
his own course. But if you have a system in place, if a governor comes in, he
will build on what is on ground.
“This was a kind of
opportunity to put to test the system we have put in place. Everything kept on
happening as if the governor was not on leave, nobody talked about strike,
nobody talked about nonpayment of salaries, no contractor agitated over payment
of fees, everything and life continued to be normal.
It was like we had increased
activities in my absence and I can say that I can beat my chest to thank the
Deputy Governor who led the team and who ensured that the system worked in my
absence. I am happy that we have almost attained that height and when we will
be leaving in a few years time, we will be glad we have built a system and it
is a good thing to notice that we didn’t have problems in spite of all attempts
made by our brothers and sisters to undermine us. The government of Enugu state
has come to stay, the system put by us has come to stay.
“The treatment officially
ended on 10th of December and of course when treatment ends, that is when the
real thing starts. When I had commenced treatment, what my doctors said was
that I should stay off office for six months, that was their recommendation,
but by first week of January when we went to review my state, they were shocked
at the recovery rate, they were happy with the recovery, the scan they did
showed that the tumour and nose fluid had disappeared completely, not even a
scar was left behind.
“And I won’t like to use the
expression that they have declared me cancer free, but that was exactly what
happened. Cancer is cancer and one will be required to go there from time to
time for check up to make sure it does not raise its ugly head again. But as
things are now, they have succeeded in curing that disease that was detected in
September last year.
“Coming to my staff, all
attacks on them that they were hoarding information and all that was an unfair
attack. First and foremost, they didn’t have all the information, all they knew
was that I was going on vacation and I didn’t know it was the business of
people to know what my activities will be when I am going on vacation. So I
decided to use the period of my vacation to take care of myself I don’t see how
it should concern anybody, I don’t see why we should owe anybody any apologies.
The important thing is complying with the law, making sure that as governor of
the state, you ensured that the ship of governance remained on course and not
abandoning your people. So, all those unfair attacks I found a little bit
mischievious, and actually exposed ignorance of some of our people. I was
officially discharged [not on admission] and I am still in the process of
recovering, you won’t expect to see me tomorrow running but I am fitter now to
resume duties, I am fit enough to ensure that government is on course with the
assistance of my co-pilots.
Culled from Vanguard
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