And finally, it's true; that DNA is no more. The
veracity of the death of Prof Dora Akunyili came to me as a rude shock.
For some times now, the report of the purported
death of the woman noted for her gallantry in NAFDAC, had always been in the
public realm.
Right from the very moment I set my eyes on Mrs
Akunyili in her capacity as a delegate in the on-going National Confab, my mind
developed a sudden kind of cordiality with uneasiness that never left; she was
just a shadow of her old self.
The once robust, agile, elegant and beautiful
lady was all herself save in bodily appearance. She looked emaciated, fragile
and scraggy; a condition that left me befuddled each time she replays in my
imaginative.
And with the growing peddling of the
death-rumours, the more I'd always received it with palpitating fear, of an
obsessional thrall fumed by an unending recourse to the enscribed silhouette on
my mind; praying it to be the rumours that has always suffered shame.
And when on the 7th of June, 2014, the report of
the death started filtering in again, I took it to be a furtherance of the now
established locomotory of doom's poropagandists. However, I was soon to be proved
wrong.
Upset I was ostensibly, when on waiting to
receive once again its rebuttal from her close family, there was none
forthcoming. Instead, I learnt that this time around, it was actually, an
insider that confirmed the sad news.
The worst eventually, has happened! This reality
threw me off my mind's balance; I was jolted, I sobbed. So, my Dora is dead.
The lady with an express audacity in defending life is gone; the great amazon
of the safe drug Nigerian society is no more.
Nevertheless, one thing is sure even in death; it
can never be argued: that Mrs Dora Akunyili has left her mark on the sands of
time, her legacies would for long remain indelible.
That Dora left the stage at a young age of 56
left me in devastating sorrow; it's so painful to be denied of her spurring
presence and liveliness. But I was quick to make a swerve; one necessitated by
her litany of achievements ably attested to by her collections of awards and
recognitions.
I will weep; but not in hopelessness, not in
regrets. This is because, though she left early, Prof. Dora Nkem Akunyili did
not die a young woman as would be suggested by her age; for she lived beyond
that age.
Dora's effort both in the academia and government
betrays her true age; they are great and epochal. She must have started right
early to make her values felt; an affirmation of her belief that time is too
precious to waste in creating legacies.
Prof. DNA as she's fondly called was a woman,
whose landmark contributions and achievements to nation building outweighs her
age; a real DNA that repositioned NAFDAC; a real DNA that dignified the Federal
Ministry Information; the audacious DNA that set the ball rolling in the
turbulent FEC, when others had reclused in verbal inactivity to say the
needful. And all these shall ever remain even after her; to project and
celebrate her existence.
She has fought the good fight: of faith, of
service, of patriotism and of humanitarianism.
Prof. Dora never dies; she lives on. And I know
how: her legendary achievements echo the fact that she does.
Prof. (Mrs) Dora Akunyili, even in death, remains
my inspiration. The battle of goodwill you left unfinished and which has been
your hunger, shall not end in your demise.
The new Nigeria you lived for and had endeavored
consistently to deliver to us, your children and to your grand children, shall
sing aloud your efforts and commitments to its realisation. You'll look back in
pride and joy that your struggle was worth it.
Rest In Peace, ma'am; we'll ever miss your
dexterity and idiosyncratic disposition.
Written by Kingsley Ahanonu
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