Edozie Akunyili, son of a former Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), late Prof. Dora Akunyili, has lamented about the sacrifices his mother made for Nigeria, wondering whether they were worth it.
Edozie, who said his mother died for nothing, recalled that the late Professor of Pharmacology was so engrossed with her work at NAFDAC, hence she delayed taking care of her own health before it degenerated.
Edozie disclosed this while reacting to discussions on X platform (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, following outrage over the growing prevalence of counterfeit products in markets and stores across Nigeria.
An X user, Imohunoren, had written, “Since Dora Akunyili left us alone in this evil world, we’ve been eating and drinking fake products . That woman looked out for us for real. Top 5 Nigerian to ever exist.”
Responding, another user, kelvin_ig, said, “I can never forget when her house and office in Lagos was burned down on the same day. Obasanjo asked if she wanted to resign. She said Obj should dead that talk and reinforce her security. Obj did, and she carried on. 😭 she’s wild.”
Also, X user, Morris_Monye added, “Till date, no justice for her family over her attempted murder and her family.
“Her husband was killed. No Justice till now.
“She gave absolutely all for Nigeria. Yet the land has a way of taking her own.
“This is why I choose battles carefully. If you lose your life, Nigeria moves on.”
Responding to the tweets, the late Prof. Akunyili’s son Edozie wrote: “Exactly. Nobody has sacrificed more for Nigeria than our family and yet we constantly ask ourselves if it was worth it?
“We would give anything to have our parents with us but Naija moves on with corruption and impunity from the top down seen as normalcy.
“Sadly, she died because she was so engrossed in her work for NAFDAC that she delayed her fibroid hysterectomy for years, which later was found to be cancerous.
“When I see all the lies, corruption and dirty politics, it pains me that we lost our mother for nothing! Was it worth it?”
