My last moments with Dr Akunyili, by daughter

Chidiogo, the daughter of murdered Dr Chike Akunyili has recalled their moments on phone.

Her mother, Prof Dora Akunyili, a former Minister of Information, died in 2014 after a serious battle with cancer.

The father, who ran St Leo hospital, said to be one of the best in Enugu, was murdered on Tuesday by gunmen.

The mother of one recalled she had an intimate discussion with him a day before he was killed.

She said they had even spoken about her late mother and what the upcoming award meant to the family.

The duo, she added, also discussed the security challenges and state of the nation.

In a tribute to her dad on Thursday, she wrote” I spoke to him on Monday, just a day before another human willfully took his life. We couldn’t have known it would be the last. We spoke about my mother, about the award being bestowed upon her the next day and how it was a birthday present from her to me.

“He asked after his newest grandchild whom he had given the name “Mmesomma – “the one who does beautiful things’. And above all, he bemoaned the state of things in the country.

“As a surgeon, always frontline with the people’s suffering, he shared how visible the current hardships were. Patients, he said, were no longer able to pay for care. It didn’t help, he added that no one was safe. I asked him if he was being safe and he assured me that he was, going on to share that he never went out anymore and was sure to be home by 6. Convinced, I reminded him to be even more careful to take care of himself.

“If Ubuntu holds true, that he is – a son, a beloved father, a loving grandfather, a healer, a papal Knight, Agbalanze of Agulu, a friend, a brother, and so much more – then this is an invitation for us to find the good in us.

“We can choose a different path… this current one leads to more senseless death and pain for one too many.