How Nigerian pastors “milked” my mother when she had stage 4 cancer- Dora Akunyili’s son
Honourable Obumnaeme Akunyili, the son of late former NAFDAC DG, Dora Akunyili has voiced out about the illness that led to his mother’s death.
Obumnaeme, who is the Director-General at the Anambra State Project Monitoring and Management Office, revealed that his mother went to a number of popular Nigerian pastors in a bid to get well when she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer but many of them used the opportunity to “milk” her while giving her false hope.
He called what the men of God did to his mother a “divine hustle” in an interview with Chude Jidonwo.
“I saw the hustle. So, I felt it was a racket. In Nigeria, we don’t call it crime or anything, but I felt there was a hustle, he added.
He further revealed that his mother spent a lot of money, sowed all the seeds as the religious leaders promised her that she will be healed.
Obumnaeme said Dora Akunyili fought to live because she believed her work here was not done.
He added that his mother’s faith could move mountains and she was absolutely certain that she would live as the men of God assured her.
She went to, is it Pastor Adeboye’s place in Lagos for like a week? The whole shebang. She came back and said they need to do a scan that God has healed her.
“And I remember my father was crying when he was taking her to do the scan. He knew what they would see. And he wasn’t trying to shut it down, he was trying to dampen expectations.
“But my mum, you know how someone is like ‘God has healed me’. And they go and they see the mass of the cancer there, grown larger, and my mum just became a shell for like three days.
“And you just see someone, a larger-than-life figure just whittling away every day,” he said.
Also speaking about his father who was murdered by unknown gunmen in Anambra, he said, “I’m still dealing with it. I was with my dad that day. We went to the event together. We came back home, I took the Onitsha road, I saw him go this side, and suddenly, I’m getting calls that my cousin had been shot.
READ ALSO: Gunmen kill late Dora Akunyili’s husband, Dr. Chike
“I found out my father had died by watching the video of him dying on the floor on Facebook. That’s how I knew my father died, I found out on Facebook. And this was a larger-than-life man. And just seeing him struggling to breathe and everybody is there videoing it.”
He pointed out the sad reality that no one went to his dying father to comfort him; instead they stood by and filmed him bleeding from a gaping hole in his face.
He said, “I think the hospital that could have saved him wasn’t there but just the fact that people are trying to save you can make you hold on. Nobody even made an effort.”
