Nollywood actor, Charles Okocha is about the luckiest person on
earth, and very grateful to James Louis Okoye, an event manager and
chief executive of Jalou Events Limited, who twice helped to save his
life.
According to SUN News, Okocha’s incredible run of good luck began on December 27,
when a drunken policeman pumped a fusillade of bullets from an AK47
rifle into his stomach at a traditional wedding ceremony, held in
Uruagu, Nnewi, Anambra State. The hail of bullets also hit another
person, Sam Belonwu Dim, a Lagos-based businessman, who died on the
spot.
Doctors at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital
(NAUTH), Nnewi, Anambra State performed surgery on him, but the stomach
later burst, allegedly because the wrong surgical material was used. But
the prompt and cool-headed reaction of Okoye in the hospital once again
saved the actor’s life.
The twice lucky actor is now
recuperating following the corrective surgery that was still done at
NAUTH, though the tertiary hospital debunked the allegation of improper
handling of the case.
Okoye, who mobilized other people to save
the actor’s life, recounted to Sunday Sun reporter what transpired on
the fateful day: “I am not just worried but I’m mad about what happened
as we tried to save Okocha’s life. I was at Danduko’s house on December
27, 2015 for the traditional wedding of his daughter. What really
happened was that the trigger-happy police officer saw an actor he
recognized and in excitement he said, ‘Look at this my guy, let me throw
one in air for him (meaning to give him gun salute).’ As some people
said, he was drunk and apparently forgot that he had previously set the
gun on rapid fire. His intention was to fire one shot into the air. He
pulled the trigger, but could not control the gun again because up to
eight or nine bullets flew out. The bullets hit two people, Sam Belonwu
Dim and Charles Okocha. But I didn’t see the other guy (Sam) and there
was a noise at the other end.
“When I rushed out of Danduko’s
compound, I saw Charles Okocha lying helplessly on the ground. People
started shouting, ‘Hey, ewoo, it is that actor oo.’ Some people even
brought out their camera phones and started taking pictures of him
without doing anything to save his life. Here was somebody who was dying
and needed help. I shouted at them. So many cars that were parked
outside blocked the way. My own car was parked at a primary school some
metres away from the scene of the incident. Okocha’s intestines were
already coming out, but he was strong enough to hold them.”
Okoye
immediately got some people to help him carry the actor to the primary
school where his car was parked. Continuing the tale, he said: “With two
other guys accompanying me, we sped to Nnamdi Azikiwe University
Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi. But what we experienced was a
nightmare. Okocha was crying, ‘Please help me, I don’t want to die,
Jesus help me.’
At the hospital, the conduct of the nurses and
doctors was so annoying. The other people who helped to bring the actor
to the hospital were angry and started shouting at the medical
personnel. I told my friends that making trouble or even shouting at
them could make our friend Charles to die unattended to. I had to beg
the nurses and all that. They were just telling us, go here, go there,
sign for this, sign for that. I was obediently doing all that even
faster than they expected.
“It was over two hours and thirty
minutes before the doctor that was to conduct the surgery came. Then I
was told to go and sign approval for transfusion of blood. I told them
to check if my blood could match his, and said that I was willing to
donate blood to save his life. They said it would take longer time, that
they already had blood in their bank. But they said what they had in
their blood bank would have to pass through test one, two and three for
HIV/AIDS. They said they were waiting to do the last one. For the fact
that the case was urgent, they said that if I had no objections, I could
sign that I approved for them to use the one they were not very sure of
being HIV free. They said they are waiting for the last confirmatory
test that the blood was HIV-free.
“At this point I said to
myself, between this guy dying now and dying many years later for
HIV/AIDS if at all the blood will be HIV positive, that the option is to
save his life now. Today HIV positive patients sometimes live longer
than those who do not contract it. It can now be controlled. But that
will not be the portion of my friend, Charles Okocha. When I went to the
person managing the blood bank, she said: “Ahha what can I do for you
and she continued eating her food. She expected me to wait for her to
finish eating when someone was dying. But when she saw my red eyes, she
dropped the food and covered it to attend to me.”
After the issue
of blood transfusion was settled, Okoye said that the simple act of
moving the patient from the emergency ward to the theatre by the two
female porters became another hindrance to the effort to save the actor,
as he said that they were very sluggish. His offer of assistance to
help push the wheeled stretcher was rebuffed.
His words: “At the
end of the day I was just pleading, petting and begging and they were
able to move the young man in a stretcher to the theater door. Then an
argument ensued between them. Friends and my brother who came along with
me wanted to shout but I pleaded with them to calm down so that the
matter would not get worse. From what I observed, they don’t really care
about people, whether they make it or not. After all, they did not
cause the accident and, therefore, not interested in whether the person
lives or dies. That is the impression people have about the hospital.”
All
through the duration of the surgery that lasted for four hours, Okoye
waited anxiously. When it was completed, Okocha was wheeled into the
male special ward.
“I don’t want to mention how many people that
gave up as I was waiting on the same night as I was at the emergency
unit. I don’t want to talk about an accident victim brought in there and
was not treated because those who brought him could not pay N500 for
him. And I had to pay for him. I am not talking about another accident
victim who was brought in that night and what a nurse could only say
was, ‘Imagine the kind of alcohol smell that is coming from his mouth,
look at what he has done to himself,’ while the guy was bleeding
profusely,” Okoye said.
Even after the surgery had been done, it
was as if the devil was still determined to harvest the actor. More
trouble came his way after he returned to the hospital to have the
external stitches removed. What happened immediately after the stitches
were removed was shocking, as Okocha further narrated.
His words:
“He was just sitting down and all of a sudden we heard a noise like a
balloon burst. Behold, everything in Okocha’s stomach came out. You know
it was a major operation.
“Nurses rushed over, looked at him and
ran away. Anybody who looked at his dangling intestines could not
behold the sight. It was a gory sight. But Okocha was courageous enough
to hold his intestines from dropping on the ground and he turned his
face away from his hands so that he would not faint at the sight of his
own intestines coming out.
“After about 25 minutes the so-called
surgeon came in again. He went back to start all over and Charles began
to go through the pains he had a few days ago. It was an annoying thing.
When they came to the ward they said openly that they were supposed to
have used nylon three for the stitching but what was available was nylon
one and they had to use what they had at least to save his life that
day. Why I am angry is that they could have told us to rally round and
get the right material and any other thing they needed. Any drug given
to a patient at the teaching hospital is paid for before it can be
administered.
“Is it not a reasonable step that they should have
sent us to get the right stitching material, that is, nylon three, to
avoid the bursting? They were bold to tell us why the stomach burst.
That is the reason I’m mad. I have never seen a thing like that before.
And we heard that the nylon is only sold for N700.00.
“I know
that I’m nobody, just a young man who is trying to survive. But I have
contacts through my business as an event planner. I have been sending
text messages to important people I know, pleading with them to get the
federal government to conduct investigation into the way the teaching
hospitals operate. This thing must be investigated. People are
undergoing bad moments in some of these government-owned hospitals.”
Sunday
Sun reporter met with the Chairman, Medical and Advisory Committee,
NAUTH, Nnewi, Dr Evaristus Ede Afiadigwe, who stood in for the Chief
Medical Director (CMD), Professor Anthony Igwegbe, and he dismissed the
claims of Mr Okoye even though he admitted that there was an incident of
a burst stomach involving the Nollywood actor, Okocha. He said there
was no negligence in the treatment of Okocha. He noted that the bursting
of a stomach was a medical experience that could occur any time.
His
words: “I heard about the eruption, stomach burst. The doctor wanted to
use Nylon 2 Defilon but what was available was Nylon 1. It is not
possible that everything you need, the number and quality will be
available at every given time. And you know that was on a Sunday. But
the Nylon 1 is used and one still gets a perfect result. I don’t know
why this should be made an issue. I investigated the incident by myself
and discovered that there was no negligence. The Nylon 1 and Nylon 2 are
of high quality not even the 3 you are talking about. Life and death
are actually in the hands of God. We did everything humanly possible to
save Charles Okocha’s life. And this is what one should be grateful for
instead of painting the hospital black.
“We do conduct audit on
how our doctors and nurses work and we have a disciplinary committee,
which handles erring medical personnel. There is no negligence in this
matter. Some doctors even use Nylon 1 ordinarily. It is just that the
doctor said he wanted to use Nylon 2. Nylon 2 was available in the
hospital but it wasn’t available at the time the doctor was doing the
surgery. There was a repeat surgery and it was successful,” Afiadigwe
said.
He later took the reporter to the theatre where he
showed him the Nylon 1 and 2, still arguing that either of them could be
used in the absence of the other. He also took him to the male ward to
see Okocha whom, he said, would soon be discharged, even though Okocha
could not react to questions put him as he was still in pains.