Former NAFDAC head, Dora Akinyuli in a recent interview with SUN said so many stuffs but some of what she said touched me and I decided to share them with you guys
“There were many threats…they would write letters,
make phone calls, call my husband and tell him that ‘if you don’t
caution your wife, she may not come out of this job alive’. My husband was supporting me but he was a little bit afraid. He was afraid
for my life and it’s natural. But my spirit was stronger. When they
harassed him, he would call me. In some other instances, he would not
even tell me so as not to create any panic. Oh, those criminals, they
did a lot. There was a time they went to my house at Abuja and looked
for me. Fortunately, I had left for Lagos. I had an emergency in Lagos
and I left from the office. They came to my house that same night, beat
my cook almost to pulp, repeatedly asking him: where is she? They
ransacked everywhere. If I had slept in that house that night, only God
knows what would have happened…On another occasion, they
put a tortoise in my office. It was live but it looked dry…I didn’t touch it. It was my assistant that sprinkled holy water on
it and
removed it. I didn’t even want to talk about it. It’s not worth
announcing. It was the Minister (of Health), Prof. A.B.C. Nwosu, that
got so frightened that he said offhandedly that: “People should leave
this woman alone! Why should anybody put tortoise in her office?” They
didn’t attack just me, they also attacked our staff at Onitsha.
They attempted to kidnap my son but for God. My
son was in Igbinedion High School (Benin, Edo State) then, and two men
came and told him that his uncle, Clement, was looking for him. When he
came out, he saw two fierce-looking men. Before he knew what was
happening, they grabbed him, and said: You are Obuneme, Professor
Akunyili’s son. My son said: ‘No, she is my aunty!’ He swore vehemently
that I was his aunt, so they left him. They almost kidnapped him. That
was why we quickly bundled him to America. All his other siblings had
gone to America because I won the American Visa Lottery. But we didn’t
want him to go to America because he was too young. We felt he should
stay and get older. But after that incident at Igbinedion High School,
we quickly sent him over….”
See full interview here