Former Anambra State Governor Mr. Peter Obi has urged Nigerians to emulate the virtues of the former Minister of Information the late Prof. Dora Akunyili.
He spoke while delivering Akunyili’s one year memorial lecture at the Nike Lake Hotel, Enugu.
Obi said Nigerians had lessons to learn from Akunyili’s life of service and commitment to the ideals of honesty and integrity.
Using the hidden part of Akunyili’s life to illustrate her greatness, Obi narrated how, as the Supervisory councillor on Agriculture at Anaocha Local Government, she shared truck load of fertilisers from trucks straight to community buses. “At the end of the sharing, the communities, happy at getting the fertilisers, opted to give her one bag each, but she refused,” Obi said.
Obi narrated her experiences with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, under whose tenure Akunyili was the director-general of the National Agency for Foods Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
“Akunyili was not afraid to speak to power once she was convinced she was right. Her driving passion was best captured in small events about her that were not reported. As President, Obasanjo once recommended someone for employment in NAFDAC. She politely informed him that his candidate would be sent to the Examination Board like others and she was told to follow due process. “The end of the story was that the person failed and was not employed. Till today, Obasanjo uses it as an example on how to follow due process.”
Concluding, Obi said her family was often not spared of her thoroughness and insistence on due process.
“Once, I was discussing with her husband, Dr. Chike Akunyili and he told me his experience being Dora’s husband. Being a very good cook, when Chief Daniel Ogbuefi lost her father, Ogbuefi’s wife, as the husband told me, appealed to Dora to help her prepare special pepper soup for their important guests. When she finished, her husband asked for some, but all Dora did was to package everything to the owner.
After handing over the delicacies to Ogbuefi’s wife, she was asked to take some for herself and this, she brought home for her husband. For Dora, trust should not be betrayed in any way.”