President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday paid glowing tribute to a former Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, late Prof. Dora Akunyili, saying he and other public office holders were praying that their children be respected when they die like the deceased.Jonathan spoke at an emotional-laden requiem mass organised in memory of the deceased at the Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Pro-Cathedral, Garki, Abuja.
He urged the deceased’s children to be happy because their late mother’s works had given them an identity that silver and gold could not give.He said, “To my children, your mother was a very dynamic woman because her works and identity have given you what silver and gold cannot give you.“Yes, it might not translate to monetary rewards, but many will respect and want to assist you as her children because of her.“We pray that those of us serving now, whether President, Vice President, or others, when we die, people will respect our children because of our deeds like Dora. So you have to thank God for that.”He described the former Minister of Information and Communications as one of the few Nigerians who had made the country proud.“Dora was a role model, her dressing represented the Nigerian woman, her love, character, she is a lady that will hardly leave our memory. She was one of the few Nigerians that has made the whole country proud. I condole you all,” he added.The President said what endeared public office holders to people were not their positions but their service to mankind.He said until when Akunyili took over the leadership of NAFDAC, the agency was relatively unknown to many.While describing her as extremely patriotic, the President said Akunyili never compromise as regards those who traffic fake drugs despite the fact that majority of them were from the same side of the country with her.He added, “Dora was more known as DG NAFDAC more than when she served as a minister. Most Nigerians knew Dora because of her service. So most of the offices we look for, anybody who has opportunity to serve we should all serve because what will endear you to people is not necessarily the office you hold but the service you render.“As a minister, Dora was good. We were very happy to work with her. She was diligent, intelligent, very forthright, extremely patriotic and above all she was extremely brave and could say anything right or wrong and did not care whose ox is gored. That was Dora for you.“She sought to protect the lives of Nigerians as DG of NAFDAC and never compromised as regards those who traffic fake drugs.“One thing that endeared her to me is that, probably I’m one president that has worked with so many women. Atimes you noticed rivalry amongst women but with her you, never noticed any rivalry.“Today, our dear sister has left us but to my brother, her husband, as the Bishop as told us about the virtues of a good wife, you have to thank God you will get that respect as her husband because of her achievements.”Jonathan recalled her first encounter with Akunyili when he was the Bayelsa State Deputy Governor and how the former NAFDAC boss who joined him for breakfast chastisised his stewards for serving cold bread.He said the former minister asked the stewards to ensure that loaves of bread are served warm to avoid stomach upset.He added that he later learnt that the then Minister of Health was not happy with him with the way he showered encomium on the deceased during a programme they both attended in Yenagoa.He said that time, public officials in the states held Federal Government officials in high esteem unlike now when spokesmen of state governors will be abusing the President.Jonathan said he would have felt extremely sad if he had missed the service attended by a former military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon; former Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State; former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State; an Ijaw leader, Edwin Clark and other eminent Nigerians because he only returned to the country from Germany on Tuesday.Akunyili’s widower, Chike, said the deceased told him that she would serve the country with the last drop of her blood and she did just that because she died at a time she was a member of the 2014 National Conference.He said his wife rejected the advice of many who told her not to participate in the conference because she had lost weight as a result of the sickness which he said started as a lump at her lower abdomen.He said although doctors told her she had seven months to live in 2012 when she was diagnosed, she waived it away as a pronouncement of men which was not God’s pronouncement and ended up living two years and three months before she died of the ailment.“When I told her doctors said she would not live for more than seven months, she said doctor has spoken but God has not spoken and then she lived for another two years and three months,” Chike said.He also recalled how his wife displayed a rare sense of patriotism when she returned her American passport as a citizen of US in order for her to keep her Nigerian diplomatic passport.He said her wife kept holding water bowl for him to wash his hands and whenever he reminded her that she was a professor, she kept saying, “I am Chike’s wife first before becoming a professor.”Describing her as an elephant, the widow said time would never be enough to talk about his late wife who he fondly referred to as Dorothy.She said the former minister who died in an Indian Hospital on June 7 had a message of love, courage and steadfastness.The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, in his homily, eulogised the deceased for her virtues and the legacy she left behind in her public service.The clergyman said, “She demonstrated that public service can be an opportunity to be noble and that everything has an end.“She left a legacy that her family can be proud of. She left a legacy that her children can be proud of.“Our sister, our mother, our daughter, our friend or whatever, is one person who did ordinary things extraordinarily.”He urged Nigerians to pay attention to the legacy she left behind by the way she used the gifts she had.In politics, public and her family life, Kukah said Akunyili demonstrated that power comes from God.He said although many people profess this, they do not demonstrate it, hence the violent nature of the nation’s politics.He said believers would go to heaven not because of the extra ordinary things they do in life but the simple things they do extraordinarily, saying the deceased did ordinary things in extra ordinary manner.[punch ng]
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