THE untimely passing on of Professor Dora Akunyili is a blow, an unrelieved catastrophe. Her killer, conveniently said to be “cancer” for want of an appropriate medical name, reduced the beautiful, well-built lady to a literal skeleton, a cadaverous frame, before finally snuffing the life out of her. And the woman of unsurpassed honour, courage and integrity gallantly yielded up the ghost, in the prime of her life. And she died in India, one of the greatest exporters of the fake drugs that she waged a relentless battle against!
Prof. Dora Akunyili’s radiating friendship, coupled with the wealth of her richly-stored mind, equipped by nature, long training and uncommon courage, enabled her to deal squarely and logically with some of the most profound and abstruse questions of life. She was the very quintessence of honesty: Unlike phantom pictures of friendship which iniquitous men and women foist on undiscerning others, Dora Akunyili was an instant reality that one’s whole being immediately recognized, and the radiance of fellowship that pervaded her actions, thought- and behavioural-pattern held all the essence of long companionship.  The lucidity of her utterances, her steely and incorruptible force of character and gentle humanity were Dora Akunyili’s distinctive characteristics. Yet, cancer killed her, in the prime of her life!
Prof. Dora Nkem Akunyili began her 59-year-life’s pilgrimage as a prodigy, a gifted, precocious child, always on top of her classes, winning prizes, whether at the primary, secondary or tertiary level and scoring firsts and distinctions all the way. She was a holder of a genuine, thesis-backed, doctorate degree in Philosophy (PhD), which she acquired, magnum cum laude, from the reputable University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).  She was a university lecturer and a public-spirited public servant per excellence. In the Foreword to her seminal autobiographical book, “The War Against Counterfeit Medicine: My Story” (2010), Francis Gurry, Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), has this to say of Dora Akunyili: “When Prof. Akunyili took up her post as head of NAFDAC, no hospital, clinic or pharmacy in the country could be certain that the drugs they dispensed were genuine….” adding that “Dora Akunyili’s achievements as Director General of NAFDAC are an inspiration to everyone, in every country, who is involved in countering the proliferation of fake food and drugs….”
Dora Akunyili’s unassuming superiority, her unaffected humanity, her keen sense of honour, her wit and humour, her inimitable generosity and unimpeachable character marked her out as a consummate lady, a title that is won by very decent members of the fair sex, and not just a woman, the generic name for anyone with female biological gadgets! Dora was as much a rara avis, a rare bird, as she was a kindly philosopher and a true friend of the people. The spirit of benign friendliness illuminated her public life. Her sincerity was beyond question and her devotion to truth was a nonesuch. She epitomized guilelessness, and her reverence for human life was nonpareil. For good measure, Dora was a philanthropist extraordinaire.  The other day, when I was infected with an itch to travel to the Holy Land of Israel to visit the holy places which our Lord Jesus Christ traversed, Prof. Dora Akunyili gleefully offered to defray all my expenses, including air fares, to and fro, accommodation and local transportation expenses in Israel. I was away for fourteen days on end! That I am Urhobo, from Kokori-Inland in Delta State and that she was Igbo from Nanka in Anambra State meant nothing to her. She called me “Brother Chris” familiarly as though we were biological relations!
A pharmacist of repute and an international pharmacologist of transcendent genius, Prof. Dora Akunyili exhibited unexampled courage, in 2010, when invertebrate animals, men and women of straw, pressed the panic button and betrayed the cloven hoof. That was when the late President Umar Yar’Adua was permanently invalided and when some brazen-faced rascals brazenly foisted governance by proxy on the helpless populace: Section 144 (1) (a) of the Constitution stipulates that
“The President or Vice-President shall cease to hold office if-
(a)   by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all the members of the executive council of the Federation it is declared that the President or Vice-President is incapable of discharging the functions of this office; and
(b)   the declaration is verified, after such medical report as may be necessary, by a medical panel established under subsection (4) of this section in its report to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“(2) Where the medical panel certifies in the report that in its opinion the President or Vice-President is suffering from such infirmity of body or mind as renders him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office, a notice thereof signed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be published in the Official Gazette of the Government of the Federation.
“(3)   The President or Vice-President shall cease to hold office as from the date of publication of the notice of the medical report pursuant to subsection (2) of this section…”
Even though it was as clear as crystal to all and sundry that President Yar’Adua had been afflicted with “such infirmity of body and mind as rendered him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office”, it was only the indomitable Prof. Dora Akunyili, of the forty-four-member executive council, who was ready to pass a resolution mentioned in section 144 (1) (a) (b) (2) (3) supra. It was her fervid, even if, unsuccessful, effort to force her horsy colleagues to drink the water of constitutionality that issued forth in the therapeutic, even if, phony, doctrine of necessity (see my new book, “The Way It Is”, Vol. 2) that brought Vice-President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to power as Acting President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation, in February, 2010. The unalloyed patriotism of this lady of unsullied character and her invaluable contributions to the Nigerian nation-space, which she made phrenetic efforts to rebrand, must compel Anambra State, from which she hailed, and the Federal Government, which she served meritoriously, to immortalize her.
Adieu, Prof. Dora Nkem Akunyili, a lady who shunned chafing particularism in favour of fervid nationalism, an unsurpassable patriot, a distinguished altruist, an extraordinary philanthropist, an uncommon lady, endowed with Spartan self-discipline and savoir faire, the adorable wife of Dr. Chike Akunyili, a philoprogenitive mother of six, a lady of letters, a versatile pharmacist and an international pharmacologist, a public-spirited public servant and an incomparable Amazon. Adieu.

Adieu, Dora Akunyili