Here's the Governor's statement as published by VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS, Nigeria:
“Late August or early September, last year, I am not sure again of
the dates, but it is about that time. I was privileged to be one of
those nominated by the Nigeria Governors Forum to go to Germany to
understudy their federal system. A Governor was picked from each of the
six geo-political zones. I represented the South-East and of course, we
were led by our Chairman, Rotimi Amaechi.
“On our way to Germany, I decided to go a little bit earlier, passing
through London to do my medicals because of what I will call lack of
our time. We do not have time here. So, I decided to take that
opportunity, got to London and did my medicals and was certified fit. I
was given a clean bill of health. But I had a little growth here
(pointing at the right side of his neck) that was not visible to
anybody. I am a very observant person. I noticed it, showed it to my
doctor and he touched it and said he didn’t feel it is anything serious,
that I should just try and forget it.
“So, I thought they would have seen anything if there was anything
wrong when they were doing the general scanning and screening, but
nothing was found. So, I just singled it and said, please, this
particular thing, I will like it to be investigated. I was referred to
GB who after examining me and asking me questions, because I told him,
no symptoms, no pains, no discomfort from anywhere. He said as far as he
was concerned, there was nothing wrong but as a professional advised me
to investigate it further because I was almost running out of time,
short of time.
“I made arrangements with them to help me set up appointments for
closer examination of the growth. So the next day I left for Germany to
join my colleagues. On that trip was my Commissioner for Commerce and
Industry, Dr. Jude Akubuilo and my SSA Investment. They were already in
Germany waiting for me and so, I joined them. At the end of the day,
about a week after they had set up the arrangement, I left Germany. I
left my colleagues. I told them where I was going, went back to London
and did the proper screening of that particular growth. They did
biopsies and all that. So, in the process it was discovered that it was
cancerous. The growth was cancerous.”
“Further investigation revealed that the main tumour, because this actually turned out to be the lymph node, but the main tumour was behind my nose. It actually turned out to be what they called nasopharyngeal cancer- that is cancer of the nose. At that stage when you hear cancer, you will declare yourself dead before any further examination. Then I asked them what should be done, they told me straight away that they will subject me to further screening to know if it had spread. So luckily it hadn’t spread, it is just only in those two places.
“They said the good news is that it was curable and not manageable. It was curable, that was when I became interested. And they said as soon as I was ready, they would commence treatment. Originally we had planned to go from Germany to Lebanon on our way back to Nigeria but I cancelled that trip, went back to Germany, informed my people I went with, came down to London with the Commissioner. The SSA hadn’t UK Visa then, so he traveled back to Nigeria from Germany. In London we made arrangement and agreed on when to come.
“So we came back to Nigeria and within the two weeks, I was able to make arrangements for transition. I wrote a letter to the Speaker of the House of Assembly in accordance with the constitution, informing him of my decision to proceed on leave and of course sought his cooperation to work very well with the Deputy Governor, who would work as governor in my absence. Within the two weeks, we held two exco meetings, the last was held on Tuesday, the week I left. After the EXCO meeting, I told my EXCO members that I was proceeding on long vacation which I wouldn’t know how long it would last to treat myself. That was the information they got and of course I told them to cooperate with the acting governor. The following day, I left for Abuja, which was a Wednesday and again attended the meeting of the Governors’ Forum, that night. Then Thursday morning, we had National Economic Council meeting and the Deputy Governor was there to represent me.
“Further investigation revealed that the main tumour, because this actually turned out to be the lymph node, but the main tumour was behind my nose. It actually turned out to be what they called nasopharyngeal cancer- that is cancer of the nose. At that stage when you hear cancer, you will declare yourself dead before any further examination. Then I asked them what should be done, they told me straight away that they will subject me to further screening to know if it had spread. So luckily it hadn’t spread, it is just only in those two places.
“They said the good news is that it was curable and not manageable. It was curable, that was when I became interested. And they said as soon as I was ready, they would commence treatment. Originally we had planned to go from Germany to Lebanon on our way back to Nigeria but I cancelled that trip, went back to Germany, informed my people I went with, came down to London with the Commissioner. The SSA hadn’t UK Visa then, so he traveled back to Nigeria from Germany. In London we made arrangement and agreed on when to come.
“So we came back to Nigeria and within the two weeks, I was able to make arrangements for transition. I wrote a letter to the Speaker of the House of Assembly in accordance with the constitution, informing him of my decision to proceed on leave and of course sought his cooperation to work very well with the Deputy Governor, who would work as governor in my absence. Within the two weeks, we held two exco meetings, the last was held on Tuesday, the week I left. After the EXCO meeting, I told my EXCO members that I was proceeding on long vacation which I wouldn’t know how long it would last to treat myself. That was the information they got and of course I told them to cooperate with the acting governor. The following day, I left for Abuja, which was a Wednesday and again attended the meeting of the Governors’ Forum, that night. Then Thursday morning, we had National Economic Council meeting and the Deputy Governor was there to represent me.
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