[ 2014-06-08 ]

National Confab: Yet Another Delegate Is Gone
The National Conference sitting in Abuja, on
Saturday June 7, 2014, received yet another sad
news of the demise of a delegate, Professor Dora
Akunyili. Professor Akunyili's death brings to
three the number of such incidents recorded in the
life of the Conference, inaugurated on March 17,
2014. According to a family source, she died in
the early hours of Saturday, June 7, 2014.

Professor Akunyili's death was preceded by that of
Barrister Hamma Misau (a delegate on the platform
of the Retired Police officers), from Bauchi
State, on Thursday, March 27, 2014; and Dr
Mohammed Jumare (A delegate from Kaduna State) who
died on Monday May 5, 2014.

Chairman of Conference and former Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi expressed sadness at
the demise of one of Nigeria's finest
administrators and, on behalf of the principal
officers and delegates to the Conference,
expressed his condolences to the family of the
deceased.

The Senior Special Adviser to the President on
Research and Documentation, Mr Oronto Douglas
shared his grief with the Conference and described
the late Professor Akunyili as 'a most amazing
patriot who dedicated her life in defense of our
country'.

Professor Akunyili was born in Makurdi in Benue
State on July 17, 1954. She was the former
Director General of National Agency for Food and
Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and later
Minister of Information and Communications. She
was a pharmacist and an astute administrator who
gained international recognition and won hundreds
of awards for her work in pharmacology, public
health and human rights.

She eventually ventured into partisan politics and
ran for election as Senator for Anambra Central on
the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in 2011,
but lost. Her last official assignment was at the
National Conference where she was a delegate
representing Anambra State. She died in an Indian
hospital in the early hour of today, after a
battle with cancer.

Signed

AKPANDEM JAMES
ASSISTANT SECRETARY, MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS
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Source - James Akpandem

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