In commemoration of the third anniversary of his father?s demise, Mr. Obumneme Akunyili, the Director of Project Monitoring in Anambra State and the last son of late Prof. Dora and Dr. Chike Akunyili has said that the death of his father affected his life, because he was their anchor since the demise of their mother.

Obumneme in a statement said: ?My father was who I relied on a lot. My father was a library of knowledge that all the children relied on. So, when he died I had to grow up some more to take over the family and protect the family?s interests. There was a contribution from my brother?s blessing to my father?s burial. It hasn?t been easy but there has been improvement, growth and we are now more careful when travelling.?

?Receiving the news on facebook when it happened was devastating one. We went to an event together where I took one road and he took the other. I was at home when I heard my cousin had been shot, I thought it was a case of kidnapping so I started looking for clues until I heard three people were shot at Nkpor. I quickly searched facebook and saw some clips when I saw my father had died. It was very hurtful.?

?My father ran the hospital on personal finances and became a people?s knight because of his dedication to them and for the past thirty something years, my father went to a big seminary every Sunday to treat the Seminarians and priests completely free which was a personal sacrifice he made to God. He also had an extremely special relationship with the church and charity was a huge part of that.?

He said: ?I see someone who lived a life of service, someone that wasn?t known at the national stage as my mother but he lived a life that Nigerians need to emulate that even if you are not a minister, you live a life that is memorable. Every single life touched, everybody whose lives were touched talks so greatly of him. He had the charm and personality and kindness of heart that was well spoken of. A good name is better than gold and that was what he left for us.?

?My father was a very strong disciplinarian growing up, but my brother had a surgery in America. My father took leave of absence from work for six months and came to America. He slept on the floor, cooked for us, took care of my brother and I, making sure we were alright because my mother wasn?t around and he just showed the soft fatherly side of himself.?

He also described his father as a man who could make people laugh. ?He had a command of language and words ? both Igbo and English. He was a speaker who could captivate the crowd and the way he threw out idioms in Igbo language, there is this wealth of local knowledge that he got from his own father who got it from his great-grandfather, yes, I got some of that but most of it is gone forever. We lost a great hero.

?My father would always be remembered as a man who commanded respect wherever he went. He automatically took the leadership role both in our family and the extended family. He was a disciplined, brilliant, kind man.

?Honestly, for the last two years now, we the children have been single-handedly sponsoring medical outreach for the downtrodden. But, the financial situation of the country is difficult at the moment. The hospital is trying to restructure and expand the outreach for it to grow forward. So, doing that this year is not feasible, but we are pushing to make it a yearly occurrence outreach to humanity because that is what our late father and mother stood for;? Obumneme said. (THISDAY)

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