A flashback video has showed the late Dr. Chike Akunyil counting money to give to the aged plantain seller, who in turn, prayed for him in Igbo dialect.
He was the husband of the late director-general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, and later Minister of Information, Professor Dora Akunyili.
It was gathered that unknown gunmen had opened fire in the usually busy area at a time Akunyili was returning home to Enugu after receiving a posthumous award by the University of Nigeria Alumni Association on behalf of his late wife at the All Saints Cathedral, Onitsha and he, his driver and police orderly were caught up in the shooting
Akunyili left immediately after receiving his wife’s award and was seen off by his son, Obum who also attended the ceremony. They took the old Onitsha –Enugu road only to meet their death at Nkpor Those at the vicinity said the gunmen were probably attracted to his vehicle by the policeman sitting in front of the car and then opened fire on the occupants.
According to the eyewitnesses, it was possible that the gunmen did not know the identity of Dr Akunyili at the time he was shot. They also said that the gunmen cut off the heads of three of their victims, before speeding off in a waiting vehicle.
As family and friends continue to mourn the late Dr. Chike Akunyili, a video of the deceased buying out a plantain seller’s entire stock has surfaced online.
The daughter of the slain medical doctor, Chidiogo Akunyili-Parr, who shared the video on Instagram, described her father as a selfless person.
Sharing the video, she wrote;
“The load of our grief is lessened by videos such as this. The story goes that on his way home, he saw an old woman with a heavy wheelbarrow full of plantains. He continued home, got the needed cash and came back to where she was, and proceeded to buy all her plantains.
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He counts out the money to the soundtrack of her cries of joy and blessing as she dances away. “Nothing is as good as giving joy,” he adds, a happy smile on is face.
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Thank you all for your condolence messages in this time of immense mourning. Our joy is to know that we do not grieve alone, and our hope continues to be that his death not be in vain.”
Watch the video below;
