Obumnaeme Akunyili, the son of Dr. Dora Akunyili and Dr. Chike Akunyili, has revealed that he learned of his father's death via watching a Facebook video of him dying.
Obumnaeme, the Director General of the Anambra State Project Monitoring and Management Office, spoke about his father, who was killed in cold blood on the streets of Anambra and left to die a protracted, painful death during an interview with Chude Jidonwo.
Dr. Chike Akunyili was on his way to Anambra State to accept an award in memory of his late wife when he was shot in the face and left to die while onlookers recorded him.
During the conversation, Obunaeme revealed that he was with his father on that fateful day, just before he was killed.
When host Chude inquired how he was coping with the death of his father, he said: "It's still bothering me. That day, I was with my father. We attended the event as a group...
"We returned home, and I took the Onitsha road, where I saw him go this way, and then I started receiving reports that my cousin had been shot...
"By watching a video of my father dying on the floor on Facebook, I learned that he had died.
"That's how I found out my father had died: on Facebook. And this was a man who was bigger than life. And just watching him struggle to breathe as everyone is filming it..."
He lamented the fact that no one ran to soothe his dying father; instead, they stood there and watched him bleed from a huge hole in his face.
He stated, " "I believe the hospital that could have rescued him was not present, but the thought that others are attempting to save you might motivate you to hold on. Nobody bothered to try."
He bemoaned the lack of empathy displayed by witnesses who interrogated his father's injured driver rather than providing him with a keke (tricycle) to transport him to the hospital, as he had requested.
"I haven't recovered," he said, adding, "I haven't recovered from it." "I'm not sure how we can make that normal. How that's our new reality, how you might be killed while driving.
In the video below, you can hear him speak...