Thread by @mkmailng

Today we remember Dora Akunyili, the anti-fake drugs crusader whose headgear saved from assassins’ bullets.
Akunyili was Chairman of #NAFDAC,where her dogged fight against fake and counterfeit drugs won her as much enemies than admirers

Tinibu MC Oluomo #APCPresidentialPrimaries

In 1998, Akunyili, working with the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) then headed by Muhammadu Buhari, took ill and was told she required surgery. She got ready to travel to the United States for treatment and the PTF provided her $5000 for tests and $12,000 for the surgery.

But in the US where she was to undergo the surgery, it was erroneously decided that she would not need to go under the knife after all. So Akunyili returned the $12,000 to the PTF (It would be discovered years later,

however, that the second test result was wrong and that she indeed had cancer).
On learning that she returned the excess money when she could have easily diverted it, Buhari wrote a letter of commendation to Akunyili for her honesty and sincerity.

So when #Obasanjo wanted to appoint a #NAFDAC DG, and was looking for a trustworthy, straightforward Nigerian, Akunyili’s name naturally popped up.