AMEYO STELLA ADADEVOH: TRIBUTE TO THE IRON DAME I love women. This is not a confession; it is a statement of fact. When you are born of a woman and wedged comfortably in the middle of six women, it can’t be otherwise. It’s even made more interesting when the women are as beautiful as my sisters, and my mother, and my grandmother, and… Brains: that’s another trigger. When I encounter women with the smarts, I simply keel over. It’s not as if I try not to. I’ve just never succeeded. Quite a few among my friends and family think I should have become a doctor – a physician, that is. Since I’m not one, the next best thing I’m pledged to do is to love and support them any way I can. So, yes, there is a special place in my heart for the doctor. Now you know why I couldn’t help but fall for Doctor Ameyo Stella Shade Adadevoh: beautiful and brainy. And she was additionally endowed with something most crave but pitiably lack: bravery – quiet, unobtrusive bravery. That a certain Liberian-American named Patrick Sawyer landed on our shores laden with the deadly Ebola virus is already a part of our convoluted odyssey. The matter of why he came to Nigeria – of all places – is better left for conspiracy wonks and medical historians to unravel. When Sawyer staggered into First Consultants Medical Centre Obalende Lagos where she held sway, he inexplicably disavowed any possibility of having the virus. As head of a team of committed professionals (doctors, nurses, attendants etc.), she employed the best of her professional skills to care for Sawyer until what is now his fatal lie came to light. By her training and experience, she would have been reasonably certain at that point of having contracted the virus. And she would have been perfectly justified if at that juncture, she withdrew to save her own life. If she had acceded to the enormous pressure mounted by the Liberian authorities to discharge Sawyer, it would have been an acceptable act of self-preservation: like killing two birds with a borrowed stone. She stood her ground and insisted Sawyer was going nowhere: fully conversant with the far-reaching implications of her position. He may not have patterned his living according to her pleasure but she was going to insist he did his recovering or dying on her terms. And that singular decision may well be the critical turning point in our bid to arrest the rampaging scourge of the Ebola Virus Disease. Had she caved in to pressure and allowed Sawyer to go, I probably wouldn’t be here pretending to be a wordsmith. Nigerians are among the most sympathetic you can find anywhere but the day Patrick Sawyer died, no one shed a tear. Yet we could neither relax nor rejoice because the demon of death that drove him here was still hovering around seeking whom to devour. After consuming the man, Jatto Asihu Abdulqudir who had enabled his movement from the airport to FCMC, it then went after those that were battling to save his life. Nurse Justina Ejelonu and her colleague were to follow in close succession and by this time, palpable fear and panic had gripped the nation even as Dr Adadevoh’s life hung in a delicate balance. We had prayed and wept so much for her recovery that when the news finally filtered in that we had lost her, our tear glands had emptied. And maybe we shouldn’t be crying but celebrating a most remarkable life. The great granddaughter of the avatar of progressive nationalism, Herbert Macauley, and the daughter of the brilliant and flamboyant Babatunde Kwaku Adadevoh shouldn’t be humble. But we know this girl carried no airs: preferring to waive the certain privileges her genealogy could have afforded her. Most people choose a profession because of what it can offer them in terms of prestige, recognition and remuneration. They plead affirmative action to get ahead of the competition. Collective bargaining: the pillar of labour unionism is currently the most effective tool for extracting privileges and entitlements. Once in a blue moon though, someone turns up in the mould of Ameyo who gives to her gender, to her profession and to her nation so much more than they can ever give her. Sacrifice: yes, that’s what the English call it. Many a Stella has showed up on the national dais but this is one Stella whose stellar performance outshines them all. And maybe – just maybe – her heroic intervention will mark a watershed in our determined bid to heal our troubled health sector. And why do I have this nagging, persistent hunch that it will be up to a woman to clear the mess we men have made of Nigeria? I often fantasize about how I’d love to be remembered when I’m gone. Here’s the recently updated summary. It should be said that I was a wall, an impregnable levee that halted the deluge of evil. That when the destinies of legions depended on me, I did not fail. Like Ameyo Stella Adadevoh. Israel employs a very effective anti-missile defence system known as Iron Dome that has literarily saved the lives of thousands. Stella has since become our own Iron Dame; and death has only enhanced her qualification. The government plans fitting honour for her and her colleagues and that is as it should be, but the greatest tribute we can pay her blessed memory is to ensure our living counts for something. That way, our dying will highly likely count for a little more. OLUGU OLUGU ORJI mnia nnanta2012@gmail oluguorji.wordpress
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 09:17:20 +0000