My cancer story – Chime
February 13, 2013
By Tony Edike
ENUGU—Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, Monday night, told the story of what led to his long vacation that sparked off controversy, saying he was actually hit by cancer of the nose, which treatment and healing period lasted for four and a half months.

Describing his critics and their vituperations as unfair, Chime said
he believed he was not under any obligation to tell the public about his
ailment before he travelled and even while undergoing treatment as,
according to him, he was free to do anything personal during his
vacation more so when he had duly handed over governance to his deputy,
Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi and could stay outside for as long as he wanted.
He declared that having been successfully treated of cancer, which he
first noticed through a growth on the right side of his neck in August
last year, he was now fit to pilot the affairs of the state and
commended his deputy and other functionaries for effectively sustaining
the activities of the government in his absence.
Chime, however, did not spare the Nigerian media especially the print
on their reportage of his ailment, saying most of the publications
about him were false, embarrassing and entertaining. He said it was
most unfair for anybody to claim that he died in India when in actual
fact he never travelled to India throughout his stay overseas.
The governor declared that he had no apologies for what he did as,
according to him, he would do same in future if the opportunity calls.
My Story
He said: “Let me say first and foremost that it is heartwarming to be
in your midst today after exactly four and a half months outside the
country.
I decided to call this meeting for us to have the opportunity to
clarify a few issues because while I was away, I read so many
embarrassing publications from the print media. Most of them
conflicting, almost all of them false and it was so embarrassing not to
my person, personally, but for those of you who know me, such things
don’t embarrass me, I am not interested, you can write anything provided
it doesn’t bother on defamation.
“But I decided to call this (media briefing) may be to clear the air
for the interest of our people because I noticed that it generated a lot
of interests. So many people became interested.
People who did not know of my existence; when I came back I got all
sorts of text messages from strange people thanking God for my return.
Because of the interest it generated, I felt there is need for us to
come together in the hope that after today we will put to rest
everything that bothers on rumour and falsehood regarding my leave.
“I don’t know whether I should just tell a smooth story of how I
proceeded on leave before the barrage of publications started coming or I
should go ahead and attempt to address some of the issues that I felt
should be addressed in the sense that some bothered on
constitutionality, others bothered on morality and so many things. I
think I will go for the first one – let me tell the story of what
actually happened. ”
How it all started
Chime Continued: “Late August or early September, last year, I am not
sure again of the dates, but it is about that time. I was privileged to
be one of those nominated by the Nigeria Governors Forum to go to
Germany to understudy their federal system. A Governor was picked from
each of the six geo-political zones. I represented the South-East and of
course, we were led by our Chairman, Rotimi Amaechi.
“On our way to Germany, I decided to go a little bit earlier, passing
through London to do my medicals because of what I will call lack of
our time. We do not have time here. So, I decided to take that
opportunity, got to London and did my medicals and was certified fit. I
was given a clean bill of health. But I had a little growth here
(pointing at the right side of his neck) that was not visible to
anybody. I am a very observant person. I noticed it, showed it to my
doctor and he touched it and said he didn’t feel it is anything serious,
that I should just try and forget it.
“So, I thought they would have seen anything if there was anything
wrong when they were doing the general scanning and screening, but
nothing was found. So, I just singled it and said, please, this
particular thing, I will like it to be investigated. I was referred to
GB who after examining me and asking me questions, because I told him,
no symptoms, no pains, no discomfort from anywhere. He said as far as he
was concerned, there was nothing wrong but as a professional advised me
to investigate it further because I was almost running out of time,
short of time.

File:
Enugu State Governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime flanked by some members of the
Governor’s forum; Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue state, Governor
Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state (left) and Gov. Rotimi Amaechi of
Rivers State in London, recently.
“I made arrangements with them to help me set up appointments for
closer examination of the growth. So the next day I left for Germany to
join my colleagues. On that trip was my Commissioner for Commerce and
Industry, Dr. Jude Akubuilo and my SSA Investment. They were already in
Germany waiting for me and so, I joined them. At the end of the day,
about a week after they had set up the arrangement, I left Germany. I
left my colleagues. I told them where I was going, went back to London
and did the proper screening of that particular growth. They did
biopsies and all that. So, in the process it was discovered that it was
cancerous. The growth was cancerous.”
Diagnostic result showed Cancer of the Nose
“Further investigation revealed that the main tumour, because this
actually turned out to be the lymph node, but the main tumour was behind
my nose. It actually turned out to be what they called nasopharyngeal
cancer- that is cancer of the nose. At that stage when you hear cancer,
you will declare yourself dead before any further examination. Then I
asked them what should be done, they told me straight away that they
will subject me to further screening to know if it had spread. So
luckily it hadn’t spread, it is just only in those two places.
“They said the good news is that it was curable and not manageable.
It was curable, that was when I became interested. And they said as
soon as I was ready, they would commence treatment. Originally we had
planned to go from Germany to Lebanon on our way back to Nigeria but I
cancelled that trip, went back to Germany, informed my people I went
with, came down to London with the Commissioner. The SSA hadn’t UK Visa
then, so he traveled back to Nigeria from Germany. In London we made
arrangement and agreed on when to come.
I wrote a letter to Speaker of House of Assembly
“So we came back to Nigeria and within the two weeks, I was able to
make arrangements for transition. I wrote a letter to the Speaker of the
House of Assembly in accordance with the constitution, informing him of
my decision to proceed on leave and of course sought his cooperation to
work very well with the Deputy Governor, who would work as governor in
my absence. Within the two weeks, we held two exco meetings, the last
was held on Tuesday, the week I left. After the EXCO meeting, I told my
EXCO members that I was proceeding on long vacation which I wouldn’t
know how long it would last to treat myself. That was the information
they got and of course I told them to cooperate with the acting
governor. The following day, I left for Abuja, which was a Wednesday and
again attended the meeting of the Governors’ Forum, that night. Then
Thursday morning, we had National Economic Council meeting and the
Deputy Governor was there to represent me.
I went back to London to commence treatment
“I got to London and settled in and the following day Friday went to
see the Oncologist who had already made arrangements for treatments to
begin and on Monday, I started treatment. I don’t think any of you has
had an experience. Cancer is a deadly disease and the cure is also
deadly, the cure for cancer is not Panadol, the cure for cancer is not
these drugs you buy off the counter. By the time you go through
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy, you will be a changed person. So I
started treatment, the treatment altogether lasted for 12 weeks,
throughout the period of my treatment, I was an outpatient. I was never
admitted in any hospital, all my treatments, I took as an outpatient.
During the period of treatment, I personally had challenges with the
treatment because like I said, except you see somebody that has taken
that kind of treatment, it is not easy to imagine.
I read my obituary in the papers
“So when I started reading in the papers, how I went to India, how I
died at so, so place, to us it was a kind of entertainment. Anytime we
felt like being entertained, we call up the Nigerian papers online and
we will be laughing. So it was a lot of entertainment to us but what
became worrisome was the deliberate and sustained attempt to undermine
the government of Enugu State. Over the years, if you people have been
following events especially when we addressed our people, yes, we have
invested a lot of money in infrastructure and other spheres of life but I
have always said that one thing we would like to leave behind is a
workable system, that had always been topmost on our agenda because when
we came in, yes, I was part of the last administration but
unfortunately when we came in there was no system in place, not even a
bad one. So we felt there was this need to have a system in place
because that is the only way you can encourage continuity because in
this place, a governor comes and he will want to chart his own course.
But if you have a system in place, if a governor comes in, he will build
on what is on ground.
The system made governance work in my absence
“This was a kind of opportunity to put to test the system we have put
in place. Everything kept on happening as if the governor was not on
leave, nobody talked about strike, nobody talked about nonpayment of
salaries, no contractor agitated over payment of fees, everything and
life continued to be normal.

GOV. SULLIVAN CHIME OF ENUGU STATE (R) WITH HIS DEPUTY, MR
SUNDAY ONYEBUCHI (L) ON HIS RETURN TO ENUGU AFTER OVER 4 MONTHS
OF ABSENCE ON FRIDAY
SUNDAY ONYEBUCHI (L) ON HIS RETURN TO ENUGU AFTER OVER 4 MONTHS
OF ABSENCE ON FRIDAY
It was like we had increased activities in my absence and I can say
that I can beat my chest to thank the Deputy Governor who led the team
and who ensured that the system worked in my absence. I am happy that we
have almost attained that height and when we will be leaving in a few
years time, we will be glad we have built a system and it is a good
thing to notice that we didn’t have problems in spite of all attempts
made by our brothers and sisters to undermine us. The government of
Enugu state has come to stay, the system put by us has come to stay.
My treatment ended officially on December 10, 2012
“The treatment officially ended on 10th of December and of course
when treatment ends, that is when the real thing starts. When I had
commenced treatment, what my doctors said was that I should stay off
office for six months, that was their recommendation, but by first week
of January when we went to review my state, they were shocked at the
recovery rate, they were happy with the recovery, the scan they did
showed that the tumour and nose fluid had disappeared completely, not
even a scar was left behind.
I was declared cancer-free
“And I won’t like to use the expression that they have declared me
cancer free, but that was exactly what happened. Cancer is cancer and
one will be required to go there from time to time for check up to make
sure it does not raise its ugly head again. But as things are now, they
have succeeded in curing that disease that was detected in
September last year.
September last year.
Attacks on my staff
“Coming to my staff, all attacks on them that they were hoarding
information and all that was an unfair attack. First and foremost, they
didn’t have all the information, all they knew was that I was going on
vacation and I didn’t know it was the business of people to know what my
activities will be when I am going on vacation. So I decided to use the
period of my vacation to take care of myself I don’t see how it should
concern anybody, I don’t see why we should owe anybody any apologies.
The important thing is complying with the law, making sure that as
governor of the state, you ensured that the ship of governance remained
on course and not abandoning your people. So, all those unfair attacks I
found a little bit mischievious, and actually exposed ignorance of some
of our people. I was officially discharged [not on admission] and I am
still in the process of recovering, you won’t expect to see me tomorrow
running but I am fitter now to resume duties, I am fit enough to ensure
that government is on course with the assistance of my co-pilots.
After addressing the newsmen, Chime called for questions:
Asked why he didn’t speak the day he came back and whether it was
deliberate or part of the strategy, he said: “If you were at the airport
you would not have asked the question. When the aircraft stopped,
looking out through the window, I saw the acting governor with his wife,
I saw our own local service chiefs, the commander Garrison, the police
commissioner and all that. Everything looked orderly, immediately I
alighted from the plane, those people disappeared. I had to stop that I
won’t move an inch here until I see the acting governor and they made
way for him, every where was chaotic. That was how I saw him. So you
expected me in that madness to start addressing press? Of course I
entered my car and we came here and relaxed. There is no urgency. I am
just doing this in the interest of people who have been misled. There
was no opportunity to address the press.”
Source: Vanguard
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