'I Had Nose Cancer'...Governor Sullivan Chime

 See what the governor said recently:

“I have been completely cured and declared cancer free by the doctors,”

“When I read in some newspapers how I died in India, we then turned Nigerian newspapers to entertainment forum. We read what they wrote about me and laughed. It became an amusement kind of thing.”

“I thank the Enugu people for their prayers, patience and for  rebuffing those from outside who came to deceive them and cause confusion while I was away”.

 “I have fully resumed. There is no doubt about that. I’m back and I’m back. No regrets whatsoever for going for treatment while on vacation. If I have the opportunity again, I will do it.”

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“But I decided to call this (media briefing) may be to clear the air in the interest of our people because I noticed that that generated a lot of interest. 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. I hope your tapes are on.

“Well, in August or thereabout, late August or early September, 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 Southeast 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 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 a 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.

“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.

“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 call 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.”