Heroes Remembered

Gone But Not Forgotten, Heroes part I

STELLA ADADEVOH

Dr. Stella Ameyo Adadevoh was the Lead Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist at a private hospital in Lagos, Nigeria where she worked for 21 years. She had never seen Ebola before but was able to diagnose and contain Nigeria's first-ever Ebola patient in July 2014.

When threatened by Liberian officials who wanted the patient to be discharged to attend a conference, she resisted the pressure and said, "for the greater public good" she would not release him.

Since Nigeria's health system was not prepared for an outbreak at the time, she contracted Ebola and died alongside 3 of her colleagues. Her heroic efforts prevented a major outbreak in the most populous African country and served as the catalyst for successful government action to contain the spread of what would have been a major outbreak in a country of more than 190 million people.

As a result of her keen perception, courage, and steadfastness, all 20 Ebola cases in Nigeria were traced to a single path of transmission originating with the first (index) patient who took a flight from Monrovia, Liberia to Lagos. This is what differentiated the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria from the outbreaks in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, where the index patients were not initially diagnosed or contained.

The World Health Organization declared Nigeria Ebola-free on the 20th of October 2014.

YAKUBU FANAMI

Yakubu saw evil and definite harm clear and present yet didn?t cower but bravely stood in the way. Only about age 14 sacrificed his life to save many others, a true hero.

The Boko Haram menace has taken the lives of countless innocent Nigerians. According to an estimate published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), insurgency-related conflicts have claimed about 350,000 lives in the northeastern part of Nigeria up to the end of 2020.

The sect on December 24, 2003, carried out its first attack on police stations in Geiam and Kanamma in Yobe State, raising the flag of the Afghanistan Taliban.

Since then, the sect has proceeded to carry out numerous attacks across Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and the Niger Republic.

While carrying out their numerous gun attacks and bombings, the insurgents also used suicide bombers, targeting public-dominated places, especially worship centres.

According to reports, a female suicide bomber was heading toward the congregation on January 25, 2017 during Jummat. But the young Yakubu prevented her from gaining access to the mosque. However, the female suicide bomber detonated the explosive and bombed herself up with Yakubu. But other worshippers were saved.

Joe Blankson

Joseph Blankson had always been a strong swimmer so when the boat he was in had an accident and capsized, he didn?t think twice about jumping in the water to help rescue those who had fallen overboard.

On Saturday 28 July 2018, the boat carrying 25 passengers left Abonnema Wharf for Bakana. Blankson and his sister were traveling to Bakana for a funeral. It was raining heavily during the boat's passage and the river was full of debris. Eventually the boat capsized.

Blankson swam in and out of the river 13 times to rescue the passengers. Suffering from exhaustion, he drowned on the 14th rescue attempt. It was reported that Blankson was the only fatality in the boat accident.

A real life hero.

TO BE CONTINUED