Dr. John Chike Akunyili was the husband of the late Prof. Dora Akunyili, former Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC).
Age
Dr. Chike Akunyil was in his 60’s
Dora Akunyili
He married Dora Nkem Akunyili, with whom he had six children and several grandchildren, many years ago. Ijeoma, Edozie, Somto, Njideka, Chidiogo, and Obumneme are their children.
Assassination attempt on Wife
On 26 December 2003, while Akunyili was on the way to Anambra State in Eastern Nigeria, gunmen fired on her convoy. The bullets narrowly missed her, with one of the bullets going through her headscarf and through the windscreen of the car.
Prior to the incident, she had faced constant death threats against herself, her family, and her staff. In 2014, at least 6 people were charged with conspiracy and attempted murder, but acquitted and discharged in 2014.
Career
He was a doctor. He provided financial support for his wife’s pharmacology studies. Chike Akunyili accompanied Dora to India for endometrial carcinoma treatment, a disease that tragically claimed her life in 2014 at the age of 59.
The Akunyili family won an American lottery many years ago and received a US Green Card; however, according to Chike Akunyili, officials in that country wanted to make his wife a citizen, but she “vehemently refused, insisting that nothing would ever take her permanently out of her home country.” Mr. Akunyili ran St Leo’s Hospital, one of the largest in Enugu State, until his assassination.
Education
He is reported to have graduated with honours. He is charitable.
Murder
Unknown assailants have, on Tuesday 28th September, 2021 killed Chike Akunyili, the husband to late ex-DG of NAFDAC, Dora Akunyili.
Dr. Akunyili was returning from a trip to Onitsha, where he had gone to obtain a posthumous award of excellence for his late wife, when he ran into the hoodlums at Nkpor and was shot and killed.