BY ENYERIBE EJIOGU

In the wake of the sudden death of the All Progressives Con­gress candidate in the Kogi governorship elec­tion, Prince Abubakar Audu, who slumped and died last Sunday after voting in the poll held the previous day, specula­tions have continued to swirl as to the probable cause of death.

Although no autopsy was conducted on the late politi­cian to ascertain the definitive cause of death, former secre­tary of the Nigeria Medical Association, Lagos chapter and medical director of Day­spring Hospital, Ikotun, Dr. Kayode Adebayo, who spoke with Sunday Sun opined that the death of Prince Audu may have been caused by heart attack, given the very hectic nature of the frenetic campaign he undertook in his quest to return to Lugard House, the official residence of Kogi governors.

Noting that candidates for elective office often become so absorbed with their political quest and ignore their health, Adebayo said that stress could trigger heart attack.

“Imagine someone who has an existing health condi­tion, it could be aggravated by stress. The blood pressure could jump up under a stress­ful situation,” he said and al­luded to what United States President Barack Obama was once quoted as saying during his campaign for the White House.

Back then, Obama, while interacting with voters in a US city, quipped: “I have been talking, going round for 72 hours, without stopping, with­out sleep.”

“A politician who is seeking elective office, will throw everything into it. He might even bet his life on the quest. Such politicians will not sleep and they will not eat. The person may even have an underlying problem which has not been discov­ered or may not be properly managed or even ignored because the pace of the cam­paign may not allow the per­son to take out time to see the doctor,” Adebayo said.

As a Sunday Sun corre­spondent who spoke with one of the sons of the late Prince Audu gathered, the Kogi po­litical Colossus was said to have had ulcer and went with­out food for long hours as he traversed the state in his cam­paigns. He was even said to hold meetings that ran late into the night and go to bed around 3am and still get up about 5 or 7am to start off another round of campaigns.

When this picture was painted for Adebayo and prodded to offer a medi­cal opinion on the probable impact on a person with a known case of ulcer, he said: “Evidently, he did not get enough sleep. Stress will ag­gravate ulcer. This could also raise the blood pressure and affect the heart.”

Also, a consultant and public health physician at the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, Abia State, Dr. Andrew Ukegbu, who spoke with Sunday Sun on the phone, essentially agreed with the views of Adebayo, and said that given the age of the late politician who died at 68, it could not be ruled out that he must have had under­lying heart condition which campaign stress may have made worse.

“It is common knowledge that as people advance in age, the blood vessels tend to harden. Plaque may also build up in the blood vessels, narrowing the lumen. This and other factors could lead the person to develop hyper­tension. For a person engaged in a stressful activity such as hectic political campaign, particularly if the person does not get adequate sleep, the blood pressure would go up and if it is not proper­ly controlled it would have negative impact on the heart. Without definite information on the medical history of the late politician it is very diffi­cult to say conclusively what caused his death. But from what we know, heart attack and stroke are two known causes of sudden death of the nature reported in the media. The real cause of death could only have been defined con­clusively through an autop­sy, which I understand was not done, given the religious background of the person in­volved.”

On what lessons peo­ple should learn from this, Adebayo said: “Every ac­tive adult must have a regu­lar comprehensive medical check at least once a year. But if the person is hyper­tensive or diabetic, then he must do it more regularly. To encourage Nigerians to regularly go for medical check up, I want to call on the new Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, to push for inclusion of medical check up as one of the benefits of the national health insurance scheme. At present, medical check-up is not covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Amend­ment of the HNIS Act is long overdue.”

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/cause-of-audus-death-he-probably-suffered-heart-attack-caused-by-campaign-stress-doctors/

Hmmm. for Nigeria? It has to be juju o.. or God. Be there talking english.

We all know naa.
No need for autopsy sef.


[s] na only GOD fit kill somebody whose two daughters survived a plane crash, no poison fit kill am. I BOW for Kogites.[/s]

This is stale already.

He is dead and gone, never to return forever.

We need to face the problem on ground and leave the dead with the worms to take care off.

Caused by campaign stress or the tea he drank?

Yeye doctor that has concluded on what killed Audu without an autopsy.

You go fear Nigerian doctors!

Only in Nigeria will someone who has cancer will be diagnosed for malaria.

Beremx:
Yeye doctor that has concluded on what killed Audu without an autopsy.

You go fear Nigerian doctors!

Only in Nigeria will someone who has cancer will be diagnosed for malaria.

Lol.Everybody wants to be relevant in Audu's death.Lawyers don do their own,now it's Doctor's turn.

Yorubas killed Audu just to make Falake the governor.
Spare us all these jargons.