Pat Stevens/
Renowned economist and founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi, has opened up on his struggles with cancer.
In a series of tweets today, Utomi disclosed that he was diagnosed with cancer in 2022 after a biopsy.
Biopsy is a procedure to remove a piece of tissue or a sample of cells from the body for testing to detect cancer.
Speaking about his struggles, Utomi said in the buildup to the 2023 elections, he occasionally visited a cancer centre in Ikeja after campaigns.
“When a biopsy showed I was positive last year I began treatment with a cancer Centre with a branch in Ikeja and VI. I sometimes came from election campaigns to the Ikeja Centre near the Airport. The Doctors would try to smuggle me out from the back. The well known shielded?”
The 67-year-old politician added that whenever he talks about his struggles with cancer, it dawned on him that many people of his age bracket are also battling the same ailment.
“Did not see why it was taboo to say you were in a battle with Cancer. The more I talked about it the more I found many of my age in similar circumstances,” he wrote on Twitter (now known as X).
“It almost seems like an epidemic for Nigerian men over 60. Not talking makes them lose the benefit of early detection.
“Once elections were over, my young nephews and cousins, Doctors in Europe and the US joined forces with the Lakeshore people and decided they wanted me in their direct care.
“That’s how it seemed. I went quiet cause they controlled my phones to reduce stress.”
Utomi is one of the chieftains of the Labour Party (LP). He played a key role in the party’s 2023 presidential campaigns.
In 2022, he stepped down his presidential ambition for Peter Obi, eventual standard-bearer of the LP.
Utomi has been in the public eye since the late ’70s when he was appointed special assistant to then President Shehu Shagari.
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