I’m Dying, Former NUPENG General Secretary, Frank Kokori, ‘Abandoned’ in Hospital, Cries out

Sylvester Idowu in Warri

Former General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and one of the fighters for the nation’s freedom from the claws of military rule, Chief Frank Kokori, has been hospitalised in Warri, Delta State over kidney-related ailment.
The elder statesman, who said he was already dying, has been sick for a while now, and reportedly abandoned on his hospital bed in a ‘third class’ health facility, he said, while briefing journalist

s.A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, Kokori, lamented his condition in a Save Our Soul (SOS) messages made to the general public, and government on.
He was admitted for treatment at a private hospital for kidney-related ailment but had been having a hard time paying the bills due to harsh economy.
However, addressing journalists yesterday from his hospital bed, Kokori, who had earlier made a  distressed call Wednesday night for the media to assemble for his briefing, said he would shame the leaders of the nation, when he survives the ailment.

The one-time firebrand unionist, who was a topnotch labour leader during the General Sani Abacha’s military junta, and fought for the validation of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, believed to have been won by the late Chief MKO Abiola, said life was fast ebbing out of him where he was receiving treatment.

Kokori noted that he remained a tough voice but his voice was now laden with excruciating pains because according to him, he was “dead and risen.”
Specifically, he said NUPENG has abandoned him to his own fate in the hospital, which air conditioner was switched off by the hospital management possibly owing to shortage of diesel.

The septuagenarian, who has been in the hospital for some time, complained over the idea of being abandoned in what he described as a “third class” hospital in Warri by those who should cater for his wellbeing.
He charged Journalists to mobilise media houses to help publish his story because “I have something to tell this country, please. Please, do your best. Tell the world that Kokori is dead and risen. The only man in Warri that can handle kidney problems is Horeb Hospital Warri.
“But I am facing other challenges. The Air Conditioner is not working. And AC can’t keep alive till morning. What a country! Mobilise yourselves. I have something to tell this country, please. Please, do your best.

“Tell them that I can pay any amount, but let them switch on the AC for me because I am dying. The AC went off. Please do your best. Flash it. I can come alive again but I just want the world to know that if I survive, I will shame the leaders of this country.
“Shame to them. How can Kokori be in a third class hospital. The people are trying their best because I know it’s diesel issue. The AC is off. Two of my foster children are here with me. I’ve sent one to meet the hospital management that they should do everything that the AC is switched on, that when I’m out, I will pay. That I’m dying.

“I’ve called on NUPENG that this is what they’ve done to their leaders. That NUPENG could not even take care of me. It’s sad. God bless everybody,” he said.