Dada EriyeWhen information got to the League of Soft Sell Magazine Publishers that Mr. Dada Eriye, (Publisher of Bravo Weekly Magazine) had a serious domestic fire accident on the night of Saturday February 14, 2015, the League President; Mr. Dayo Asaju, (Publisher, First Weekly Magazine) called for an emergency meeting on Monday February 16th, 2015.
After the meeting the president led a delegation made up of Ejiro Roman Adigbo, (Publisher, Top Celebrities Magazine), Azu Arinze, (Publisher, YES International Magazine) and Tunde Moshood, (Publisher, Famous Enquirer Magazine) to the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital (LUTH) to see the patient. There, they met Dada Eriye’s wife and son-in-law. The wife appealed to doctors on duty to allow his colleagues see him but they insisted he was in Intensive Care Unit and cannot allow everybody to see him except one person.
The delegation asked Ejiro Roman Adigbo to see him. he came out and briefed the delegation what the doctors told him about Dada Eriye’s condition, saying that his chances of survival is 50/50 and they should go and look for money and also pray for him to survive as his case is very critical. Then, Dada was on life support machine.
Right there at LUTH the delegation decided that all hands must be on deck to save Dada Eriye’s life. The league’s president asked the delegation members to start making contacts immediately to save Dada Eriye’s life. Tunde and Azu were asked to contact some corporate bodies, Ejiro was saddled with contacting Gov. Uduaghan of Delta State, the patient’s home state. Josiah Abiola was asked to reach Gov. Fashola of Lagos State.
Tunde Moshood immediately reached Victor Adoji of Zenith Bank and Jide Sipe of GTBank, they promised to help. Ejiro got Mr. Felix Ofou, Special Assistant to Delta State Governor on phone and he quickly told his boss about Dada’s critical condition. That very Monday evening, the medical doctor turned politician, Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan was so concerned that he spoke to Dada Eriye’s wife to know her husband’s current condition and promised to do everything humanly possible to save Dada Eriye’s life.
Not done yet, the governor equally called Ejiro Roman Adigbo on Tuesday morning and instructed him to forward to him the phone number of the doctor treating Dada so that he can get first hand medical information about his condition and decide the next step of action to take. That same Tuesday, he sent money to Dada’s family to take care of his medical bills at LUTH.
When Dada died on Wednesday evening, Ejiro forwarded a text message to His Excellency about the sad event. He called Ejiro back within minutes of receiving the message and also spoke with Dada’s wife that evening consoling her about her husband’s death.
If there was one man who tried his very best to save Dada Eriye’e life, it was Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State.
In an immediate reaction, Felix Ofou, on behalf of Governor Uduaghan expressed deep regret at the turn of events and particularly commended the League of Soft Sell Magazine Publishers for uncommon display of love and solidarity.
He said: “My boss, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan deeply regrets the unfortunate turn of events. Dada, like many other soft sell publishers was very dear to him and the Delta State Government. It is very sad he has gone. But our hearts remain with his family.
“While we pray that God should grant everyone fortitude to bear this painful loss, let me also commend the league for uncommon display of love and solidarity when it mattered most”.
