Actress Ejiro Okuramen Recounts Her Last Moment With Late Muna Obiekwe

Friends and colleagues of late actor Muna Obiekwe are still still speaking up on his untimely  death.Muna Obiekwe whose demise on Sunday January 26 shook the industry.

Recounting her last encounter with the late Obiekwe, Ejiro Okuramen, his close friend and colleague, narrated how she struggled to save his life.

“I received a call from Muna that he was being taken to the hospital and they rejected him because he didn’t have card and money on him. So, I told him to go straight to my family doctor in FESTAC. 

I called my doctor immediately that he should admit the young man coming to meet him, and he should not take any money from him. He went there with his wife. My doctor admitted him, checked his blood pressure (BP) and found out that it was 280/160. He exclaimed that that was crazy and high. Two days later, I received an emergency call from my doctor, he usually calls me ‘Nurse Theresa’, the character I play in Clinic Matters, but on this particular day he called me by my really name to show the urgency of why he needed my attention. I asked him what the problem was, if it was about money but he insisted I should come to the hospital. 

I had to call my sister-in-law to accompany me there, my father was down as well but we had to leave him at home and rush down to the hospital. When we got there, the doctor told us that he noticed Muna was not passing urine. He said he had studied him for the past 24 hours and he did not use the bathroom for like three or four times. He had to fix a catheter on him and it was after he fixed it that Muna passed urine; that was when he sent for me. 

The urine he passed was not up to the smallest bottle of Eva water, very little for a whole 24 hours. I asked him what could be the problem with Muna, he told me his kidneys are not functioning. I cried. So, he told me he was going to run some tests on him to know if he’s going to have a transplant or dialysis, I gave him some money to do that. On the day we are supposed to take him to have dialysis in another hospital in FESTAC, because my doctor’s hospital did not have dialysis machine, unfortunately his wife was not there because he sent her somewhere so we could not lift him up.” 

Sobbing, she continued: “Muna could not stand up from the bed. He could not stand on his feet. We had to use a wheel chair to carry him to the car. I pleaded with my doctor because I had run out of cash by then. I ran to my mother in the industry, Mama G, for financial assistance. After telling her what had happened, she gave me some money. I went to Kanayo O. Kanayo; he also gave me some money. I went to my godfather in Port Harcourt who gave me some money as well. I called Aunty Vera; she brought somebody who gave us some money too. I told my doctor the burden was becoming too heavy on me, so I told Muna’s wife to call her in-laws because I thought initially it was just a normal malaria or typhoid. Because if anything should happen to him, police will start interrogating me on whether I am his wife or sister. I needed a witness apart from my doctor and family; that was when I brought in Aunty Vera Kalu, a producer, into what was happening. When I brought him for the first dialysis, we had three hours session; then I went home. It was then I got in touch with Muna’s aunty and I told her to send a member of his family down, and she promised to send somebody but I did not see anybody until he died. I saw his uncle for the first time last week; he said he came in December. It might be true because then we were attending shows. But I was communicating with the wife all the while, telling her that if there’s any problem, she should let me know. But when all these got at me, I said what is all this? I told Muna that he should let me call (AGN) president, Ibinabo, but he said no! That he had spoken to her. I said okay, since he had done that, I let it go. Though, I still tried to reach her (Ibinabo), she was out of the country. It was when he died that Ibinabo was telling me another version of what Muna told her. He did not disclose his ailment to her, rather he told her another thing entirely. She said she never knew it was that serious.” 

Contrary to the stories making the round that Muna didn’t want to seek help from his colleagues, Ejiro said: “During the time of his travail, some people were called upon and some of them did not do anything. People said Nollywood did not do anything. Some of the people sitting here (pointing at her colleagues), they were called. But I don’t want to mention names. Muna sent his (bank) account number to some of them; they did not send anything. Please, I don’t like it when we say negative things about people. Muna had a drinking problem; we all know that. He was down but that was not the time to start casting blame on him. That was not the best time. What we should do was to save him first. When he’s strong we can then scold him. If you want, you can arrest him afterwards. But as at that moment, render the help. Do you think it was not affecting me? I fought with Muna in the hospital. I just got tired. So, when you are saying things, you should say the right thing and ask questions. I have been with Muna since last year. Don’t just start writing what you don’t know on the Internet. If you need anybody to give you more stories on Muna, come to me and I will give it to you on her (his wife’s) permission. I will not reveal a lot of things because it is not in my power to do so. I can only tell you what and when it started, which I have given you. A lot of us thought that Muna was an Enugu-based actor; he was living here in Lagos. Many of us didn’t know. Muna’s offence and crime was that he was a very private person. He was a secretive person. Even to my face, he hid something from me. But I didn’t take that on him. I still had to do what I did because of God. He’s my brother and he will forever remain my brother.”