‘We were here, Ebola came and
Five years ago, the first case of the Ebola virus in Nigeria was recorded in Lagos. The outbreak claimed several lives and would have claimed more but for the brave men and women who prevented patient zero, Patrick Sawyer, from escaping into the crowded O
In 2014, Liberian-American lawyer Patrick Sawyer was rushed to a Lagos hospital from the Murtala Muhammad Airport and later died of Ebola. His death sent chills across the country, and the world. It was the first confirmed case of Ebola in Nigeria, a country pushing on 200 million people. Sawyer had died in Obalende, a busy suburb, one of the most crowded in Lagos, famous for its nightlife, its red light districts and its many schools, its ambience set by civil war veterans who settled there after the war.
First Consultants Medical Centre, where Sawyer died after infecting several hospital staff, is located on a busy crossroad intersecting with St. Gregory Road. A huge brick faced building, without any signage, it was the place where Nigeria fought and won one of the most important battles in its history.
Inside the building, in the reception area, the martyrs who lost their lives while treating Sawyer have their faces up on the notice board. “In Honour of Our Fallen Heroes” printed in boldface over the four photos of Dr. Stella A. Adadevoh, Dr. Amas Abaniwo, Nurse Justina Ejelonu and Nurse aide Evelyn Uko, shows the veneration in which they are held. Obviously, the hospital is proud of their staff and what they achieved in 2014 but it is something they are anxious to get over.
“We don’t want that kind of publicity,” an elderly hospital staff said. He would not disclose his name or his designation. “We don’t want to talk about it.”
When pushed, he insisted Daily Trust spoke to the hospital administrator, who was not around at the time. The next day, the administrator was in a meeting, said another hospital staff who gave his name as Mr. Udunze.
Outside the hospital gates, hundreds of people went about their business, bumping into each other at the intersection as cars shared traffic with pedestrians and shop owners, one of whom splashed a bowl of water onto the asphalt. Others sat in front of their stalls while one burly man used cow whisks to dust his wares with the gentlest of touches. In a pharmacy across the street, a pharmacist briskly shoved drugs into a plastic bag for a customer. If Sawyer had escaped to the street, as he apparently wanted to do, he would have detonated a time bomb at this intersection. The hospital prevented that. Now they do not want to talk about it.
“When people pass by, they would point at the hospital and say this is where Ebola landed,” Hamisu Ado, 30, a trader, sitting opposite the hospital said, as if that would explain the rational.
Gabriel Ogoro, 28, is one of the traders who witnessed the outbreak. Sitting in his shop with clothes dangling off hangers and shoes perched on display racks, he cuddled the baby on his lap.
“I was afraid,” he said of the time. He lives nearby on the Island, and remembers how tensed things were. “They said the disease could be contracted through shaking someone so we avoided all kinds of contacts. Even when we went to church that time, we normally did not shake hands. Everyone was just minding his business,” he said.
He knew the role the hospital played in saving thousands of lives in Obalende.
“I think if they hadn’t controlled it, the death [toll] would have been higher,” he said. “I feel sorry for them,” he said of the hospital staff who lost their lives during the outbreak. For him, they were soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country. “I remember them as heroes and I hope they will always celebrate them.”
The men who watched
Across from the hospital, right on the intersection, sitting like Esu, the Yoruba god of the crossroads, is Malam Ashiru Abubakar. He sells snacks, detergent, milk, batteries and more. He has lived in Lagos since the early 1990s and along with other traders who sit by him, they had witnessed the coming of Ebola and its aftermaths.
“We were sitting here and “we heard that they had a patient who had died and they suspect Ebola was the cause of death. I was with a doctor here who told me the disease was not airborne, that victims of the disease are always sweaty and if you didn’t touch them, you would be fine,” he said.
Malam Ashiru, 45, remembered how news of the outbreak transformed Obalende.
“Within a short time, this Obalende became a place cars don’t even want to come to. When you call Obalende, they would say, Obalende has Ebola. People in my village in Katsina called me to say they had heard rumours of Ebola in Lagos. I told them it is not a rumour because from where I am sitting now, if I jump 15 times, I will