Ebola:Why Dr Enemuo Treated Diplomat Koye in Secret- Bosom Friend

Late Doctor Iyke Enemuo has faced serious criticism even in death .He secretly treated ECOWAS diplomat,Olu-koye in a Port Harcourtt hospital.Many have attributed it to greed and love of money which may have been paid him to keep his patient a secret .

However, in an interview with Vanguard's Laju Arenyeka,his friend of over 23 years, Mr. Tochukwu Agha, a Lagos business man who knew Emenuo from their university days gives an insight into the life of Enemuo...

On why Enemuo kept Olu-bukun secret

It’s unbelievable that Iyke could do such a thing; I have heard a lot of stories. That it was out of greed, but I seriously doubt it. From a close source, one of the doctors that worked with him told me that he never knew the patient. He had never met him before; he did not know him from Adam. It was a staff of the hotel that called him and said that someone at their hotel, a friend, had diarrhea;
you know that diarrhea and Ebola have similar symptoms. Iyke usually makes house calls, so it was when the hotel staff called him to come and check on the patient, that was the first time Iyke met Koye.
He had a relationship with the staff before then. He attended to the patient. I don’t believe it was about the money; I don’t think he knew before hand that the illness was Ebola. He wouldn’t have risked his life for money; they couldn’t have paid more than N20, 000. This was a big boy that had his own hospital with three doctors working under him. It is a not a small hospital, very well known in Port-Harcourt. I did not get the chance to speak to him about it, but the Iyke I knew would not stoop so low and intentionally endanger his life and the lives of others.
“I think he treated the patient out of the goodness of his heart; just to save the patient. He was a very adventurous guy. Perhaps he was genuinely interested in finding out what the problem was and how he could help. I don’t think he knew about the nature of the illness until later. The reason why he did not send the patient to the quarantine centre when he found out, I cannot say. It is just too bad that he is not here to tell us what really happened. Iyke is not the kind of person that would hide such a thing.

On his feelings towards diplomat Koye

Koye is the one who messed up. He was supposed to be quarantined in Lagos but he sneaked out to Port Harcourt. He knew he had the illness, but he knowingly travelled with it and infected others. I think he should be sanctioned. It is very bad. Iyke never knew that guy. It was when he got to Port-Harcourt that he got in contact with Iyke through the hotel staff. Doctors were on strike at that time, so the hotel staffr just kept making calls to find a doctor that could help. Because iyke had his own clinic, they got in touch with him and he agreed to see the patient. 

On keeping contact with his family

 I was closer to his first wife; his long time school girlfriend, Stella whom he married. They had a pair of twins before they divorced a few years ago. He got married to this his new wife recently; last year I think. I don’t really know her well, but I know that they just had a baby about six weeks ago. I know of three children that he had. 

 On why he didn't tell doctors he had Ebola

I still cannot understand why. It’s difficult to say. Who is sure he knew? When we were in school, he would go out of his way to help others, he would counsel students on the best course of action to take when they were going through challenges; he would show new students the ropes, and help aspiring students get admission.
I wish he was alive. I’m sure he would have learned from his mistakes and handled the case differently.
It is really terrible. He just bought a piece of property worth a lot of money. His wife just had a new baby. Why did this have to happen at this time? All I can say is that maybe that is how God wants it. Because I cannot understand why Iyke would die and the person who he contracted the sickness from is alive and well.