Nollywood Actor Charles Okocha’s Stomach Bursts After Surgery (Photos)

Nollywood actor, Charles Okocha is about the luckiest
person on earth, and very grateful to James Louis
Okoye, an event manager and chief executive of Jalou
Events Limited, who twice helped to save his life.


Okocha’s incredible run of good luck began on
December 27, when a drunken policeman pumped a
fusillade of bullets from an AK47 rifle into his
stomach at a traditional wedding ceremony, held in
Uruagu, Nnewi, Anambra State. The hail of bullets
also hit another person, Sam Belonwu Dim, a Lagos-
based businessman, who died on the spot.


Doctors at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching
Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Anambra State performed
surgery on him, but the stomach later burst,
allegedly because the wrong surgical material was
used. But the prompt and cool-headed reaction of
Okoye in the hospital once again saved the actor’s
life.



The twice lucky actor is now recuperating following
the corrective surgery that was still done at NAUTH,
though the tertiary hospital debunked the allegation
of improper handling of the case.


Okoye, who mobilized other people to save the
actor’s life, recounted to Sunday Sun reporter what
transpired on the fateful day: “I am not just worried
but I’m mad about what happened as we tried to save
Okocha’s life. I was at Danduko’s house on December
27, 2015 for the traditional wedding of his daughter.
What really happened was that the trigger-happy
police officer saw an actor he recognized and in
excitement he said, ‘Look at this my guy, let me
throw one in air for him (meaning to give him gun
salute).’

 As some people said, he was drunk and
apparently forgot that he had previously set the gun
on rapid fire. His intention was to fire one shot into
the air. He pulled the trigger, but could not control
the gun again because up to eight or nine bullets flew
out. The bullets hit two people, Sam Belonwu Dim
and Charles Okocha. But I didn’t see the other guy
(Sam) and there was a noise at the other end


“When I rushed out of Danduko’s compound, I saw
Charles Okocha lying helplessly on the ground.
People started shouting, ‘Hey, ewoo, it is that actor
oo.’ Some people even brought out their camera
phones and started taking pictures of him without
doing anything to save his life. Here was somebody
who was dying and needed help. I shouted at them.
So many cars that were parked outside blocked the
way. My own car was parked at a primary school
some metres away from the scene of the incident.
Okocha’s intestines were already coming out, but he
was strong enough to hold them.”


Okoye immediately got some people to help him
carry the actor to the primary school where his car
was parked. Continuing the tale, he said: “With two
other guys accompanying me, we sped to Nnamdi
Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi.
But what we experienced was a nightmare. Okocha
was crying, ‘Please help me, I don’t want to die, Jesus
help me.’


At the hospital, the conduct of the nurses and doctors
was so annoying. The other people who helped to
bring the actor to the hospital were angry and started
shouting at the medical personnel. I told my friends
that making trouble or even shouting at them could
make our friend Charles to die unattended to. I had
to beg the nurses and all that. They were just telling
us, go here, go there, sign for this, sign for that. I was
obediently doing all that even faster than they
expected.


“It was over two hours and thirty minutes before the
doctor that was to conduct the surgery came. Then I
was told to go and sign approval for transfusion of
blood. I told them to check if my blood could match
his, and said that I was willing to donate blood to save
his life. They said it would take longer time, that they
already had blood in their bank. But they said what
they had in their blood bank would have to pass
through test one, two and three for HIV/AIDS. They
said they were waiting to do the last one. For the fact
that the case was urgent, they said that if I had no
objections, I could sign that I approved for them to
use the one they were not very sure of being HIV
free. 

They said they are waiting for the last
confirmatory test that the blood was HIV-free.
“At this point I said to myself, between this guy dying
now and dying many years later for HIV/AIDS if at all
the blood will be HIV positive, that the option is to
save his life now. Today HIV positive patients
sometimes live longer than those who do not
contract it. It can now be controlled. But that will not
be the portion of my friend, Charles Okocha. When I
went to the person managing the blood bank, she
said: “Ahha what can I do for you and she continued
eating her food. She expected me to wait for her to
finish eating when someone was dying. But when she
saw my red eyes, she dropped the food and covered
it to attend to me.”


After the issue of blood transfusion was settled,
Okoye said that the simple act of moving the patient
from the emergency ward to the theatre by the two
female porters became another hindrance to the
effort to save the actor, as he said that they were
very sluggish. His offer of assistance to help push the
wheeled stretcher was rebuffed.


His words: “At the end of the day I was just pleading,
petting and begging and they were able to move the
young man in a stretcher to the theater door. Then
an argument ensued between them. Friends and my
brother who came along with me wanted to shout but
I pleaded with them to calm down so that the matter
would not get worse. From what I observed, they
don’t really care about people, whether they make it
or not. After all, they did not cause the accident and,
therefore, not interested in whether the person lives
or dies. That is the impression people have about the
hospital.”


All through the duration of the surgery that lasted for
four hours, Okoye waited anxiously. When it was
completed, Okocha was wheeled into the male
special ward.
“I don’t want to mention how many people that gave
up as I was waiting on the same night as I was at the
emergency unit. I don’t want to talk about an accident
victim brought in there and was not treated because
those who brought him could not pay N500 for him.
And I had to pay for him. I am not talking about
another accident victim who was brought in that night
and what a nurse could only say was, ‘Imagine the
kind of alcohol smell that is coming from his mouth,
look at what he has done to himself,’ while the guy
was bleeding profusely,” Okoye said.


Even after the surgery had been done, it was as if the
devil was still determined to harvest the actor. More
trouble came his way after he returned to the
hospital to have the external stitches removed. What
happened immediately after the stitches were
removed was shocking, as Okocha further narrated.
His words: “He was just sitting down and all of a
sudden we heard a noise like a balloon burst. Behold,
everything in Okocha’s stomach came out. You know
it was a major operation.


“Nurses rushed over, looked at him and ran away.
Anybody who looked at his dangling intestines could
not behold the sight. It was a gory sight. But Okocha
was courageous enough to hold his intestines from
dropping on the ground and he turned his face away
from his hands so that he would not faint at the sight
of his own intestines coming out.


“After about 25 minutes the so-called surgeon came
in again. He went back to start all over and Charles
began to go through the pains he had a few days ago.
It was an annoying thing. When they came to the
ward they said openly that they were supposed to
have used nylon three for the stitching but what was
available was nylon one and they had to use what
they had at least to save his life that day. Why I am
angry is that they could have told us to rally round
and get the right material and any other thing they
needed. Any drug given to a patient at the teaching
hospital is paid for before it can be administered.


“Is it not a reasonable step that they should have sent
us to get the right stitching material, that is, nylon
three, to avoid the bursting? They were bold to tell
us why the stomach burst. That is the reason I’m
mad. I have never seen a thing like that before. And
we heard that the nylon is only sold for N700.00.
“I know that I’m nobody, just a young man who is
trying to survive. But I have contacts through my
business as an event planner. I have been sending
text messages to important people I know, pleading
with them to get the federal government to conduct
investigation into the way the teaching hospitals
operate. This thing must be investigated. People are
undergoing bad moments in some of these
government-owned hospitals.”


Sunday Sun reporter met with the Chairman, Medical
and Advisory Committee, NAUTH, Nnewi, Dr
Evaristus Ede Afiadigwe, who stood in for the Chief
Medical Director (CMD), Professor Anthony Igwegbe,
and he dismissed the claims of Mr Okoye even
though he admitted that there was an incident of a
burst stomach involving the Nollywood actor, Okocha.
He said there was no negligence in the treatment of
Okocha. He noted that the bursting of a stomach was
a medical experience that could occur any time.


His words: “I heard about the eruption, stomach
burst. The doctor wanted to use Nylon 2 Defilon but
what was available was Nylon 1. It is not possible that
everything you need, the number and quality will be
available at every given time. And you know that was
on a Sunday. But the Nylon 1 is used and one still
gets a perfect result. I don’t know why this should be
made an issue. I investigated the incident by myself
and discovered that there was no negligence

. 
The
Nylon 1 and Nylon 2 are of high quality not even the
3 you are talking about. Life and death are actually in
the hands of God. We did everything humanly
possible to save Charles Okocha’s life. And this is
what one should be grateful for instead of painting
the hospital black.


“We do conduct audit on how our doctors and nurses
work and we have a disciplinary committee, which
handles erring medical personnel. There is no
negligence in this matter. Some doctors even use
Nylon 1 ordinarily. It is just that the doctor said he
wanted to use Nylon 2. Nylon 2 was available in the
hospital but it wasn’t available at the time the doctor
was doing the surgery. There was a repeat surgery
and it was successful,” Afiadigwe said.


He later took the reporter to the theatre where he
showed him the Nylon 1 and 2, still arguing that
either of them could be used in the absence of the
other. He also took him to the male ward to see
Okocha whom, he said, would soon be discharged,
even though Okocha could not react to questions put
him as he was still in pains.