The Sudden Deaths We Must Stop Ignoring

Some Nigerians go to work, attend church, play football or wait for a bus, then suddenly collapse and die. The frequency of such deaths has become frightening, writes the columnist, who argues that society must look beyond the immediate shock.

The writer says medical experts know that every death has a medical cause, even when a person appears perfectly healthy. That hidden danger has created anxiety that death can arrive without a warning visible to family, friends or colleagues.

Two recent deaths in Nigeria’s media community particularly affected the writer. Dotun Oladipo, publisher of the Eagle Online, was reportedly healthy enough to exercise with his wife one Tuesday morning. He later went to his office in Ogba, Lagos, felt unwell and drove himself toward a hospital, but died before arriving.

Another journalist, Patrick Osadebamwen, was reportedly found dead in his Abuja apartment after friends who had been unable to reach him by phone for several days visited him. The writer cites the cases to show how quickly someone active and apparently well can die.

The commentary says many people do not know they are sick. It highlights hypertension in particular, citing the World Health Organization’s Nigeria profile, which estimated that 19.1 million Nigerian adults aged 30 to 79 had hypertension in 2019. Only 47% had been diagnosed, 29% were receiving treatment and 11% had controlled blood pressure. The figures suggest that millions may be living with an undetected condition.