How Ex-Daily Times, Orient Daily Staff Died after LUTH, LASUTH Rejected Him

• over N350,000 Deposit

By Olisemeka Sony

Emmanuel Mudashiru Sunmola, a former staff of Daily Times who also had stint with The Guardian, The Champion and the Comet newspapers passed away last week under controversial circumstances. Sunmola, whose last paid job was at Orient Daily newspaper in Awka, was forced to resign the job when he could no longer cope with Orient Daily’s non-payment of salaries which led to many months of salary arrears died in the early hours of Tuesday, August 29, 2023, aged 71.
Mr Godwin Ezeemo, Anambra state serial gubernatorial aspirant, is the publisher of the newspaper and chairman of the board of Orient Magazine Newspaper Communication Limited, publishers of the Orient Daily newspaper.
The deceased, who hails from Ijebu Okunowa town in Odogbolu local government area of Ogun state, was said to have been rejected by the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) at the critical stage of his health crisis on financial grounds.
Sunmola’s son, Kehinde, who spoke to Anambra Daily, disclosed that LASUTH declined to treat his father because the doctors who attended to them felt that they could not afford the N350,000 deposit.

Kehinde recalled their last battle to save the dying Sunmola. “LASUTH declined my dying dad admission because the doctors who attended to us that night felt that we might not be able to pay the deposit of N350,000. Their rather inhuman and unprofessional position on our inability to pay the deposit was not clear to us until we got to the federal government-owned Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) at Idi-Araba.
“LUTH also declined him admission on the same grounds like others that we had earlier been to and, as a result, my father’s health crisis worsened around 1pm on Monday, August 28. We took him to a private clinic (Owutu Clinic) where they eventually admitted him, administered some medications on him and he slept off.
According to Kehinde, things took a turn for the worse, hours later. “Initially, I felt relieved when I saw my father sleeping because I thought the injections and drip were to make him relax. I kept observing him until when he began to jerk and, at some point, started to vomit.
“I ran to the hospital’s front desk to request the attention of the doctor on duty. The doctor came, observed him and assured me he would be fine. Thereafter, I had to call the doctor’s attention more than four times because of the frightening developments I observed in my father. It was then the doctor decided to write a referral note to the Ikorodu General Hospital where he finally gave up the ghost.
Kehinde further disclosed that, besides the pain of losing their father because specialist hospitals refused to treat him on financial ground, the family was also sad that he died without enjoying fruits of his labour at the Orient Daily newspaper where months-long salary arrears still remain unpaid. According to him, the family was pained that up until when their father died, he kept making efforts aimed at getting the Awka-based Orient Magazine Newspaper Communication Limited to pay his entitlements. This was the more so at the critical stage of his health crisis as they needed the funds to cater for his treatment in different hospitals.
“Till the time of his death, he always lamented about his unpaid salaries and felt so cheated by Orient Daily. He would tell us to send his appointment letters to them to demand payment of his entitlements,” he said.
Sunmola joined Orient Daily in 2017 as a sales clerk and was deployed to oversee the newspaper’s sales operations in Edo state and environs. He worked for three years at Orient Daily but was forced to resign due to arrears of salary payment.
“He felt so embittered to have worked for an establishment at his old age without being paid his earned entitlements. He left Orient Daily in 2020, retiring to his Lagos home where he lived till he passed on,” the deceased’s son disclosed.
Mr. Ben Obika, former Circulation Manager for Orient Daily, recalled that the deceased was instrumental to spectacular strategies by the paper to gain popularity in Benin City and other parts of Edo state.
“As sales clerk in Benin for about three years, Baba Sunmola opened sales outlets for the newspaper in Ekpoma, Uromi and Auchi. All that period he worked under me, he was never found wanting. His passion for the job and personal integrity were legendary. Shortly before he died, we had been in constant communication and he was optimistic that he would get his entitlements from Orient Daily. It’s so devastating that he could not live to get his money,” Obika said.
“Before joining Orient Daily, he had worked in many notable newspapers in the country where he rose to the supervisory position. In fact, he has the knowledge of the job. It was a minus for Orient Daily to lose such an honest marketing guru. Sunmola Mudashiru Emmanuel was one of the best Circulation Clerks who worked under me,” he added.
With additional reports from Jacob AGELOISA (Benin), Ben OBIKA (Port Harcourt).