Pat Utomi Reveals Battle With Prostate Cancer

By Damola Emmanuel

Labour Party chieftain, and founder of Centre for Values and Leadership, Patrick Utomi, a professor of political economy, shocked not a few Nigerians, Friday, as he delivered the sobering news on Twitter that he has been battling cancer since 2022.

Utomi, who alerted that cancer among men had reached an epidemic proportion, also posited that many men his age were struggling with the same problem.

In the tweet he posted on his official Twitter handle, Friday, Utomi, 67, disclosed that he tested positive after a biopsy and has been receiving treatment ever since at a cancer centre in Ikeja and Victoria Island, Lagos State respectively, even during the energy-sapping 2023 election campaigns.

“I am moved this dawn of light to confront an epidemic under the carpet with great harm to men,” he wrote in the tweet. “Prostate cancer is bringing death and misery to many men. Had they been forewarned, the misery, containment and even chances of cure could be much enhanced, like women have with breast CA.

“I agreed with the Gambian Real Estate Entrepreneur Taf Njie while I battled the disease that we should do more to create awareness. Nearly 30 years ago, I went to Ibadan to speak and lend a hand to present Ondo State First Lady Betty Akeredolu as she raised the breast cancer banner.

“When a biopsy showed I was positive last year, I began treatment with a cancer Centre with a branch in Ikeja and VI. I sometimes came from election campaigns to the Ikeja Centre near the Airport. The doctors would try to smuggle me out from the back. The well-known shielded?”

“Once elections were over, my young nephews and cousins, doctors in Europe and the US, joined forces with the Lakeshore people and decided they wanted me in their direct care. That’s how come it seemed I went quiet cause they controlled my phones to reduce stress.

“Did not see why it was taboo to say you were in a battle with Cancer. The more I talked about it, the more I found many of my age in similar circumstances. It almost seems like an epidemic for Nigerian men over 60. Not talking makes them lose the benefit of early detection.”