Veteran filmmaker, Eddie Ugbomah, is bedridden in a private clinic in Lagos as he is yet to receive necessary support which he pleaded for to get himself treated abroad.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Ugbomah wrote that he had been lying on the hospital bed for the ninth month of his illness.
“The great Eddie Ugbomah laying helplessly in bed for the 9th month of my sickness because I could not afford my hospital bill,” he wrote.
The 78-year-old had called the nation’s attention to his frail health in October 2018 with revelations that he was suffering from high blood pressure and complications in his nerves.
The former chairman of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) had written at the time that he was “seriously down with 205/190 BP, no road, no light, no clinic and I am dying. What a shameless country. The nearest clinic is 5 miles away. The town in Ilogbo Eremi off Badagry exp road.”
NFC officials got Ugbomah admitted into Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in Idi-Araba, Surulere area of Lagos at the beginning of his illness. But a source said the movie maker is now on admission in a private clinic.
The filmmaker also attempted to raise N50 million from the sale of his intellectual property to cover for his medical bills but it did not materialise.
A Zenith Bank account was set up in his name for donation; however, it is not known how much had been raised.
President Muhammadu Buhari had congratulated the ace cinematographer when he clocked 78 on December 19, 2018.
A holder of the national honour of Order of the Niger (OON), Ugbomah’s works include Rise and Fall of Oyenusi, Oil Doom, The Boy is Good, Death of the Black President and Apalara.
