Bedridden veteran filmmaker Eddie Ugboma cries for help, may be thrown out of hospital over unpaid bills

The plight of veteran filmmaker Chief Eddie Ugbomah has once again been brought to the fore with reports revealing that the 78-year-old is critically ill and needs urgent and sustained medical attention.

Ugboma’s present condition which has been described as distressing was made known on the Facebook page of Shaibu Husseini, a Nigerian journalist, performing artist and film curator.

According to Shaibu, the medics at a private hospital in Ilogbo Eremi are no longer attending to Ugboma and have also threatened to evict him over unpaid bills.

Shaibu wrote thus on his Facebook page; “I just got a distressed call that foremost filmmaker Chief Eddie Ugbomah, OON is critically ill and needs urgent and sustained medical attention.

“I gathered that the medics at a private hospital in Ilogbo Eremi are no longer attending to the living legend who made 13 celluloid films including “Death of A Black President” and “The Rise and Fall of Oyenusi”, because of unpaid hospital bills.

“The picture of him i saw this morning drew tears from me and the situation as Ugbomah”s young child called to tell me this evening is distressing. He may be thrown out of the hospital any moment now.

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“Honestly, the very agile Chief Ugbomah, in his seventies, is not one who will coil on a bed. He will either be writing stories, updating the huge collection of photographs he has in his self sponsored hall of fame or simply be in his farm.

“I appeal for help for the Delta High Chief and an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON). I plead for donation to enable us get Chief Ugbomah out of hospital and back on his feet. Nothing is too small. And should anyone have direct contacts to His Excellency, the Delta state governor Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, kindly bring this breaking information to His Excellency’s attention.

“Chief Ugbomah, a senior citizen of Nigeria and an illustrious son of Delta state needs help fast!” he added.

Recall that filmmaker in 2018 had intended to raise N50 million from the sale of his intellectual property to cover for his medical bills, but his effort failed to materialise.

“I am 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,” Ugbomah wrote at the time.

A Zenith Bank account was set up in his name for donation at the time, however, it is not known how much had been raised as at the time of filing in this report.

A holder of the national honour of Order of the Niger (OON), Ugbomah has directed and produced films such as the Rise and Fall of Oyenusi in 1979, The Boy is Good and Apalara, a film about the life and murder of Alfa Apalara in Oko Awo, Lagos.

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