Nigeria Has Palpable Concussion

By Prince Charles Dickson


Concussion is a 2015 American biographical sports medical drama film directed and written by Peter Landesman. This film is based on the 2009 GQ exposé Game Brain by Jeanne Marie Laskas starring Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian forensic pathologist who fought against efforts by the National Football League to suppress his research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) brain damage suffered by professional football players.

While conducting an autopsy on former NFL football player Mike Webster (David Morse), forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) discovers neurological deterioration that is similar to Alzheimer’s disease. Omalu names the disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy and publishes his findings in a medical journal. As other athletes face the same diagnosis, the crusading doctor embarks on a mission to raise public awareness about the dangers of football-related head trauma.

Over the next few years, Omalu discovers that three other deceased former NFL players, Terry Long, Justin Strzelczyk and Andre Waters, had symptoms very similar to Webster’s. He finally persuades newly appointed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to present his findings before a committee on player safety. However, the NFL doesn’t take Omalu seriously; they don’t even allow him to be in the room for the presentation, forcing Bailes to give it for him.

Omalu is subjected to considerable pressure to back down from his efforts. Omalu’s wife, Prema, suffers a miscarriage after being stalked. The Omalus are forced to leave their dream home outside Pittsburgh. They move to Lodi, California; where Omalu takes a job with the San Joaquin County coroner’s office. However, he is vindicated when former NFL Players Association executive Dave Duerson commits suicide due to growing cognitive problems; in his suicide note, Duerson admits that Omalu was right. Omalu is allowed to address an NFLPA conference on concussions and CTE. Amid growing scrutiny from Congress, the NFL is forced to take the concussion issue more seriously.

In one of the screening of the movies, watched by 70 retired players: The special screening brought out plenty of emotions. And for many, it was a panic-inducing horror flick. “We are encouraging players to see it,” says the NFLPA’s Atallah, “as a teaching tool about not-so-ancient history.”

Dr. Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu (born September 1968 is a Nigerian American physician, forensic pathologist, and neuropathologist.

Omalu was born in Nnokwa, Idemili South, Anambra in southeastern Nigeria, in September 1968, the sixth of seven siblings. He was born during the Nigerian Civil War, which caused his family to flee from their home in the predominantly Ibo village of Enugu-Ukwu in southeastern Nigeria. They returned to their village two years after Omalu’s birth. Omalu’s mother was a seamstress and his father a civil mining engineer and community leader in Enugu-Ukwu. The family name, Omalu, is a shortened form of the surname, Onyemalukwube, which translates to “he (she) who knows, speak.”

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He attended medical school starting at age 16 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. After graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in June 1990, he completed a clinical internship, followed by three years of service work doctoring in the mountainous city of Jos. As he told journalist Jeanne Marie Laskas in the biographical Concussion, he became disillusioned with Nigeria after presidential candidate Moshood Abiola failed to win the Nigerian presidency due to an inconclusive election in 1993.

Omalu holds eight advanced degrees and board certifications, later receiving: fellowships in pathology and neuropathology through the University of Pittsburgh in 2000 and 2002 respectively, a Masters in Public Health (MPH) & Epidemiology from University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University in 2008.

Omalu is married to Prema Mutiso, a native of Kenya. They live in Lodi, California and have two children, Ashly and Mark. He is a practicing Catholic, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in February 2015.

Na Fela, bin sing for song, “the thing wey e dey worry me, na how dis kontri take get big head”. Till today we still get big head (concussion). Some say na coconut head, others even argue say na fish head. But true talk be say we get big head.

So, how film wey dem do for amurica(america) take concern you or even me. I go tell us ma church mind as e take concern you and me. Make we try forget say Dr, Omale na we son and brother, but as him take run comot obodo Naija becos of all we problems, na mirror to show we say, our head still big, and although we dey try to reduce the size, our journey still far.

The big head wey Nigeria get na him the current goferment of Baba Buhari dey try solve, na him Jona-Jona been try solve so tey dem call am “something Buffon”, na the big head kill Yar’adua, the big head wey Obj after him write “him watch” e still dey write letters. Na the big head throway Abacha, na that head make Abdulsalam catch fear.

Whether Andrew check out or e stay, true talk be say, na our big head cause us dey send pikin go Russia, Uganda and Mozambique to chop book wey we fit chop for we own kontri. Na the head we take spend billion for matter of talk-talk shop wey oyinbo bin call National Conference, yet we never sabi how we go waka.

Na the big head dey make us fight we sef on to who thief money pass, who be winch wey dem dey hunt, the tribe wey the winch wey chop money come from. Na we big head see us no get proper tori wey oyinbo dey call history. Na the same head no gree us waka well. Big head, big belle on top small leg and tiny hands no be only concussion na also kwashiorkor. Na the big head make us get concern on top dollar pass the people wey get the money. Becos now to buy water sef, dem go tell you dollar don rise.

For the film, after all the I no gree, people bin gree say wahala dey, dem bin join hands, on to say make dem solve am. To continue to tear eye on to who sabi pass, no go carry us reach anywhere. Whether we wan true change or to carry we big head dey mumu abi dey buffon we sef–Only time will tell.

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