HOW I DEVELOPED MY ALTERNATIVE LIFE MEDICINE PRACTICE AFTER I OBTAINED MY DOCTORATE DEGREE IN LAW IN USA—
This man Barrister Dr. Samuel Timothy Amukele is very serious with his Alternative LifeStyle medicine practice as he established an Alternative-medicine institute in Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital. He went to study in the United States of America in 1971 and thereafter settled with his family where his wife, a qualified Registered Nurse and his two children, all medical Doctors are doing well in the USA. Dr. Samuel Timothy Amukele is quite creative with his legal knowledge and his newly found training in Alternative LifeStyle Medicine. He goes to the forest to sort for herbal products as raw material that he processes for large-scale marketing at his alternating shops around Rivers State and beyond.
On Monday 6th of December, 2021 at the Correspondents’ Chapel of Nigerian Union of Journalists, Rivers State Council’s 2021 PRESS WEEK, Emeka Amaefula, had an encounter with this Doctorate degree in Law graduate and Alternative Lifestyle Medicine trained Samuel TIMOTHY Amukele where he spoke on why Nigerians need to embrace alternative Lifestyle medicine. READ ON
EXCERPTS
May I meet Sir?
I am Dr. Samuel Timothy Amukele, I used to be a legal Practitioner before I became a Health Practitioner. And my set up is the African Missionary Medical Institute where we do a lot of teaching on health and how to be in health. We used to go around cities and different states in Nigeria to lecture and advise people on how they can be healthy without necessarily spending a lot of money. That is our specialty.
As a legal practitioner and Alternative -medicine practitioner, how do you marry the two professions?
Well, I have gone for training as my profession is that of a legal practitioner while practicing I went for additional training on health. And it was when I finished that training and not intending to come back to Nigeria to do is just practice while I was In the United states of America that I felt that I have to return to Nigeria to help people to understand the principle behind being in health as health is not by chance but it is by choice. And so, that is how it came about.
Give us a run down of your academic background?
I do have a Bachelor of Science B.S degree in Business Administration and I have a Masters of Business Administration MBA degree in Finance. And I have a Doctor of Jurisprudence JD degree in Law.
You mean Doctor of Philosophy PhD degree in Law?
Well in America it is called Doctor of Jurisprudence-JD. That is an American degree for a Doctoral degree in Law that is Doctor of Jurisprudence in Law. It was after that that I took up additional Courses in Health. That is how I came into now practicing LifeStyle Medicine.
In furtherance to the above may we know the institutions that you attended?
The B.S degree is from Christian Adventist College Maryland USA. My MBA is from Saint John’s University in New York, USA. My Doctor of Jurisprudence J.D degree is from University of Toledo in Ohio, United States of America-USA.
How long did you stay in the USA?
I was in the USA from 1971 and there’s a break period that I had to come back home to Nigeria in order to do the Nigerian Law School and I did some legal practice in Nigeria for a few years, if not virtually from 1971 to 2001 I have been in the USA all through.
Did you establish your family there?
Yes, I did establish my family there as I have three children and two of them are Medical Doctors. My only daughter is a hospital administrator. They are all working in the USA.
Let’s look at Nigeria as political office holders at every little health challenge they go in for medical tourism. What is your take on this?
Well, given that they do not understand, the Bible says “My people perish for lack of knowledge”. Given what they know you can’t blame them for going there. If you know what we have and we can utilize it, Nigeria is rich in what we need to be in health. Here we are talking about antidotes for diseases they are here in Nigeria. But it is just a question of what they are and how to use them. But given the orthodox medicine, yes, Nigeria is not up at par with current development overseas. With those who go over there, yes, they have better facilities overseas there than in Nigeria. But for those who follow alternative medicine which I call Lifestyle medicine, here is a haven that Nigeria is.
In typical Nigerian hospitals a lot of people are suffering from Malaria and typhoid and related diseases which in recent times there has been an increase in what I may call lifestyle or Psycho-symptomatic diseases, is it true and what could be responsible?
Well, I don’t know if it is more than it used to be except that Nigeria’s environment is far more polluted than it used to be. And with climate change imagine that in the month of December we are having a rainy season in December as it never used to happen. So, things have changed. But one of the things that launched me into Alternative medicine and particularly herbal prescriptions. And there’s a statement that says that “God has placed around us an antidote for diseases”. And I know that Malaria is one of the endemic diseases in Nigeria. So, when I launched looking for what those things are, we can use them for malaria. I got it though I was exposed to the use of charcoal of all things. Charcoal is a major thing we can use for malaria, for typhoid fever, and I hope to be talking a little bit about charcoal. How expensive is charcoal and very cheap, it is in the home of every African. I don’t look at it as psychopathic problems -it is real. The environment is polluted and Oil pollution everywhere and constant flooding and there’s enough drainages that will make sure that after it rains the water is drained out so, the collection of water all around can breed mosquitoes and yet malaria is there and it continues to be there but can it be eradicated? No. But the problem is not the mosquitoes and not malaria. It is not typhoid. The problem is the immune system. If your immune system is strong you don’t have to suffer from malaria. You can be bitten by mosquitoes alright but the immune system, the fighting system in your body will make sure that you don’t come down with malaria.
So, the problem we are looking at is actually in the wrong area. What we should be looking for is how to build up the immune system so that even when you are attacked by mosquito, malaria, typhoid you will hardly see it.
You mentioned the Climatic change in environment, especially weather, now we are in the Niger delta where soot has taken over the air space as the inhabitant’s inhale such, how do you relate it to the issue of charcoal that you spoke about?
You know for centuries charcoal has been used for purification. Charcoal are the ones that filter. Even now when you go for dialysis, the machine that will be filtering your blood is charcoal. For us in the Niger Delta and environs with all this soot what you need to use charcoal. If you have a bucket of water you just put some charcoal and it will filter your water. The charcoal will filter that water and make it not only alkaline water it will purify it so that it can be drunk. So, charcoal is very necessary. If our people know how to use charcoal, charcoal will purify their water in spite of the environment that we are living in.
How about the negative aspect of soot in the air in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria?
O yeah, the negative impact is there. We are breathing this impure thing. There are environments within this Rivers state that you would not want to live in, as it doesn’t matter whether you close your windows or doors, they are able to penetrate and it is just very unhealthy. And it is getting worse by the day. And with this illegal bunkering of Petroleum products going on around and fumes and more pollution going to the environment. It is terrible, really terrible. So, giving the environment and given what we have charcoal is about to help us in purifying the water at least. You can’t use charcoal to purify the air but at least you can purify the water that you drink.
Does alternative medicine engage into surgery?
Well, after all we do have herbal surgery making use of herbs.
How do you do this herbal surgery?
We can apply certain solutions…we going to apply certain herbal paste on a lump for example will get out that lump. It will not cut it…but if you pour it and before you know it with the application kills the tissues and within time you know that tissue is dead. And actually, get out. So, we have herbal surgery without necessarily using a knife to cut.
How about internal tumour removal?
We do apply things internally, if you have fibroid, cyst or overgrowth there are things you give that go inside thee and kill and cause the growth to disintegrate.
When you say Life Medicine, what do you really mean?
Precisely their lifestyle. I believe that more than ninety percent of the diseases that people suffer are as a result of lifestyle. Here are two people who live in the same environment. One person comes down with one thing while the other one doesn’t come down with anything. What is responsible first is their immune system is strong even though you are exposed to a certain environment you may not catch what is coming from that environment. And then, two diseases follow the lifestyle. If you are a smoker sooner or later you may come up with problems with your lungs. How did the problem get there? It is because of the lifestyle. We say hereditary and people say for example diabetes is hereditary, they say my parents had maybe high blood pressure or diabetes that I inherited. No. What you are, yes, the DNA. But the DNA does not pull the trigger as the gun is there as you are predisposed to this situation. What determines whether that situation actually comes to reality is lifestyle. Lifestyle is what pulls the trigger. It is what fires. This is precisely what I meant.If all you eat is nothing but garri for example. If you don’t eat rice you have not eaten. If you don’t eat yam you have not eaten. You eat Garri all the time. What is wrong with that? Well, Sooner or later you will discover that you are deficient in Minerals. Where are the vitamins? Where are the minerals? Where are the other nutrients? So, you come down with the deficiency disease as a result of that deficiency. Okay, why do you get that deficiency disease? It is because of the lifestyle. Because you are always sticking to one food. And the other things you are not eating and you are not getting the benefits of those nutrients that are in other diseases. So, that is what I meant. Lifestyle Medicine is just that. We follow a healthy lifestyle. If you follow a healthy lifestyle you will be free from most diseases. For example, we know that diabetes comes from much use of fats. People think that it is sugar, no. Sugar does not cause Diabetes. Sugar makes diabetes worse but it doesn’t cause it. What causes it is fat, Oil, nuts. Alright if you eat a lot of nuts, enough of oil when you are cooking you might well come down with diabetes. While the person that uses very little oil chews very little nuts doesn’t come down with diabetes. So, that is what I mean by LifeStyle Medicine. In Lifestyle Medicine we are focused on style.
