Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has expressed shock and sadness over the death of the first civilian governor of the old Abia State, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who died on Thursday.
He promised that the state will immortalise the deceased.
Onu was the state governor before the creation of Ebonyi out of the old Abia and Enugu states.
Onu was announced dead on Thursday at the age 72.
Otti, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma, described Onu’s death as a huge loss to Abia and Ebonyi states, the Igbo nation and Nigeria as a whole.
He said Onu was one of such statesmen with the character, carriage and statesmanly disposition required to reposition the nation for the better.
The statement read, “Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu was a gentleman and statesman with rich experience and wealth of knowledge, and was very outstanding in his character, comportment and engagements.
“Even though he held public offices both as a governor and minister respectively at difficult times, he was never associated with conducts or controversies capable of diminishing his reputation and personality.
“We are therefore saddened by his demise at a time his statesmanly contributions and interventions were needed in Nigeria.”
Otti, however, promised that state would honour and immortalise Onu by ensuring that the democratic journey he started in Abia as a civilian governor many years ago is advanced to a level where the welfare and well-being of Abians would be made an institutionalised priority at all times.
He called on politicians to emulate Onu’s model of decency, decorum, and contentment in public service as a way of ensuring sanity in our body politics.
He condoled with the Onu family, the government and people of Ebonyi and the Federal government while he prayed God to grant Onu’s soul eternal repose in his bosom, and his family, the fortitude to bear the loss.
Credit Gist New Today News in Newspaper Nigeria Headlines