Dr Ogbonnaya was a gentleman and statesman with rich experience and wealth of knowledge, and was very outstanding in his character, comportment and engagements
The Governors of Abia and Imo as well as other prominent Nigerians have continued to pay glowing tributes to the late former Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu.
Family sources confirmed the death of the elder statesman in an Abuja hospital on Thursday at the age of 72.
In Abia, Gov. Alex Otti expressed shock and sadness over the death of the state’s first Executive Governor.
In a statement issued in Umuahia by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma, Otti described Onu’s death as a huge loss to Abia, Ebonyi, the South-East and nation at large.
He also described the deceased as “a true statesman with the character, carriage and disposition required to reposition the nation for the better.
“Dr Ogbonnaya was a gentleman and statesman with rich experience and wealth of knowledge, and was very outstanding in his character, comportment and engagements”, the statement added.
Otti pledged that Abia Government would honour and immortalise him “by upholding the true ideals of democracy, which he stood for”.
In a similar reaction, Gov. Hope Uzodimma of Imo expressed shock over Onu’s demise and described the incident as “devastating and unexpected”.
Uzodimma’s reaction is contained in statement issued in Owerri by his Chief Press Secretary, Oguwike Nwachuku.
The statement read in part: “My principal received with shock the sad, devastating and unexpected news of the passing of Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, a man he loves to describe as one of Nigeria’s intellectual and political giants with extraordinary gentility.
“With Onu’s death, the South East, Nigeria and the global community have lost a statesman, who believed so much in the unity, peace, progress and development of Nigeria,” it added.
The statement further described Onu as “a leading light in the All Progressives Congress (APC) family having, for many years”.