A former deputy governor of Abia State and former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, has expressed shock and sadness over the death of the first executive governor of old Abia State, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu.
LEADERSHIP reports that Dr. Onu was the immediate-past Minister of Science and Technology under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration from 2015 to 2023.
Abaribe, who currently represents Abia South in the Senate, said in a statement issued by his Media Adviser, Uchenna Awom, in Abuja on Thursday, that Dr Onu’s death was a huge loss to Nigeria, both Ebonyi and Abia States.
Dr. Onu, he said, charted the course for the modern-day Abia State such that he is still being remembered for long after Afikpo was carved out of the State.
“As the first civilian governor of the state, he laid a solid foundation for which the God’s Own State became the first in all ramifications in the committee of states in Nigeria.
“His demise came to me as a shock and I will continue to remember what he stood for while alive: uprightness. straightforwardness and epitome of civility in politics.
“He will continue to be remembered in the history of Abia State as his demise is a huge loss to the people of Ebonyi, Abia, Ndigbo and Nigeria in general,” Abaribe said.
Senator Abaribe, therefore, extended his condolences to the immediate family of Onu and the people of Ebonyi State.
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