A former governor of Anambra State and two-time Senator, Chris Ngige, has mourned the death of a former governor of Abia State and immediate past Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, who passed on Thursday.
Ngige, who expressed deep grief over the demise of Onu, described his exit as an “unquantifiable loss”, not only to the South-East geopolitical zone but to the entire country.
The former Minister of Labour and Employment, also noted that Onu was one of the arrowheads that helped in dismantling the 16-year-old rule of the Peoples Democratic Party.
He stated this while addressing journalists in his hometown in Alor, on Saturday.
He noted that the account of political developments in the country, especially from the truncated third republic till date, cannot be complete without mentioning Onu’s positive contributions.
Ngige recalled with nostalgia, their first meeting in 1993 when Onu was the Governor of Abia State on the platform of the National Republican Convention and himself, the President of the Igbo socio-economic think-tank, Aka Ikenga, to discuss Southeast East regional integration.
He said, “When Nigerians needed a change from the 16-year rule of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr Onu made himself the sacrificial lamb to offer Nigerians an alternative in the All Progressive Congress.
“We got closer in 2012 during the formation of APC. At that time, I belonged to the Action Congress of Nigeria with the current President, Bola Tinubu, Bisi Akande, Segun Osoba and others. I volunteered and was assigned the role of monitoring Dr Onu to continue with the merger discussion, during which he selflessly gave up his ANPP National Chairmanship to see that the merger succeeded.
“The merger of ANPP, Muhammadu Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change, our party, ACN and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance led by the then Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, produced the ruling APC in 2013.”
He added, “By 2015, we ousted the PDP and became the ruling party at the centre. I was appointed Minister of Labour and Employment, and Onu, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation. Both of us served eight years in the Federal Executive Council under President Muhammadu Buhari.
“As a former colleague in the FEC, I remember his intelligent contributions to memos during our weekly meetings. The country lost a teacher, an erudite scholar, intellectual, politician and public servant par excellence.”
Ngige recounted how the deceased, as the presidential candidate of the All People’s Party in 1999, unconditionally stepped down for the candidate of the Alliance for Democracy, following an alliance between both parties.
Ngige added that Onu was a big Iroko tree in Igbo land, whose death would leave a large vacuum in the Igbo and National political landscape.