President Bola Tinubu and his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, have described the passing of former Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Ogbonnaya Onu as a huge national loss.

The duo, who in collaboration with Onu engineered the birth of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC),were joined in mourning the Ebonyi State-born statesman by Governors Alex Otti(Abia), Francis Nwifuru(Ebonyi), Hope Uzodimma (Imo), and the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

Others who lamented the death of Onu included APC National Working Committee (NWC), Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha; Deputy Senate  President  Barau Jibrin; House of Representatives Deputy Speaker   Benjamin Kalu; former Senate  Minority Leader  Enyinnaya Abaribe, and Lagos House of Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa.

Onu,    the first governor of old Abia State and    a first class Chemical Engineering graduate of the University of Lagos, Akoka, died an Abuja hospital yesterday. He was 72.

He had been out of circulation since   he lost the APC presidential ticket in 2022. The Nation gathered that Onu  had been shuttling between Nigeria and the United  States(US)  due to  a lingering throat-related  ailment.

A  source said after his  recent return from the US , the ailment worsened, necessitating his hospitalisation ahead of a fresh trip to the US.

A  statement by a member of his family, Uzoma Onu, which announced the former minister’s  demise,  was silent on the cause. It said the family was “filled with sorrow”  over the development.

The  statement  recalled that  Onu, who was the first  Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Governors (now Nigerian Governors’ Forum), resigned as minister during Buhari’s second tenure after seven  years.

It partly reads: “ In total submission to the will of the Almighty God, the family of His Royal Highness, the Late Eze David Aba Onu, Eze Adu of Uburu in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State announces the death of our distinguished son, His Excellency, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu.

“He was the former National Chairman/National Leader of defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). He initiated and facilitated discussions that finally resulted in the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC), that has been the ruling political party in the country since May 29, 2015.

“ He was a fine statesman, party leader, political strategist, brilliant scholar, outstanding intellectual, public speaker, teacher, lecturer, inventor, researcher, consultant, engineer, youth mobiliser, accomplished administrator, prolific author and poet, a man of great ideas as well as a distinguished man of exceptional principle, integrity, discipline and exemplary character.

“He will be greatly missed by all who knew him for a long time to come.”

In their separate reactions, Tinubu and Buhari described Onu as a “ luminous star in Nigeria’s political firmament and intellectual giant.”

Ajuri Ngelale, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, and Garba Shehu, Buhari’s spokesman, made these known.

Ngelale’s statement reads: “President Bola Tinubu extends his deepest condolences to the Onu family over the passing of Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, CON.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari, according to Shehu, said Nigeria has lost one of its most outstanding scientific minds and intellectuals.

“Former President Muhammadu Buhari joins family members of the deceased and the entire nation in mourning the demise of a notable politician, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the first civilian governor of Abia State and former Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation under his administration.

“He was an intellectual giant. My heart goes out to his family, the government and people of Ebonyi and Abia states as well as the country at large. May his soul rest in peace.”

FEC, in a statement by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), said the former minister was a detribalised Nigerian and a statesman who believed in the unity of Nigeria.

It commiserated with the government, people of Ebonyi State and the Onu family and prayed to God to grant the soul of the departed eternal repose.”

“The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, CON, on behalf of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), mourns the death of the former Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, aged, 72.

Governors Otti, Uzodimma and Nwifuru, who described the death of Onu as shocking, said Nigeria would miss his political contributions and interventions.

“Onu is one of such living statesmen with the character, carriage and ‘statesmanly’ disposition required to reposition the nation for the better.

“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 contributions and interventions were needed in Nigeria,” Otti said.

The governor promised to immortalise him by ensuring that the democratic journey he started in Abia as a civilian governor many years ago was advanced to a level where the well-being of Abians would be made an institutionalised priority.

Uzodimma said that Onu would be remembered as a leading light in the APC family having, for many years, imbibed the tenets of progressive democracy as the easiest route to serve the people.

The governor condoled with the APC family, President Tinubu, Nigeria, Southeast and its people over the development.

Governor Nwifuru lamented in a terse statement that Ebonyi State had lost an illustrious son.

“His Excellency, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, was a thoroughbred politician and an advocate of justice and fairness. It is indeed a sad development losing a patriotic leader who stopped at nothing at rendering best services to his people when he served in different capacities,” Nwifuru said

He extended his heartfelt condolences to Onu’s immediate family and prayed God to give them fortitude to bear the loss.

The Chairman of the Ebonyi APC, Stanley Okoro-Emegha, said: “The news is a sad one, we all know that he was sick sometime and has recovered, we didn’t know that he was going to die so unexpectedly.

END.