President Bola Tinubu, Thursday, joined Nigerians to mourn the sudden demise of the pioneer Governor of Abia State and former Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who died in an Abuja hospital, Thursday morning.
Chief Onu succumbed to an undisclosed illness at the age of 72. He would have been 73 on December 1, 2024, having been born on December 1,1951, to the family of Eze David Aba Onu in Amata, Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of then Eastern region, later Imo State, then Abia State, and now Ebonyi State.
A release by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ajuri Ngelale, said:
“The President mourns a luminous star in Nigeria’s political firmament. The first civilian governor of Abia State; former minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, a principal draughtsman in the founding of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and a valiant partner in the victory of the party in the 2015 elections.
“Most importantly, the President celebrates the life of an accomplished scholar, first-class engineer; a man of proven integrity; defiant to indiscipline, but ever yielding to the highest standards of rectitude.
“President Tinubu affirms that Chief Onu epitomizes Nigeria in concord; in wholeness, as the late statesman believed in and defended Nigeria’s unity, advocated peace, and promoted fellowship across the Niger.”
The President, Ngelale further revealed, also condoled with the friends and associates of Chief Onu, as well as the governments and people of Ebonyi and Abia State, and, indeed, all Nigerians grieving the gaping loss.
“President Tinubu prays to God Almighty to grant repose to the gentle soul of this great leader,” the statement concluded.
Dr. Onu began his education at Izzi High School in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, where he obtained grade one with distinction in his West African School Certificate Exmination, WASCE. After attending the College of Immaculate Conception (C.I.C), Enugu, where he sat for the High School Examination and graduated as the overall best student, he proceeded to the University of Lagos, and graduated with a first class degree in Chemical Engineering in 1976. He went for his doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in chemical engineering in 1980.
