ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – A former presidential aspirant in the 2023 general election, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, is reportedly dead.
Onu was a former Governor of Abia State and ex-Minister of Science and Technology under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
He was chairman of the now defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP.
He was said to have died on Thursday morning (today) at an Abuja hospital at the age of 72.
An online publisher, Jackson Udeh, posted on X that “First first Governor of Abia State, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has passed on this morning in an Abuja hospital. Good Night, Dr. Onu. May your soul Rest In Peace. Amen!”
Also a close friend of his, Chief Chekwas Okorie told THE CONCLAVE that Onu suffered a stroke on Wednesday from which he did not recover.
It was learnt that he had the first bout of partial stroke which he had battled in recent times before the fatal second stroke.
Ogbonnaya Onu was a lecturer at University of Port Harcourt before he made a foray into national politics during the scuttled transition to civilian rule of former president Ibrahim Babangida from 1991 to 1993.
He was elected governor in 1992 and served till the late Sani Abacha overthrew Ernest Shonekan’s administration in 1994.
He resigned as minister of science and technology in the Buhari administration to contest the presidential primaries in 2022 on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
His family had yet to make a formal statement, as of the time of this report, on his death.
