By MAX AMUCHIE
ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – Dr. Ngozi Anyaegbunam, Nigerian academic and hugely respected scholar, is dead.
Born in October 9, 1957, she reportedly died in a hospital in Abuja on October 31 after losing battle to cancer, close sources told Sundiata Post at the weekend.
However, a statement signed by her son, Rocky C. Agbese, on behalf of the family, which he sent to Sundiata Post WhatsApp platform on Sunday, said she died after a brief illness.
The statement reads, “With gratitude to God for a life well spent, we announce the untimely death of Dr Ngozi Fidelia Anyaegbunam after a brief illness.
“A trailblazing journalist who had editorial stints with Champion Newspaper (1st female editor) and The Daily Times (where she authored the book Waziri Ibrahim: Politics Without Bitterness, Ngozi was born in October 1957 at Damaturu in modern day Yobe State to George and Victoria Anyaegbunam.
“Subsequent to these, she became a full time media management consultant to numerous blue chip companies.
“She also held the distinction of being a female print media journalist to interview two sitting Presidents of Nigeria (Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari).
“A dedicated and loving mother, grandmother, sister, cousin and friend, Auntie Ngozi will be sorely missed by all who came across her and were impacted by her larger than life presence.
“Rest in Peace till we meet to part no more!!” The statement stated that funeral arrangements will be announced by the family later.
Sundiata Post reports that the late Ngozi Anyaegbunam, who was aged 67, was educated at the University of Jos from where she graduated in 1981. She was a graduate assistant and later lecturer in the Department of General Studies, University of Calabar, from where she earned a PhD in English in 1987. Her doctoral dissertation was on ‘The Fiction of Tony Ubesie’.
She resigned from the University of Calabar in 1988 and became a pioneer staff of Champion Newspapers, where she was made first woman editor.
After a stint at on the editorial board of Daily Times, she moved on to set up Media World, a communication research NGO.
