Former Kaduna Central lawmaker, Shehu Sani, says the late Ogbonnaya Onu, the first civilian Governor in Abia State, was “displaced” from being the President of Nigeria in 1999.
Recall that Onu, an All Progressives Congress presidential aspirant in the 2023 election, died in Abuja on Thursday at 73
While paying tribute to the former Minister, he said Ogbonnaya could have been President in 1999 after he won the All Peoples Party primaries in Kaduna.
“He was deliberately displaced after a midnight merger with the then AD. The military wanted Obasanjo and Falae.
“The late Chief Onu is one of Nigeria’s most distinguished, decent and disciplined political figures in history.
“He has been an influential figure in Nigeria’s politics for over four decades. A Senator in the second republic,a Governor in the third republic and a presidential candidate, party chairman and minister in the fourth republic.
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“He is a rare breed politician who lived as unstained, untainted and unblemished like his white apparel. He was a man who lived and served his country with decorum and impactful anonymity.
“He was a true patriot whose nationalist credentials can’t be faulted by any section of the country. Onu was an unnoticed and unappreciated gentleman and national leader. In words and in deeds, he lived above politics of rancour and controversy. In 1999, the outgoing military wanted power to shift to the South West. Onu was a simple man.
“His known residence in Asokoro remains the one rented for him by his party, the ANPP, when he was elected its chairman. He remained there throughout his tenure as Minister. May his soul rest in peace.”
In a similar tribute, former Abia Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Emma Nwaka, disclosed that Onu surrendered his presidential ticket in 1998 for democracy to gain roots in Nigeria.
“By his death, Nigeria has lost somebody who firmly believed in the Nigerian Project, a man who without fuss surrendered his presidential ticket for democracy to gain roots in our dear fatherland,” he said.
