More Nigerians have continued to hail the Federal Government for immortalising late former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, who was interred on Saturday, February 3, 2018 in his country home, Oko in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State.

The member representing Orumba North constituency in the State House of Assembly, Chief Romanus Obi, while commending the Muhammadu Buhari administration for renaming Federal University at Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, after the late Dr. Ekwueme, described his immortalisation as apt given his contributions to national development.

According to the Obi, he had earlier sponsored a bill in the State House of Assembly seeking for the renaming of any of the nation’s institutions after the elder statesmen.

Coordinator of Dr. Alex Ekwueme Burial Committee in the old Aguata Union, Hon. Uchenna Okonkwo-Okom, while expressing similar sentiments, called for the upgrading of the Federal Polytechnic Oko to a university in honour of Dr. Ekwueme.

On his part, an All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) chieftain from Agulu, Chief Dan Ogbuefi, urged Nigerians to give the presidency of the country to the Igbos as a payback to the late Dr, Ekwueme for his struggles for the progress of the Igbo race.

While painting the late elder statesman as a humble and great leader of the Igbo people, he urged Nigerians to tap from the fountain of his wealth of experience which, he added, impacted positively on the nation’s development.

On his part, a former Minister of Health, Dr. Tim Menakaya, described Dr. Ekwueme as a colossus in all spheres of human endeavour who championed the actualisation of the nation’s six geo-political zone.

Contributing, the Principal Secretary to the Anambra State Governor, Chief Willy Nwokoye, said that late Ekwueme was a political theoretician whose contributions to national development is not in doubt.

Minister for Labour and Employment Dr. Chris Ngige, during his condolence to the Ekwueme family described him as a rare breed politician without blemish until his death.

His words: “I knew the late political icon as a secondary school boy and in all my encounters with him, Dr. Alex Ekwueme never indulged in what I call B and C, meaning bribery and corruption as a public office holder.”

He urged the family to take solace in the fact that their father lived a good exemplary life, leaving behind a good name that will always go with them.

Similarly, the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO), Enugu State chapter, has applauded the President for re-naming a Federal University after Ekwueme.

In a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Chibueze Eze, BSO lauded Buhari for giving a befitting burial to an illustrious son of Ndigbo and a Pan-Nigerian who invented the convention of geopolitical zones and served the country meritoriously as Vice President and in other capacities.

Eze noted that the late elder statesman was accorded an official reception at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, with the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, at hand to receive his remains while the Federal Government organised a night of tributes for him at the Federal Capital.

According to the BSO spokesman, the Federal Government equally sent a high powered delegation led by the Vice President to Ekwueme’s final burial rite at his hometown, Oko, Anambra State, last Friday.

BSO said: “During the final burial, the Vice President announced that the Federal Government has named the Federal University in Ebonyi State after Alex Ekwueme, AEU, to immortalize him.

“We thank President Muhammadu Buhari for not only giving Ekwueme, a befitting burial but flowing him to London for medication and capping it with naming the Federal University in Ebonyi State after him.

“We urge Ndigbo to reciprocate this gesture by supporting President Muhammadu Buhari who has embarked on the construction of 2nd Niger Bridge, Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port Harcourt express way; for a second term in 2019. Port Harcourt-Maiduguri standard gauge rail line will soon take off.

“We maintain that President Muhammadu’s second Term is the fastest route for person of Igbo extraction to be president in 2023. Accordingly, supporting any other candidate from the North, amounts to entering one chance bus.”

Eze reaffirmed BSO’s conviction that President Buhari is fulfilling his campaign promises to Nigerians and Ndigbo in particular, pointing out that federal roads cruelly abandoned by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the South-East and Second Niger Bridge are now receiving attention.

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