Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has lamented the death of former President General of Ohazaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador Ralph Uwechue, who passed away on Thursday at Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State.

Governor Uduaghan in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sunny Ogefere, described the late Uwechue as a quintessential elder statesman that left his footprints in the sands of Africa and beyond.

According to the governor, the wealth of experience of the late statesman “would have been of immense benefit to Nigeria, this period in our national history when the national conference is about kicking off.

“It is on record that the late Chief Uwechue was Nigeria’s first diplomatic envoy to France, where he opened the Nigerian Embassy in Paris, 1966, and also served in UNESCO in Paris as consultant on general history of Africa project between 1967 and 1970.”

Uduaghan added that as Special Presidential Envoy on Conflict Resolution in Africa to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Uwechue played a key role in the resolution of the Sierra Leonean civil war and the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire.

“The unity, progress and development in Igbo land were testaments of the wealth of experience the late Chief Uwechue brought to bear as President-General of the Igbo Socio-Cultural Organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo,” Uduaghan said.

The governor lamented: “In Uwechue, the international community, the Black Race, Nigeria, Delta State, Ndigbo, Anioma and Ogwashi-Uku Community have lost an irreplaceable rare gem.”

Uduaghan noted that it was a sad period for Deltans as Delta State has lost two great citizens in one week, with the death of Chief Abel Ubeku, the first Nigerian Managing Director of Guinness Nigeria Limited, few days back

He urged the immediate family of the late statesman to take solace in the fact that he lived a fulfilled and accomplished life on earth while praying God to give them the fortitude to bear the loss.

•Photo shows late Ralph Uwechue.

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