The Anambra State Government has mourned the death, on Saturday, April 17, 2020, of Dr Edwin Onwudiwe, Senator of the Federal Republic from October to December 1983. “Anambra State has been robbed of one of its most distinguished sons,” The state’s Commissioner for Information & Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba, said in a statement issued on Saturday.

“The people and government of Anambra State mourn with the Ogbunike community in Oyi Local Government Area the passage of this medical doctor who served creditably as the Commissioner for Health in old Anambra State which now compromises Enugu State, a substantial part of Ebonyi State and, of course, the current Anambra State,” the statement further said.

It described the late Senator as a “brilliant doctor and public officer reputed for commitment to the common good and sound social values.”

Dr Onwudiwe, born in February, 1934, was the first senator from the Omambala culture area in the state. An obstetrician and gynaecologist who trained in institutions in Germany and Switzerland after initial medical training at the University of Ibadan, Dr Onwudiwe returned to Nigeria and settled in Owerri, Imo State, where he set up St Joseph’s Hospital and contributed in no small measure to the rapid development of what was then called a township.

Dr Onwudiwe came into national reckoning when he rode on the back of The Great Zik of Africa and his Nigerian People’s Party (NPP), then the ruling party in the state, to go to the Senate. With the military coup of December 31, 1983, Dr Onwudie returned to medical practice.With the liberalization of the banking sector in the 1980s as part of the economic adjustment programme (SAP), Dr Onwudiwe joined the board of a new generation bank and in no time became its chairman.