A former Minister of Science and Technology under the administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Ogbonnaya Onu, has reportedly died.
Egalitarian Voice reports Onu, who is the first civilian Governor of Abia State, passed on this morning in an Abuja hospital.
According to a source close to the deceased, the former governor died after a brief illness in an undisclosed hospital in Nigeria.
Another source assured that Onu’s burial programmes would be announced soon by the family.
Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, a professional engineer, was a lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria before joining politics.
The first-class engineering graduate was elected governor of the old Abia State in 1992. His tenure was cut short by the military in 1994. He’s from Uburu community, Ohaozara local government area, in today’s Ebonyi state.
Dr Ogbonnaya Onu in his political trajectory became national chairman of the defunct All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) which later collapsed into APC, party birthed in 2013 by merger of the then major opposition political parties.
He was appointed minister of Science and Technology in 2015 by the immediate past president of Nigeria, Muhammad Buhari, a position he had held for eight years.
In 2023, he contested for the APC presidential ticket but lost to President Bola Tinubu.
Onu died at the age of 71. He’s survived by children and other family members.
