Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who resigned from the President Muhammadu Buhari administration as minister of science and technology to contest the presidential primaries in 2022, is dead.
His death was announced today, April 11, in BBC Igbo, which said that he died at a hospital in Abuja, aged 72.
Ogbonnaya Onu, who was American trained scientist, was a graduate of the University of Lagos with First Class Degree in Chemical Engineering, and obtained Doctor of Philosophy Degree in the same field. He was the first governor of Abia state.
He served as a lecturer at University of Port Harcourt where he became a pioneer Head of Department of Chemical Engineering, before he made a foray into National Politics during the scuttled transition to civilian rule of former president Ibrahim Babangida from 1991 to 1993.
He was elected governor in 1991 and served till the late Sani Abacha overthrew Ernest Shonekan’s administration in 1994.
Onu remained in politics and made a few attempts to run for President, including 1999 when he ran for Presidency on the platform of the All Peoples Party (APP), which was later known as All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
