Orji Eulogises Ojukwu

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State, has described the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, as an enigma, who meant well not only for the Igbo people but all humanity.

“Ojukwu represented the determination to survive, no matter the circumstance,” Orji said on Saturday, while addressing a group of mourners at the Government House, Umuahia.

He also described the former Governor of the defunct Eastern Region as a man of “ingenuity and transparency.”

Represented by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Don Ubani, the governor extolled Ojukwu for “liberating Ndigbo from bondage and captivity.”

Our correspondent  reports that the mourners, who wore white vests, embossed with Ojukwu’s picture, held a procession round major streets of the state capital.

The traditional mourning procession, called “Ichommadu’’ in Igboland, marked the official commencement of the late Ezendigbo’s burial rites, which would terminate at Ojukwu’s civil war bunker.

The procession was organised by the Local Organising Committee, set up by the Abia government to co-ordinate the state’s participation in Ojukwu’s burial on March 3.

The chairman of the committee, Prof. Joshua Ogbonnaya, said the procession was part of the committee’s programme lined up by the committee for the burial.

Ogbonnaya explained that Ojukwu’s remains would be brought to Aba on February 28, where it would lie-in state.