Obasanjo, northern elders, Ortom, others mourn Unongo

Northern elders, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom and other leaders have described the death of the Minister of Power, Mines and Steel in the Second Republic, Wantaregh Paul Unongo, as a great loss to the country.

The former Chairman of Northern Elders Forum (NEF) died Tuesday afternoon at the age of 87 in a hospital in Jos, Plateau State capital where he had been receiving treatment.

Obasanjo, in a condolence letter to the governor, described Unongo’s death as “a great blow on the collective yearnings and aspirations of the NEF.”

The former president, according to a copy of the message made available to newsmen in Abeokuta, Ogun State, by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, said the late former minister served Benue, his community and nation with distinction in many spheres during his lifetime.

Ortom, in his own message, expressed deep pains over the death of the elder statesman, saying “we have lost a pathfinder and leader of an inestimable value.”

He described him as a father figure who championed the emancipation of ordinary citizens without ethnic or religious barriers.

A former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, in his message, recalled the role of Unongo in the political evolution of Nigeria as the pioneer National Secretary of Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) led by the first Nigerian President, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, otherwise called the Zikist movement.

Also, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Secretary General, Murtala Aliyu, in a statement issued yesterday in Kaduna, said Unongo dedicated his life to service to the people and humanity.

Aliyu recalled the role the deceased played in the formation of a national government, spearheaded by the then alliance between NPN and NPP that took power from the military, and headed by the late President Shehu Shagari in 1979.