ROMANUS Obi, member representing Orumba North constituency at the Anambra State House of Assembly, has commended Federal Government for renaming, Federal University, Ndufu, after the late Vice President Alex Ekwueme.

The university is sited at Alike, Ikwo in Ebonyi State.

Obi who spoke to newsmen at Oko during funeral rites of late former vice-president of Nigeria, said his immortalisation was apt, given his contributions to national development.

According to the lawmaker, he has earlier sponsored a bill in the assembly seeking the renaming of any of the nation’s institution after the elder statesman.

Uchenna Okonkwo–Okom, coordinator, Alex Ekwueme Burial Committee in the old Aguata union, expressed similar sentiments but called for the upgrading of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko to upgraded to a university in honour of Ekwueme.

Dan Ogbuefi, an All Progressives Grand Alliance chieftain from Agulu, urged Nigerians to zone Nigeria’s presidency Igbo, as a payback to the late Ekwueme, who fought for the progress of Nigeria and the Igbo race.

Describing Ekwueme as `humble great leader’, of the Igbo people, Oguefi said he expected Nigerians to tap from the fountain of his wealth of experience, which impacted positively on the nation’s development.

In other tributes, Tim Menakaya, a former Minister of Health, described Ekwueme as “a colossus in all spheres of human endeavour’’, who championed the actualisation of the nation’s six geo-political zones.

Willy Nwokoye, the principal secretary to governor of Anambra, viewed the elder statesman as a political theoretician whose contributions to national development was not in doubt.

– Feb. 5, 2018 @ 18:43 GMT |