Felix Ibru, former Delta governor, dies at 80

Felix Ibru, former governor of Delta state, died on Saturday after a brief illness.

Details of his death are still sketchy.

Born on December 7, 1935, Ibru was elected as the first governor of Delta state in 1992, and was also elected a senator in 2003.

He represented Delta Central senatorial district.

An influential businessman, Ibru was president of the Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU) until his death.

UPU described his death as a shock, praying that God grants the family “the fortitude to bear the great loss”.

”The death of Olorogun Felix Ibru today came as a shock to the Urhobo nation,” Josiah Ntekume, the public relations officer (PRO) interim committee of the union in a statement.

”A heart has stopped beating. A good soul has ascended to heaven. We part with our beloved former president-general of UPU and first executive governor of Delta in pain.”

As a traditional chieftain of his homeland, Felix Ibru bears the tribal honorific Olorogun.

He often uses it as a pre-nominal style the title is also borne by many of the members of his large family in the same way.

As a student in Nottingham, he was elected the first black president of the British Council with responsibility for Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire.

In 1997, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D) by the Delta State University and a Fellowship of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).