Lai Mohammed: Ogbonnaya Onu never held a grudge in Buhari’s cabinet

Lai Mohammed, immediate past minister of information, says Ogbonnaya Onu was one of the star performers in ex-President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet. 

Onu, former minister of science and technology and first civilian governor of Abia state, died on April 11 aged 72.

Speaking in a chat with TheCable, Mohammed said the death of the former governor was a personal loss for him.

“It was a sad loss, a personal loss for me because of the relationship we shared,” Mohammed said.

“Ogbonnaya Onu was a quintessential gentleman. He was very quiet but very effective in all he does. He believed he could add value to the polity and he did just that. He is one of the unsung heroes of this country.

“He was a man of details who was passionate, honourable and patriotic. When in 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari asked all those who wanted to contest for election to resign from the cabinet, he voluntarily resigned. Even when the primaries was conducted and he didn’t win, he never made any attempt to come back to government.

“I had a very special relationship with him. Many people don’t know that Ogbonnaya Onu was not just a politician. This is a man who made a first class in engineering, he was the first civilian governor of Abia state during the SDP/NRC days.”

Mohammed also lauded the late Onu for the sacrifices he made for the merger that birthed the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“In the third republic, he surrendered his ambition so that the collaboration and cooperation between the then AD and ANPP will work. He later rose to became national chairman of ANPP and he was very influential when we were doing our merger to become APC,” Mohammed added.

“For a national chairman of a legacy party to support and work for the success of the merger means that he was ready to give up his own position, because with the merger, all the legacy chairmen like Chief Bisi Akande, late Tony Momoh and Onu had to vacate their position for just one new chairman.”

Recounting his contributions during cabinet meetings Mohammed said “his death has hit me because we had a very personal relationship”.

“What many of our colleagues in President Buhari’s cabinet will remember him for was that when he was contributing during cabinet meetings, he was always thorough, comprehensive and no matter what it is, he will stick to his guns and follow up his arguments to the last letter. He doesn’t hold any grudge with anyone,” he added.