President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Great Political Leaders in Nigeria Mourn the death of an Icon- Audu ogbeh.
In their tribute to former Agriculture Minister and former PDP National Chairman Chief Audu Ogbeh, President Bola Tinubu, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Senator George Akume, and former Senate President Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki yesterday described him as a patriot who had a strong belief in the country’s potential.
Ogbeh was also mourned by the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NGF), Senator David Mark, the former Senate President and Interim National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia, the Labour Party (LP), and Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, the former governor of Abia State. According to a statement from the Ogbeh family, the 78-year-old statesman passed away quietly at his home in Abuja yesterday morning.
It noted that details of the funeral arrangements would be communicated in due course, while expressing gratitude to friends, colleagues, and well-wishers for their prayers and support.
In a statement issued yesterday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu said the late politician was “always ready with facts and figures to support his propositions” and “a man of strong convictions who spoke the truth as he saw it.”
“The nation will sorely miss his insightful perspectives and wealth of experience,” President Tinubu stated.
PDP presidential candidate Atiku has also described Ogbeh’s demise as a rude shock and loss of a patriot and principled politician, adding that he was a quintessential gentleman, affable and amiable friend and reliable political ally, whose immense contributions to nation-building would be sorely missed.
On his part, Saraki described Ogbeh as a public figure whose words were always guided by integrity and whose service was rooted in genuine concern for the people.
Ogbeh was boring , in Otukpo, Benue State, and attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; and later the University of Toulouse in France, he rose from teaching assistant to head of the Language, Arts and Social Sciences Department at Murtala College of Arts, Science and Technology in 1977.
His entry into public service came with his election to the Benue State House of Assembly in 1979, where he served as Deputy Speaker.
He was subsequently appointed Federal Minister of Communications (1982–1983) and Minister of Steel Development in the Second Republic, until the coup of December 1983 halted his tenure.
He served on the National Constitutional Conference Commission (1993) and the National Reconciliation Committee (1995).
He was a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ogbeh became National Chairman of PDP (2001–2005).
In the later years of his career, Ogbeh was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (2015–2019) under the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
