Nigeria’s ex-minister of science and technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has died at 72.
Onu who was the first governor of Abia state died after a brief illness in an undisclosed hospital in Nigeria.
This was confirmed by one of his kinsmen in Ebonyi who said, “He has been sick for some time this year and his family said they would fly him abroad to get better medical treatment for him but he could not make it till then.”
Onu, who hailed from Ebonyi State, was the first civilian governor of Abia State and Nigeria’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation from November 2015 until his resignation in 2022.
After serving as a teacher and later as a lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, Ogbonnaya Onu ventured into politics as an aspirant for a senatorial seat in the old Imo State under the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
He transitioned to contest for the position of Governor of Abia State in 1991 under the National Republican Convention and emerged victorious.
Assuming office as the first executive governor of the state in January 1992, Onu became the inaugural chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Elected Governors.
In 1999, he pursued the presidential candidacy of the All People’s Party but deferred to Olu Falae after a merger with the Alliance for Democracy.
Subsequently, Falae lost the presidential election to Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Onu later assumed the role of national chairman of the All Nigerian People’s Party.
Following the merger of the ANPP with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Democratic People’s Party (DPP), and some members of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in 2013, the All Progressives Congress (APC) was formed, becoming Nigeria’s ruling party.
In November 2015, Onu was appointed as Minister of Science and Technology by then-President Muhammadu Buhari, a position he held until his resignation in 2022.
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