Ekwueme’s exit, a painful national loss ―Olabode George

 FORMER deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, on Monday, described the sudden death of former Vice President Alex Ekwueme as a very painful national loss.

George, who is the PDP chairmanship aspirant in the coming national convention holding in Abuja, said this in his reaction in a statement he personally signed, adding that the exit of Nigeria’s No2 man was not only the end of an era but a sad departure of one of the very significant symbols of those who dedicated their lives to the service of the country.

The PDP chieftain, however, paid great tribute to the qualities in the country’s fallen hero, describing him as “a genuine patriot, an outstanding statesman whose total fixity was predicated on the growth and the development of the Nigerian State.”

He further described the late Ekwueme as a gentleman, a thoroughbred, civil and humble person who yet radiated a powerful intellect and a scholarly presence, stripped of arrogance, adding that his death no doubt was the end of an era.

The text of the statement reads: “The sudden passage of Dr Alex Ekwueme is indeed a very painful national loss. The former Vice President was a genuine patriot, an outstanding statesman whose total fixity was predicated on the growth and the development of the Nigerian State.

“He was a gentleman, a thoroughbred, civil, humble but yet radiated a powerful intellect and a scholarly presence, stripped of arrogance.

“His death is the end of an era, a sad departure of one of the very significant symbols of those who dedicated their lives and to the service of our nation.”