A former Vice President, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, has revealed that as Vice President of Nigeria, he surrounded himself with the best brains from across the country, making his Office to function powerfully during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He spoke in Abuja at a Night of Tributes and inauguration of Dr Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo Endowment Fund, where he donated N10 million to support the take-off of the Fund.
Atiku, described the late Dr Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo, as a brilliant, transparent and forthright journalist, playwright, and scholar, who made tremendous impact during his administration as a Vice President of Nigeria.
He said as Vice President, he surrounded himself with about 8 PhD holders as workers in office, with Ojo as one of those that made his Office outstanding at the time.
He said: “I like to work with people I will learn from and Ojo together with the rest actually formed the core of my office and of course in our administration, you knew the impact of my office on our administration,” he said.
The former Vice President said he was terribly shocked and pained to learn of the death, on March 5, 2017, of Dr Adinoyi-Ojo Onukaba, saying the news was more shocking because Onukaba was at my residence just two days earlier on Friday, May 3, 2017, he visited me before travelling out of Abuja.
“I would later learn that Ojo, as all his friends called him, was knocked down by an unidentified vehicle, while fleeing the scene of a robbery attack around Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, while travelling between Ogun and Kogi States.
“That was one death too many. The late Ojo was a brilliant, affable, easy-going, unassuming and decent gentleman,” he said adding that he appointed him, first as Special Assistant on Media, in 1999 and later Senior Special Assistant on Media 2003, following Atiku’s re-election as Vice President,” he said.
Atiku, while announcing the donation of the N10 million, appealed to everyone at the solemn tribute to contribute generously to the Endowment Fund in order to help support the education of the children left behind by Adinoyi-Ojo.
Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Modibbo Umar and many others at the event eulogised the virtues of Adinoyi-Ojo, while also calling on the Federal government to address the issue of insecurity and violent crimes in the country.
Special Assistant Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, also appealed to Nigerians to support the family of the deceased, especially the three children he left behind.
He said: “I will like to appeal to everyone of to think about those children. We knew Ojo left nothing because he wasn’t the kind of person who enjoyed keeping money or wanting money by all means as such”.
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