Former President Muhammadu Buhari’s Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, is dead.
He was 72 year old.
The first civilian Governor of Abia State reportedly passed on in the early hours of today in a hospital at Abuja.
He had also contested the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primaries that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu won to contest the 2023 elections.
Born on December 1, 1951, in Ohaozara, present day Abia State, Onu had been a prominent figure in Nigerian politics, serving in various capacities including as Minister under the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
After his graduation from the University of Lagos, Ogbonnaya Onu became a teacher at St. Augustine’s Seminary, Ezzamgbo, Ebonyi State.
After the completion of his doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley, Onu became a lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Port Harcourt, and later became the pioneer head of the department.
He also served as the acting dean of the Faculty of Engineering and was also elected as a member of the Governing Council of the university
Ogbonnaya Onu started his political career as an aspirant for a senatorial seat in the old Imo State on the platform of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
He contested the position of Governor of Abia State in 1991 under the umbrella of the National Republican Convention and won.
He was sworn in as the first Executive Governor of the state in January 1992.
He was the first chairman, Conference of Nigerian elected governors.
In 1999, he was the Presidential flag bearer for the All People’s Party but relinquished the position to Olu Falae after a merger of his party with the Alliance for Democracy who lost to Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP.
He became the National Chairman of the All Nigerian People’s Party in 2010.
In 2013, he and his party (ANPP) successfully merged 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) to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In November 2015, he was appointed Minister of Science and Technology by President Muhammadu Buhari.
On August 21, 2019, he was sworn in again as Minister of Science and Technology by President Muhammadu Buhari.
