Anambra Govt Plans Befitting Burial for Ekwueme

Family opens condolence register at eight centres
Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu and David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, has said the state would set up a committee to give the late former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, a befitting burial.

Obiano disclosed this when he paid a condolence visit to the family of the late icon at his country home, Ezioko village, Oko in Orumba North Local Government Area of the state.

He told journalists in Awka that the plan was imperative because the late Ekwueme was a worthy son of the state who deserved to be honoured at death.
The governor revealed further that due to the personality of the deceased, the committee will draw members from the five South-eastern states and beyond.

He said the committee would be charged with the responsibility of planning for the state on how to give Ekwueme a befitting burial, whether or not the federal government provideds assistance or not.
The governor described the late elder statesman as a father whom he shared very intimate relationship with, describing his demise as a great loss to the state and the country.

“We will give him a state burial just as we did to the late Ikemba Ojukwu; he was one of the finest jurists that the nation has produced and deserved that his state honoured him,” Obiano said.
Meanwhile, the Ekwueme family has opened condolence registers at eight centres for Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora to pay their tributes.

The family was however silent on when his remains would be brought back to the country for burial.
The elder statesman died at 85 years last Sunday at a London hospital.
The traditional ruler of Oko Community in the state and the younger brother of the former vice president , Igwe Laz Ekwueme, said in a statement issued yesterday that one of the registers would be opened at the country home of the late octogenarian in Oko, Orumba North Local Government Area.

He said the other locations are the Office of the Rector, Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State; the Nigeria High Commission, 9 Northumberland Avenue Westminster, London; the International Conference Centre, Abuja; No. 4 Ikoya Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos; No. 11 Ezzikwo Street Independence Layout, Enugu; the Vice Chancellor’s Office, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State and the Vice Chancellor’s Office, Paul University Awka, Anambra State.

He also gave the online address as: http://www.forevermissed.com/alexekwueme and alexekwuemetributes@gmail.com.
Ekwueme was flown abroad on November 12 in an air ambulance after being hospitalised at Memfys Hospital of Neurosurgery, Enugu for what the family attributed to chest infection.
He had collapsed at his Enugu residence on October 30 and relapsed into coma before being rushed to the hospital where he was initially put on life support.

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