People of Anambra State was on Wednesday thrown
into a panic following the rumours that one of its eminent citizens,
Chief Emeka Ojukwu, had died.
The former warlord was rushed to a London hospital on December 23, 2010 for treatment for an undisclosed ailment.
Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, dismissed the rumour of the passing of the national leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance saying Ojukwu was still alive.
It could not be immediately known where the rumour originated, but telephone calls and text messages circulated claiming that the Ikemba was dead.
The rumour gained further grounds when markets and shops were shut in Nnewi, Ojukwu’s hometown. But investigations showed that the markets and shops were shut by residents to protest the incessant kidnappings in the town.
An Anambra State Government official on an Internet blog said, “I have received some probing questions from the media and journalists, some with ugly rumours, and some provocative rumours but Ikemba is well and great.”
An aide to Bianca, Ojukwu’s wife said, “We have not heard about,” when our correspondent called to inquire from Bianca.
She said Bianca had only come into Enugu last Saturday to take the children away perhaps to London where Ojukwu was recuperating after suffering a stroke in Enugu last December.
In a statement in Awka on Wednesday, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Mike Udah, said the governor had to formally refute the rumours following innumerable calls and enquires he received from different quarters.
He said, “Governor Peter Obi has been inundated with calls from many quarters, both within and outside the country on the state of health of Igbo Leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu.
“The intermittent heightening of tension that has attended his hospitalisation shows how dearly Nigerians and the world hold him.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Anambra State Government, Mr. Valentine Obienyem, however dispelled the rumour, when he told our correspondent that once he heard the rumour, he contacted the Chief of Staff to Ojukwu, who dispelled the rumours.
Meanwhile, a community leader, Chief Anthony Agidigbo Oguejiofor has commended the Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, for what he called his wonderful support to the ailing Ojukwu.
In a statement he made available to journalists in Awka on Wednesday, Oguejiofor said considering what Ojukwu was to the Igbos, anything involving him ought to be the concern of the entire Igbos, not just because he was a former governor of the South-East, but because of the peculiar part he played in the history of Igbos in Nigeria.
A son of the ailing Igbo leader, Okigbo Odumegwu-Ojukwu, in a telephone interview with an online portal, denied the death of the elder stateman.
He said, “It is not true that my father died,” adding that as a resident of London, he was constantly in touch with the hospital personnel caring for his father.
By Emmanuel Obe and Terver Bendega Courtesy of: Punch
The former warlord was rushed to a London hospital on December 23, 2010 for treatment for an undisclosed ailment.
Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, dismissed the rumour of the passing of the national leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance saying Ojukwu was still alive.
It could not be immediately known where the rumour originated, but telephone calls and text messages circulated claiming that the Ikemba was dead.
The rumour gained further grounds when markets and shops were shut in Nnewi, Ojukwu’s hometown. But investigations showed that the markets and shops were shut by residents to protest the incessant kidnappings in the town.
An Anambra State Government official on an Internet blog said, “I have received some probing questions from the media and journalists, some with ugly rumours, and some provocative rumours but Ikemba is well and great.”
An aide to Bianca, Ojukwu’s wife said, “We have not heard about,” when our correspondent called to inquire from Bianca.
She said Bianca had only come into Enugu last Saturday to take the children away perhaps to London where Ojukwu was recuperating after suffering a stroke in Enugu last December.
In a statement in Awka on Wednesday, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Mike Udah, said the governor had to formally refute the rumours following innumerable calls and enquires he received from different quarters.
He said, “Governor Peter Obi has been inundated with calls from many quarters, both within and outside the country on the state of health of Igbo Leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu.
“The intermittent heightening of tension that has attended his hospitalisation shows how dearly Nigerians and the world hold him.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Anambra State Government, Mr. Valentine Obienyem, however dispelled the rumour, when he told our correspondent that once he heard the rumour, he contacted the Chief of Staff to Ojukwu, who dispelled the rumours.
Meanwhile, a community leader, Chief Anthony Agidigbo Oguejiofor has commended the Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, for what he called his wonderful support to the ailing Ojukwu.
In a statement he made available to journalists in Awka on Wednesday, Oguejiofor said considering what Ojukwu was to the Igbos, anything involving him ought to be the concern of the entire Igbos, not just because he was a former governor of the South-East, but because of the peculiar part he played in the history of Igbos in Nigeria.
A son of the ailing Igbo leader, Okigbo Odumegwu-Ojukwu, in a telephone interview with an online portal, denied the death of the elder stateman.
He said, “It is not true that my father died,” adding that as a resident of London, he was constantly in touch with the hospital personnel caring for his father.
By Emmanuel Obe and Terver Bendega Courtesy of: Punch
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