Buhari, Odigie-Oyegun mourn Senator Okpozo, Onitiri

President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed condolences to the government and people of Delta State on the death of Chief Francis Okpozo, a Second Republic senator and member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Also, the president has described the passage of renowned professor of economics and elder statesman, Herbert Onitiri as a national loss.Buhari in a statement yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, commiserated with the family and friends of the late senator. He said his passion for social justice in the Niger Delta during his years of service to the people endeared him to many.

As a stalwart of the APC in the South-South, President Buhari said the party greatly benefited from the octogenarian’s charismatic leadership and wealth of experience as a politician.

The President condoled with Prof. Onitiri’s family as well as the academia on the death of the former executive director of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan.

Also mourning the late senator was the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun.In a condolence message to his family, he commiserated with the Ozoro community in Isoko North Local Council area.

Odigie-Oyegun described the late former Deputy Speaker of the defunct Bendel State House of Assembly as the party’s leading voice in the south-south region.

The APC National Chairman said: “Until his death, the late Spanner Francis Okpozo was an elder statesman, nationalist and progressive critic, whose commentaries positively influenced and shaped discourse and developments at the national level as well as in the south-south region.

“He has left us at a critical time when he was needed to contribute to nation building, the Change Agenda of the APC, as well as the growth of the party.