Top politicians across parties party line on Thursday stormed the Asokoro residence of the late Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Cairo Ojougboh to pay his immediate family a condolence visit.
The former member of the House of Representatives, who represented the Ika federal constituency, died on Wednesday night while watching the AFCON 2023 semi-final match between Nigeria and South Africa.
Tribune Online learnt that Ojougboh slumped as soon as a penalty kick was awarded against Nigeria during the AFCON match with South Africa.
Our correspondent who visited the residence of the APC chieftain observed how politicians continue to visit the residence of the deceased, to commiserate with his widow.
The list included two-term Governor of Delta state, Emmanuel Uduaghan; former Borno state governor and associate of the late Ojougboh, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff; Senator Abba Aji, former Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters (Senate) to former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan and Senator Abdullahi Gumel.
Speaking with journalists, Ali Modu Sheriff described the late Ojougboh as a trusted ally.
He said: “He was a gentleman of excellence. He was more than a friend. He was my brother.
“Cairo was a dependable ally, a friend, and a good person. He was always with me every day whenever I was around here in Abuja. Just that nobody is cautious of his or her last moments on earth.
“He spoke with me barely three hours before he died. I was in Yobe for the burial of Senator Bukar Abba when he advised me to leave Yobe and go back to Maiduguri, because of the bad road. He insisted I must go back to Maiduguri.
“In less than an hour when I arrived in Maiduguri the Police Commander attached to Cairo came to my guest house to tell Kamal (his aide) that his boys called him that Cairo was dead.
“His death was shocking. His death was very sad. It is too difficult for me to take it.
“He was always with me everyday, either in the morning or in the evening. My home is his second home and my office is his second office.”
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio in a separate statement, described the sudden death of a chieftain of the APC and former Executive Director of Projects in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ojougboh, as shocking and a huge loss to the people of the Niger Delta region and the entire country.
A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, quoted the Senate President as saying, “the late Ojougboh as a member of the House of Representatives, contributed in no small way, his quota to the development of his people as their representative from 2003 -2007. He was the true voice of the people of Agbor, who ensured they were seen and heard in the national scheme of things.”
Akpabio recalled the contributions of the Agbor-born politician to the development of the Niger Delta region when he occupied the office of the Executive Director Projects in the NDDC, while he suprintended over the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.
According to Akpabio, “on behalf of my family, the people of Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial and the Senate, I commiserate with the Ojougboh family of Agbor, the government and people of Delta State, on this painful demise of a notable and committed son of Agbor. I pray to God to grant his wife, children and those he left behind the fortitude to bear this irreplaceable loss.”