The Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the Anambra State House of Assembly and prominent Igbo elders have mourned the passing of the first republican Aviation Minister, Mbazuluike Amechi.
Amechi, the last standing member of the Zikist Movement of the pre-independence era, died on Tuesday of an illness at the age of 93, according to a statement signed by his son, Ezeana Tagbo.
The deceased, popularly called “the boy is good,” hailed from Amihe village in Ukpor, Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The late Amechi, according to his Personal Assistant, on Media and Publicity, Motimor Mojekwu, died at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi.
Soludo, while commiserating with members of the deceased family, described the death of Amechi as a monumental loss to Ndigbo and Nigeria in general.
Also the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, on Tuesday, said, “On behalf of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide and indeed all the Igbo sons and daughters, we pray that the Almighty will grant the soul of Chief Mbazulike Amaechi an eternal rest in his bosom.”
Meanwhile, the Anambra Elders and Stakeholders Forum described his death as a very big and devastating blow to the entire Igbo race in particular and the country at large.
Also, at the plenary on Tuesday, the Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Dr Uche Okafor, described the late Amechi as an articulate, astute, clairvoyant and quintessential elder statesman.
In a reaction, the National President of the forum, Justice Anthony Iguh, and Vice Chairman of the National Advisory Council of the forum, Justice Godwin Ononiba, said the late Amechi died of agony occasioned by the Federal Government’s refusal to release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, as he requested.
