How Eminent Nigerian and Igbo leader, Raph Uwechue died at 79

Uwechue

Revered nationalist and immediate past President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador Ralph Uwechue, passed on in Abuja yesterday. He was 79.
A statement by Ifeoha Azikiwe, his Special Assistant Media, which was obtained by SHOWBIZPLUSNG, said Uwechue, born in May 1924 in Sokoto, and the Oguluzame of his hometown of Ogwashi Uku, Aniocha South Local Council of Delta State died at his residence in the Federal Capital Territory at about 2.00 pm after a protracted battle with cardiac complications.

Another aide who did not want be named said that Uwechue, the first Nigerian envoy to France, added that the elderstateman was moved to the National Hospital when nurses in public ones embarked on a strike at the beginning of the year.
He said that the late diplomat was taken to a hospital in the United Kingdom late last year where he had a heart surgery but was flown to the country last November when his condition deteriorated.
A Catholic, the aide disclosed that his wife, Augusta and priest were with him when he passed on. He is survived by four children.
Uwechue was ECOWAS Special Representative in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (2002-2007) during the Ivorian conflict. He was Special Presidential Envoy on Conflict Resolution under former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He was Minister of Health during the administration of President Shehu Shagari before the military intervention of 1983.
An internationally renowned media personality, he was the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the London-based and highly reputable the African magazine. Uwechue was the author of the title, Reflection on the Nigerian Civil War, the first book written on the confict. Among his numerous publications are Africa Who’s Who, Makers of Modern Africa and Africa Today.
All was quiet at his “Africa House” on Issele Azagba Road in Ogwashi Uku as the gate was locked. A guard refused to speak, insisting that he was not authorized to comment on it.
In his eulogy, a former Secretary to the defunct Bendel State Government and Iyase of Asaba, Chief Patrick Onyeobi, said that a great man has fallen.
Onyeobi recalled that he first met the young Uwechue in the 50s in the history class of the renowned Prof. Kenneth Dike at the University of Ibadan (UI).
Uwechue entered the diplomatic service as a pioneer staff member and rose to become Nigeria’s youngest Ambassador to France while he (Onyeobi) went into the civil service.
During the Nigerian Civil War, he said that the late head of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization became the rebels’ spokesman (Ambassador of Biafra) in Europe but as a die-hard Nigerian patriot and pan-Africanist, he went back to the federal side before the conflict ended.
He added: “Uwechue was a fine gentleman; a man of high principles and intellect. He was a strong traditionalist; a man of immense courage and wisdom. He has paid his price well and we pray for him to rest in perfect peace and for his family to have the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”