Life and time of Buhari’s ex-minister and Abia’s first civilian gov, Ogbonaya Onu

Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, the Minister of Science and Technology under the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, is dead.

Onu, a former governor of Abia State, died after a brief illness in an undisclosed hospital in Nigeria.

Recall that the late 72-year-old former minister contested for the presidential flag of the All Progressive Congress (APC) during the 2023 general election, but lost to President Bola Tinubu.

Life and time

Onu was born on 1 December, 1951 at Amata, Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of then Eastern region, later Imo State, then Abia State and now Ebonyi State Nigeria.

He was the first civilian governor of Abia State between January 1992 and November 1993.

Onu had the shortest reign as a civilian governor in Abia. His reign was less than two years before the then military dictator Gen. Sani Abacha overthrew the civilian administration.

He was the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Nigeria from November 2015 until his resignation in 2022.

He was the longest serving minister of the ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation

Onu contested in the APC presidential primary in 2022 and scored one vote.

Ogbonnaya was a 1976 First Class graduate of Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

He obtained a Ph.D in Chemical Engineering in 1980 from the University of California, Berkeley.

Onu was a lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Port Harcourt, and later became the pioneer head of the department.

Ogbonnaya also served as the acting dean of the Faculty of Engineering and was also elected as a member of the Governing Council of the university.

In 1999, he was the presidential flag bearer for the All People’s Party but relinquished the position to Olu Falae after a merger of his party with the Alliance for Democracy who lost to Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP.

Onu was the national party chairman of the All Nigerian People’s Party in 2010.

In 2013, he and his party (ANPP) successfully merged with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and some members of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).