Senator Uche Chukwumerije is dead. A source in Government house Umuahia told Daily Review Online that he died in the early hours of today.
It would be recalled that last December, it was rumored that the lawmaker, died from stroke related ailment. However, in a statement by his Special Assistant, Azuikpe Ogbonna, he described the rumour as the handiwork of “a few ungodly and irresponsible individuals.”
The five-paragraph statement reads: “It has come to our notice that a few ungodly and irresponsible individuals are sponsoring the rumoured demise or incapacitation of our amiable, admirable, adorable and highly responsible senator.
“This is just one of the tactics of a prolonged campaign of calumny against the person and office of distinguished Senator Uche Chukwumerije, orchestrated by these few unscrupulous individuals who have no fear of God and will go to any length to blackmail, deceive, short-change, loot, kill and destroy the people of Abia State just for their selfish political agenda.
“We should have ignored this propaganda, but for the myriad of calls from the good people of Abia North, Abia State, Ndigbo from home and abroad as well as Nigerians from all walks of life, who expressed concern and anxiety about this uncharitable, callous, unconscionable and mindless rumour.
“We wish to put it on record that the distinguished Senator Uche Chukwumerije is neither dead nor incapacitated by stroke.
Uche Chukwumerije (born November 1939) was elected a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in April 2003, representing Abia North Senatorial District.[citation needed]
Chukwumerije served as minister of information in the dying days of the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida. Chukwumerije served as minister of information in the interim national government of Ernest Shonekan.[citation needed]
His son Chika won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Uche funded his training.[citation needed]
His other son, Dikeogu Egwuatu Chukwumerije, is a writer and a performance poet. He also hosts the Abuja Literary Society (ALS)’s Night of Spoken Words. He has written books like The African American, One Nigeria: The Birth and Evolution of an Idea, The Revolution Has No Tribe: Contemporary Poetry on African History, Culture and Society Co-written with Azuka Juachi Okonji, Strategic Love: Simple Rules That Make Love Work and many others. He also did a tribute to the legendary Chinua Achebe titles ‘Nna Anyi, Is It True?’ after his demise.