Barely a month after the Abia State Government reconstituted a team to manage Aba Township Covid19 enforcement rules, the team captain, Dr. Solomon Ogunji, has passed on.
He died in the early hours of yesterday, Saturday 23 May 2020, at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital in Aba, according to the State Commissioner for Information, Mr. John Okiyi Kalu..
Kalu said in a statement that Dr. Ogunji passed on “after a brief illness, relating to high blood pressure.”
The Governor has been briefed about the development and has reached out to the family to express his condolences, he said.
“Gov. Ikpezu has personally communicated and condoled with the bereaved family and he is currently in mourning.”
A consummate politician and community leader, Ogunji was also until his death the Commissioner for Environment in the State, a position he previously held in the government of Dr. TA Orji.
The late commissioner was described as a close confidant of the Governor, and was specially handpicked to oversea the Aba Urban Renewal Project as Special Adviser on Urban Renewal in 2015, later upgraded to his former post as Environment Commissioner.
The Aba Covid-19 Task Force Enforcement Team was reconstituted on 28 April with Ogunji as head based on fears that the disbanded team had been compromised.
His team was mandated to enforce total lockdown of the famous commercial city as well as ensure that the dusk to dawn curfew imposed by the government was respected by citizens.
In the 28 April statement announcing his appointment to chair the Aba Zone Committee, Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Chris Ezem, who chairs the State Covid-19 Committee, asked Ogunji and his team to work with the Mobile Court constituted for the Aba jurisdiction.
Late Ogunji studied building technology to the higher diploma level at the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Enugu, before proceeding to the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, where he read project management from bachelor up to the PhD levels.
Author
