Abia Environment Commissioner died of hypertension at ABSUTH - Kalu

May 24, 2020

By Ijendu Iheaka

Abia government on Sunday confirmed the death of the state’s Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Solomon Ogunji.

The Government said Ogunji passed away on Saturday, May 23, 2020, at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) Aba, during a brief illness.

According to a press release signed by the state Commissioner for Information, Chief Okeiyi Kalu, Ogunji’s death was connected to high blood pressure case.

Ogunji who was also Chairman of the Abia State Task Force on COVID-19 lockdown orders enforcement was regarded as one of the powerful commissioners in Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s government.

Kalu said that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, who is from the same Obingwa Local Government Area with the late Ogunji received the sad news with shock and has personally communicated and condoled with his family.

The Government prayed that the Almighty God would give his family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss and rest his soul in the bosom of the Lord.

Ogunji had been part of Abia government for the past 12 years.

He has served in different capacities in past and present administrations in Abia before his recent appointment as the Commissioner for Environment.

He was a Special Adviser on Political matters to Ikpeazu and also the chairman Aba Urban Renewal Committee before his recent appointment as the commissioner for environment.

Ogunji was also a 2019 political aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), umbrella for Abia South Senatorial District, but he lost to Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe in the party's primaries.

Searches made to glean the details of the late commissioner’s birth details on the internet returned no results.

The late commissioner lost his first wife in 2011 and had to remarry about two years ago according to a close source