Hon. Gideon Dubem Onyia served Nigeria with distinction – Prince Richard Agu
Chief Dubem Onyia, late Minister of State for Foreign Affairs under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has been described as a completely detribalized Nigerian who served the country with distinction and left large and lasting footprints in the sands of time.
In a tribute to the one-time member of the House of Representatives who passed away recently at the age of 73, Barrister (Prince) Richard Agu, said that Chief Onyia was a dependable and treasured son of Ngwo in Enugu State, who was gifted to Nigeria by his people.
Prince Agu, a retired Director of Administration in the Presidency, said that though Chief Onyia was an Igbo man, he spent his early childhood as a railway worker’s son in Ibadan and attended Ibadan Grammar School till the onset of the Nigerian civil war when he was sent to the College of Immaculate Conception (CIC) in Enugu.
Barrister Agu said further that Chief Onyia’s first language and earliest childhood friends were Yoruba but that he went on to learn to speak Hausa, all in addition to his mother tongue, Igbo.
According to Prince Agu, the late elder statesman, who was trained and polished in England, was of the Shehu Yar’Adua pan Nigeria political group, and built lifelong friendships and political alliances with such figures as Atiku Abubakar, Yomi Edu, Dapo Sarumi, Chuba Okadigbo and Ben Ndi Obi.
“Nigeria, Ndigbo, Ndi Enugu and Ndi Ngwo have, indeed, lost a rare gem. In Enugu politics he was widely loved and respected and was a quintessential bridge builder in and out of season,” Prince Agu stressed, noting that Onyia’s OZO title name, Chinenyeze (Kingship and Glory are only from God), reflected his abiding faith in God whom he worshipped in the Catholic faith.
He concluded that very many beneficiaries of Onyia’s large heart, including himself, “will rue his passing with great sadness,” and prayed that God will grant the departed icon rest eternal.
