North Central News

 
(NIGERIA)    
Yuguda, Sambawa Condole with NAN over Editor's Death
Gov. Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State has described the death of the News Agency of Nigeria's ( NAN ) Deputy Editorin- Chief, Chief Ike Mbonu, as ``a monumental loss to the agency and the journalism profession''. Mbonu died on Sept. 30 in a motor accident on the Enugu-Awka expressway while heading for his hometown, Nibo, near Awka, to attend the funeral of an uncle. Yuguda, in a statement signed today by the Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Muhammed Abdullahi, said Mbonu's death came to him as a big shock. He said: ``His demise has certainly created a big vacuum, not only within the NAN family, but in the journalism profession. ``The government and good people of Bauchi sincerely commiserate with the management and staff of NAN, particularly the Managing Director, Mrs Oluremi Oyo, in this moment of grief.''

The governor noted that the late Mbonu was also a secretariat staff of the Electoral Reform Committee, ``where he had worked assiduously along with other patriotic Nigerians to produce an acceptable electoral system for the country. ``His death is by no means, a big loss to the entire country and the political system,'' he added. Yuguda urged the family of the late Deputy Editor-in-Chief to take solace in God, ``as He alone has supreme control over our lives''. He appealed to the Federal Government to institute an insurance scheme for journalists working in federalowned media establishments, so that state governments and other private media establishments could emulate the gesture.

The former Minister of Sports, Alhaji Samaila Sambawa, has also expressed shock over Mbonu's death, describing him as a ``thorough professional, honest and straight forward person''. He said in a statement that he had several interactions with the late Chief, as he was fondly called. ``I have enjoyed every bit of my interactions with him. ``Ike was an intelligent journalist, who always exhibited extreme sense of honesty and humility in his interactions with people of different status he had cause to interact with,'' he added.


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