Nwabueze, Maitama Sule, others mourn Mbu, Aluko

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE
LAGOS — LEGAL icon and former Education Secretary, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN), Alhaji Maitama Sule and members of the Project Nigeria ‑ National Consensus Group (NCG), have commiserated with the families of Dr M. T. Mbu and Prof. Sam Aluko, two of its key associates, who passed on last week.

Leaders of Project Nigeria, who received the sad news of the two political icons in the middle of a national political summit last Tuesday in Lagos, said they would miss the sound contributions and strategic support of the two statesmen in “our latest mobilization for the recomposing the Nigerian federation and democracy.”

Speaking through its national scribe, Mr Olawale Okunniyi, the NCG regretted the passing on of two of its most dependable and resourceful allies and prayed that God should grant their families the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

Okunniyi said the NCG, at its apex forum in the North to be hosted by Alhaji Maitama Sule and other northern leaders next month would formally decide how best to honour the two departed leaders.

In a special tribute to Aluko, Nwabueze said he had lost a good friend.

His words: “Coming close on the heels of the sudden death of my bosom friend, Matthew Mbu, the no less devastating news of the passing of another good friend of mine, Sam Aluko, made the 7th and 8th of February, 2012 among my saddest days.

“Sam and I were students together at the London School of Economics (LSE), University of London, he in the Department of Economics, and I in the Faculty of Law.

“Sam came to LSE as a postgraduate student working for the M.Sc Econ Degree, which he passed with Distinction. He went on to do a Ph.D. But it was while he and I were doing a vacation job together in a factory in London that we cultivated a close acquaintance based on an identity of intellectual outlook.”

“Regrettably, Sam and I had drifted apart over the years since we parted as colleagues in the University of Nigeria, but whenever we ran into each other, such meetings were always marked by a rapturous embrace. In his death, Nigeria has lost one of its finest minds, a genius, and a great soul. To his widow, who was his constant and devoted companion, I extend my heart‑felt commiseration and condolence.”