Imo Governor Hope Uzodimma on Saturday paid his last respect to the late Senator Francis Arthur Nzeribe, who he described as a great man who will be missed by all.
Uzodimma spoke at the funeral service for late Senator Nzeribe at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Oguta.
Addressing the congregation at the end of the burial Mass, the Governor, accompanied by his wife, Chioma, said everyone is in agreement that Sen Nzeribe was a great man and his death touchy.
He said: “He came a great man, lived a great man and is going a great man. Events surrounding the late Sen. Arthur Nzeribe show that he was a great man both in life and in death.”
Uzodimma described late Nzeribe as one of Igbo’s and Nigeria’s best and brightest, affirming that the late Senator of was a “common denominator in the political lexicon of Nigeria.”
Later at the palatial home of the deceased, Governor Uzodimma and his wife signed the condolence register after which they witnessed Sen. Nzeribe’s internment.
In the condolence register Governor Uzodimma wrote: “There’s no other way of defining a great man outside what you represented here on earth before your passage. May the good Lord grant you eternal mercy and place o heaven.”
In a vote of thanks to the congregation who graced the Church Service, former Imo Deputy Governor Gerald Ironna also described late Nzeribe as “a great man even in death.”
Earlier in his homily, Rev Fr Obilor admonished the living to always ask for God’s mercy in line with bilbical injunction.
He pointed out that the worst sin in the world is the denial of justice, urging the congregation to seek God and do good while living.
Fr Obilor said late Nzeribe started on time to prepare for his eternal journey, noting that he was a practising Catholic even unto death.
He said Nzeribe lived for the poor, spoke his mind as a politician and never compromised his personal relationship with his God.
The burial attracted important personalities from Imo State and beyond including the Deputy Governor, Prof Placid Njoku; former Governor Ikedi Ohakim and his wife; Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and his wife; Chairman of Imo State Elders Council, HRM Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and former INEC Chairman, Prof Maurice Iwu.
