Remains of the first elected Vice-president of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekwueme, arrived the Akanu Ibiam international Airport Enugu for burial on Monday (Jan 29th) aboard a Nigerian Air Force plane.
His remains was received by the governors of the 5 South Eastern states and other dignitaries.
Ekwueme died on the 19th of November 2017 at a hospital in London after a protracted illness. He was aged, 85.
He was elected Vice-president of Nigeria in 1979 under the umbrella of Unity Party of Nigeria with Shehu Shagari serving as president.
Their rein was truncated by a military coup orchestrated by the then commander of 3 armoured division of the Nigerian army, Mohammedu Buhari.
Ekwueme, who is a trained architect, was subsequently imprisoned at the kirikiri maximum prison in Lagos for two and a half years.
Dr. Ekwueme participated in the Nigeria National Constitutional Conference (NCC) in Abuja, where he served on the Committee on the Structure and Framework of the Constitution.
His famous proposals at the NCC for a just and equitable power sharing in Nigeria based on the six geopolitical zones have now come to be accepted as necessary for maintaining a stable Nigerian polity.
He unsuccessfully ran for the office of the president twice and lost to Olusegun Obasanjo.
He will be buried in his hometown, Oko, in Orumba north local government of Anambra State on Thursday (February 1st)
