The Social Democratic Party’s presidential candidate (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo has mourned the demise of an elder statesman and one -time Chairman of Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Wantaregh Paul Iorpuu Unongo.
Unongo, who was a Minister of Power and Steel in the Second Republic, died yesterday at the age of 87.
Joining hundreds of mourners across the country, Adebayo took to his Twitter handle to narrate his encounter with the late icon before his death, noting that if the dreams of the deceased had come to pass, Nigeria would not have remained the same today.
The leading presidential candidate also stated that the race to make the country a better place continues while bidding farewell to the soul of the deceased.
Adebayo tweeted, “I mourn elder Statesman, Wantaregh, Paul lyorpuu UNONGO who has died in Jos. This scion of Kwaghngise-Anure-Abera ancestry of Turan, Kwande LGA of Benue State did all he could to industrialise Nigeria and unify our people. I saw him days back and I knew days left were few. Adieu
“All efforts I made to get Baba to talk were only met with humming of heavenly songs and soft smiles of an undefeated, unrelenting energetic spirit trapped in an ailing mortal body. If the dreams of Paul Unongo had come to pass, Nigeria would have been today, an industrial giant.
“I managed to assure Baba that we had not dropped the baton and the race continues despite headwinds and distracted leadership in today’s Nigeria. Wherever we choose to bury Paul Unongo, Ajaokuta Steel Complex would always be his cenotaph. And the burial ground of our steely dreams.”