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Nwizu: A great loss -- Kingibe
•Nnewi prepares for burial
DANIEL IDONOR,
Abuja
FORMER
Internal Affairs Minister Ambassador Babagana Kingibe yesterday described the
late Comptroller General (CG) of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) Lady
Uzoamaka Nwizu as a fearless officer whose untimely death is a great loss to the
nation.
Kingibe who was among hundreds of
Nigerians especially officers and men of the NIS that paid their last respects
to the late Mrs. Nwizu in Abuja said her death has left a vacuum that would be
difficult to fill.
"When I was appointed, I decided to embark
on some reforms, she was the only officer that actually agreed with the reforms.
And from the series of reforms she
undertook during her tenure, you will agree with me that she was indeed a
fearless officer" he said.
Earlier, hundreds of officers and men of
the NIS stormed the International wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja to
receive the remains of the first women C-G.
The body of the late CG which torched
ground at exactly 11.30am in an IRS airlines 5N-AKR, was enclosed in a
beautifully made casket painted in NIS ceremonial colours.
The body which had to be diverted from the
local to the International because of the airport ceremonies had actually
arrived Lagos on Wednesday evening in a chartered KLM airlines from Chicago,
USA.
In the tradition of NIS which did not
recognise the late CG as a dead officer until she is committed to mother earth,
Lady Nwuzu was accorded full official protocol as if she was alive.
Meanwhile, burial preparation at Nnewi has
gathered momentum as residents are prepared to give her a befitting burial.
On hand to bear her remains were
ceremonially dressed 10 top officials of the rank of Deputy Controller and
above.
She was then welcomed by a cream of top
officers of NIS - led by the acting CG, Mr. Musa Baraya who saluted her, before
she was driven from the airport to her official residence in a fully secured
convoy stretching a distance of over a kilometer.
At her residence located at 4 Safi Street
zone 4 Wuse District, the body was to be laid in-state.
Besides many other Nigerians and foreign
sympathisers who besieged the airport and her residence to pay their last
respect, there were also family members including the husband Dr. Chimezie Simon
Nwizu and children-one female and four males.
Also on hand was a traditional ruler from Enugu State but
resident in the FCT, Chief M.O. Kanu who is also the chairman of the Agura
Hotel, Abuja.
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