It was encomium and tribute galore as the remains of Chief Abel Ubeku, a former member, PDP Board of Trustees and first Nigerian Managing Director of Guinness PLC was laid to rest at the weekend in his Aviara country home in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State.
Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan accompanied by the Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama and other top government officials attended the funeral service at the Saint Paul’s Anglican Church, Aviara which was witnessed by prominent Business and community leaders and religious clerics.
Governor Uduaghan who lauded late Chief Ubeku as a great philanthropist who taught others to offer selfless service to society, charged politicians and community leaders to emulate the meritorious life and legacies of Chief Ubeku.
He said Delta State owed its strides and inter-ethnic harmony partly to Chief Ubeku’s candid advice adding that his good deeds endeared him in the hearts of politicians and the business community in the country.
Lamenting Chief ubeku’s death as a great loss to the state, Isoko nation and Nigeria as a whole, Governor Uduaghan advised his family to set their differences aside, pursue the path of truth at all time and serve the people as exemplified by the deceased.
He paid tribute to the widow of the deceased for giving support to her husband to serve the people.
Tributes also flowed freely from the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Oleh, the Right Reverend John Aruakpor who preached the sermon, the President-General of Isoko Development Union, Chief Paul Omu, and the choir of the Saint Paul Anglican Church, Aviara.
Chief Abel Ubeku, the first Nigerian Managing Director of Guinness PLC with a prodigious career that spanned over two decades died at seventy-eight years and was survived by children and several relations.