Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed sadness over the death of a former Chief of Army Staff, Major General David Ejoor.
Ajar died at a Lagos hospital, on Sunday, at 87.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement, yesterday, said Buhari described the elder statesman as courageous officer, who had a distinguished career in the military and remarkable service to the nation.
The president recalled that as the first governor of Mid-Western Region, “during one of the darkest years in the nation’s history, and first indigenous Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Ejoor also held many other national leadership positions and was a hardworking military officer whose loyalty, commitment and dedication to the unity of the country were never in doubt.”
President Buhari affirmed that the former army chief, who was once the President-General of the Urhobo Progress Union, will be long remembered and honoured as a man of positive character and vision, who provided profound inspiration to countless military officers and Nigerians that came in close contact with him.
Similarly, Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, extolled Ejoor’s virtues.
The late Ejoor served as administrator of the old Mid-Western Region and later, as Governor, Mid-Western State. Obaseki praised his contribution to what later became Delta and Edo states.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, the governor said that given the peculiar character of the Mid-Western State, it needed a well-versed leader to pilot its affairs, “a role which Major General Ejoor performed well.”
Obaseki described the late soldier as “a respected statesman, who contributed to the development of the region and set some of the foundation stones for progress and unity in Delta and Edo states. “
The governor also mourned the death of former Nigerian international, Taiwo Ogunjobi, describing him as an astute administrator and a model to young sportsmen and women.