Tony Anenih: Senate pushes for national burial, honour

Fred Itua and Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

Senate has urged the Federal Government to accord a former minister of Works, Tony Anenih, “all the official burial rights due a national figure, with such honour and diligence.”

READ ALSO: House pays tribute to late Anenih, observes a minute silence

The upper legislative chamber has also urged the federal government to name the National Institute of Construction Technology and Management in Uromi, Edo State, after the late People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader.

The resolutions of the senate, followed adoption of a motion sponsored by Senator Clifford Ordia.
Anenih was from Edo.

In the motion, Ordia said “Anenih served in different challenging capacity as one of the foremost leader in the party, PDP. He deployed his compelling intelligence, strategies and uncommon tacking to ensure several victories for the party in presidential, governorship, National Assembly, Houses of Assembly, local government chairmen and councillors across Nigeria so much so that he was refers to as, ‘Mr Fix it.'”

In his contribution, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, recalled how Anenih intervened whenever there was a face-off between the executive and the legislature. Danjuma Goje, from Gombe State, said Anenih’s style of leadership was beyond loyalty to any political party. “Anenih was a unifying factor during his active days in politics,” he said.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in his concluding remarks, said: “Anenih was a father to many of us. His wisdom was always useful whenever he was needed to intervene.”

In a related development, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said plans are underway to immortalise Anenih, for his contributions to the growth of the party. The PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, stated this when he led members of the National Working Committee, to condole with Anenih’s family, at his Asokoro, Abuja residence.

Secondus stated that Anenih’s name cannot be erased from the historical books of country, and noted that “when historians write about Nigeria all through the republics, Tony Anenih’s name will be there.” He said the successes recorded by the party in its efforts to reinvent itself , after the 2015 general elections was due to the advise and strategy given by Anenih.