{"id":342086,"date":"2021-04-20T20:03:41","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T19:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/?p=342086"},"modified":"2021-04-20T20:04:56","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T19:04:56","slug":"prestige-gbajabiamila-abaribe-elumelu-others-eulogized-fallen-aba-lawmaker-as-reps-pay-last-respect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/?p=342086","title":{"rendered":"Prestige: Gbajabiamila, Abaribe, Elumelu, others eulogized fallen Aba lawmaker as Reps pay last respect"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Ossy
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House of Representatives on Tuesday held a valedictory session for its fallen member, late Hon. Ossy Chinedu Prestige died in February 2021.
\nUntil his death, Prestige represented Aba North\/Aba South Federal Constituency of Abia State in the House.
\n
\nPaying their respects to the deceased at the valedictory session, the speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiala described Prestige as a fine gentleman, who \u201cleft his footprint in the sand of time\u201d.
\nRecalling he was denied access to a lawmaker\u2019s sickbed at a London hospital due to administrative reasons, Gbajabiamila however said he was shocked to see Prestige coming down even with a drip on his hand to see him on his way out.
\n\u201cWe talked, we laughed and we prayed. I\u2019ll try to speak with a smiling face. I\u2019ll smile, even though we grieve, but I know that our colleague, friend and brother always wore a smiling face. I still have some fond memories of him.
\n\u201cThis is a great loss to the people of Aba, the people of Abia, the people of the Southeast and the people of Nigeria.
\n\u201cA couple of days ago, I came across a motion that he did. You could see the depth of his knowledge in that motion.
\n\u201cHe was a powerful member of this House. He was the leader of the House of Commons House. If you come with a motion or Bill and you don\u2019t contact them, you\u2019re on your own. These are some of the things I want to remember and smile any time I think of him. He was as committed as he was passionate. He had a consuming personality. He had a life larger-than-life itself. As we grieve, let\u2019s continue to smile and laugh.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s a hollowness in this hallowed chamber since the demise of Hon. Prestige. There\u2019s a void in this chamber. He was a man of great character. I will miss him, the House will miss him, the people of Aba and Nigeria will miss him.
\n\u201cWe pray for the family, the wife and children that God will continue to stand by you, to be with you\u201d.
\nIn his tribute, the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu said the presence of a cross-section of the people in the chamber was a testimony of who Ossy Prestige was.
\nHe also recalled going to London to see him but never knew it will be the last meeting between them.
\n\u201cThe presence of all present here is a testament of who Ossy Prestige is. This is one death, too many. This reminds us of our mortality on earth. I eulogize Prestige\u201d, he said.
\nSimilarly, the minority leader of the House, Ndudi Elumelu said late Prestige found leadership and service as education and made the most of his God-given talent to impact others while he worked hard for the good of his people, within the confines of the laws.
\n\u201cHe was a loyal minority caucus member. He tried to survive the illness to be able to fulfil his promises to his family and his constituents,\u201d Elumelu added.
\nThe Deputy Whip of the House, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha said late Prestige was a decent man who was diligent about his job and passionate about his people with a burning desire to improve their lives.
\nIn his tribute, the member representing Ohafia\/Arochukwu federal constituency of Abia State, Nkole Ndukwe said the deceased lawmaker was a perfect gentleman whose love between him and his constituents was very obvious.
\n\u201cHe was dedicated to his duties, and he has impacted in one way or the other on all of us. I pray that the Almighty God will rest his soul. I sympathize with his family,\u201d he said.
\nAlso speaking, the member representing Isialangwa South\/Isialangwa North federal constituency, Darlington Nwokocha said: \u201cThe death of Hon. Ossy was a painful one. He was very phenomenal in life. He was a gentleman with a good heart. He left a very big shoe. He won his election in Aba not by party but by personality. I sympathize with the House, his family and his people. May God rest his soul\u201d.
\nThe Chairman, Committee on Defence, Babajimi Benson in his tribute said the demise of the late lawmaker has been a sad moment for the House of Representatives, adding, \u201cOssy Prestige was a man of many parts, who left his footprints in the sand of time. He was a lawmaker per excellence. I pray that his soul continues to rest in perfect peace. I pray that the good people of Abia and his family shall have the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss\u201d.
\nOn his own part, the Senate Minority Leader who represents Abia South District, Enyinnaya Abaribe in a rare privilege extended to him to speak on the floor said he worked closely with the deceased despite their party affiliations.
\n\u201cI know that this a rare privilege you have given me. I thank you, Mr Speaker. Ossy happened to be with me in the sense that I am the Senator representing his senatorial zone. Aba is one of the constituencies in my senatorial zones.
\n\u201cYou will never know that we were from different political parties but we were always working together. Death is something that reveals a lot of things. So many people depended on Ossy. So many people will be grieving in their hearts. But death doesn\u2019t know anybody\u2019s father. We are asking death not to come to us again. We\u2019re with the family. While we mourn, we also celebrate the man. For us, we\u2019re both mourning and celebrating Hon. Ossy Prestige. May his soul rest in peace\u201d, Abaribe said.\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House of Representatives on Tuesday held a valedictory session for its fallen member, late Hon. Ossy Chinedu Prestige died in February 2021. Until his death, Prestige represented Aba North\/Aba South Federal Constituency of Abia State in the House. Paying their respects to the deceased at the valedictory session, the speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiala […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":342087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[1245,16475],"class_list":["post-342086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-abia","tag-ossy-prestige"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=342086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/342087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=342086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=342086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=342086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}