First military Governor of Kebbi state, General Patrick Aziza, is dead

First military Governor of Kebbi state, General Patrick Aziza (rtd) is dead. He was aged 67.
Aziza, who was until his death, the President General of the Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, had been battling with cancer. He reportedly died in Abuja at about 3:45am today, August 16, 2014.

Vanguard reports that the news of his death threw the Urhobos and Deltans into mourning as people were seen in groups discussing the sudden death of the His kinsmen at Adagbrasa who could not control their emotions were seen wailing and crying; “our iroko has fallen.”

Aziza's was born in Okpe local Government Area in Delta State on December 23, 1947. He was the first military Governor of Kebbi State, after it was carved out of the then Sokoto State August 27, 1991 by the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida. He was also Minister of Communication under the military government of late General Sani Abacha

In his reaction, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr. Steve Oru, described Aziza’s death as very sad. “The Urhobo nation has lost a true son, a General indeed who had served the nation in the armed forces so successfully and at a point, he was even a minister in charge of communication in our nation and he performed creditably well.

“He emerged as the President General of UPU and he has been steering the ship of state of the Urhobo nation quite creditably. He has succeeded in promoting peace and unity amongst the Urhobo people. We will all surely miss him, but there is a time to come and a time to go as the saying goes. ‘There is a time when one is born and a time when one dies’.

On his past, Senator representing Delta Central at the National Assembly, Senator Emmanuel Aguariavwodo described Aziza’s death as tragic and sad.

He said: “It is so sad that we don’t even know what to think. We have talked to some of our leaders and everybody is still in shock. In fact there is nothing to say now except to say that we are sad, we mourn his passage and we pray that for the repose of his soul that God should accept his soul. Meanwhile we await what the family will say and what UPU will say so that we can all have a meeting on what to do next.