By BASHIR ADEFAKA
The Sultan of Sokoto and Chairman, National Traditional Rulers Council of Nigeria (NTRCN), His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, has received the news of the demise of Asagba of Asaba Kingdom, Obi (Professor) Joseph Chike Edozien, saying it came to him with rude shock.
The Sultan, in a statement by its Media Team on Tuesday February 14, 2024, described late Professor Edozien as “an unputdownable member of the Nigerian Federation and the traditional institution in the country, whose memory cannot be wished away in a hurry”.
Although news of his death was earlier debunked, it finally dawned last weekend that the leopard that was sick in the savannah forest was gone and the Sultan of Sokoto has mourned the late monarch, who was born on July 28, 1925 and died early February 2024, a few months before his 99th birthday anniversary.
“He was an eminent member of the National Traditional Rulers Council of Nigeria, who had been very positively contributory to the peace, unity and development of Nigeria in his own capacity as the Asagba of Asaba in ensuring that our diversity as a nation is truly a source of strength and not of conflict beyond management,” the Sultan recalled.
He condoled the family of the deceased, government and good people of Delta State over the demise of the late eminent professor of medicine-turned monarch, while praying that God will grant everyone of them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss of the Asaba king.
