Amb. Gabriel Oyibode Laments and Urges Urhobo to be United Over the Death of Chief Major-General Patrick Aziza

The news that Chief Gen. Patrick Aziza, the President General of Urhobo progressive union (UPU) is dead has gone haywire like Harmattan fire. As urhobo mourns the departed icon, one of the urhobo sons, Chief Dr. Amb. Gabriel Chukwuma Etaoghenevwegba Oyibode laments at the time the news was broken to him
The Delta 2015 Guber-hopeful describes the death of Chief Maj-Gen. Patrick Aziza as a lost not to his biological or extended family, but a lost to the nation as a country. Chief Maj-Gen. Patrick Aziza served this country faithfully and diligently. He is a man who contributed to the success, peace stability and developments of Urhobo and Nigeria in general.
Amb. Oyibode said the political contribution of Chief Patrick Aziza and his endless efforts to restore peace in Urhobo land and across Delta State are few of the major elements, the departed icon possessed which made him an outstanding leader and a figure to remember!
In his condolence message, the Delta 2015 Guber-hopeful, condoles the family to take heart and believe in God. …that papa’s departure is not for shedding of tears but our preoccupations should be how to strategize and continue the good works papa has being doing for the great people of Urhobo and Nigeria in general.
Amb. Gabriel Oyibode urges the Urhobo as an apex body in Urhobo land to be united and be strong. In a statement, Amb. Oyibode said, ‘when a household died without a successful and vibrant successor, the house becomes an empty shell’. He urges the Urhobo leaders that the death of Chief Patrick Aziza, the President General of Urhobo Progressive Union should not create vacuum in the administrative structure of the union.
Amb. Oyibode urges the Urhobo to be united in order for Urhobo to vote for a credible and saleable governorship candidate who will have the attentions and interests of Deltans at heart in the forthcoming 2015 gubernatorial election in delta state.


Brief History of the Late Icon
Major-General Patrick Aziza (23 December 2014–16 August 2014) was the first military Governor of Kebbi State, Nigeria after it was split off from Sokoto State on 27 August 1991 during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida
Aziza's was born in Okpe local Government Area in Delta State on 23 December 1947. He was raised in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. He went to Ibadan for his secondary education before joining the army and participating in the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970). Aziza then attended the Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna, graduating in 1970. He was commissioned 2nd lieutenant and promoted to lieutenant in 1970, and was posted to the 3rd Marine Commando. In 1971 he was promoted to captain. He was appointed ADC to the Chief of Army Staff, Major General David Ejoor. In 1974 he attended the Advanced School of Infantry in Fort Benning, United States for a 12-month course.
Aziza was posted to Warri as a Battalion Commander, then promoted and posted to Kano as Brigade major. He attended the Command and Staff College, Jaji (1978–1979), and was then posted to Army Headquarters responsible for movement and planning. In this role he handled troop movement planning for the Nigerian contingent in the United Nations' operations, UNIFIL, in Lebanon. Aziza served in the Provisional Ruling Council.
Aziza was the Brigade Commander of the Amphibious Brigade in Calabar when he was appointed the first military administrator of Kebbi State, holding office from 28 August 1991 to January 1992, when he handed over to the elected civilian governor Abubakar Musa at the start of the aborted Nigerian Third Republic.
Aziza was a member of the group of officers that planned the coup in which General Sani Abacha took power. He was Chairman of the Special Military Tribunal that convicted Olusegun Obasanjo and Major General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua for involvement in an alleged 1995 coup plot. He was also head of a tribunal that tried six journalists for treason, based on publishing accounts of the coup. The trials were swift and the conclusion appeared to be decided in advance.
Aziza served as communications minister in the military regime of General Sani Abacha. In this role he revoked the licenses of 12 companies that had earlier been given the go-ahead to provide various telecommunications services. In March 1998 Aziza said that Nigeria was seeking six billion U.S. dollars to "meet our immediate requirements of over three million telephone lines and 200,000 cellular lines." He was appointed Minister of Commerce and Tourism during the transitional regime of General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Aziza was required by President Olusegun Obasanjo to retire from the army in June 1999 after the return to democracy with the Nigerian Fourth Republic, along with other former military administrators. In October 2000 he appeared the Oputa panel on violation of human rights sitting in Abuja, investigating the Special Military Tribunal that sentenced Obasanjo to jail over the alleged 1995 coup. He denied ordering torture in connection with the tribunal. In July 2001 the Justice Michael Edem Commission on the Cocoa Export Levy and Cocoa Buffer Stock Funds indicted Aziza for wrongly appropriating money while Minister of Trade and Tourism.
Aziza became a successful businessman, and also a successful amateur golfer. He was given the chieftaincy title of Ajaguna of Okukuland by the Olokuku of Okuku, Osun State, and was named a Commander of the Federal Republic.
Aziza died of cancer on 16 August 2014 at the age of 66.