Tony Momoh, 81, died on Monday according to family sources.
Reacting to this, President Buhari said Mr Momoh stood with him through thick and thin, adding: “His brand of loyalty is very rare in the politics of today. I will greatly miss him.”
The president, in a statement by his spokesperson, Femi Adesina, recalled that as chairman, Media and Publicity of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) Campaign Organisation in the 2003 and 2007 elections as well as Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the late Auchi prince contributed in no small measure to the growth and strengthening of the organisations, leading to the eventual formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
President Buhari commiserated with the media industry on the loss of a veteran who put in a lot to raise the bar of the profession in various ways as editor, manager, administrator, President and Trustee of the Guild of Editors, urging them to sustain his legacies.
While also condoling with the Auchi Kingdom, the government and people of Edo State on this great loss, the president prayed that God will grant the departed eternal rest and comfort family, friends and political associates in this period of grief.
Prince Momoh was a veteran journalist, lawyer, politician and former Minister of Information and Culture (1986–1990) during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.
Momoh was born on April 27, 1939 in Auchi, Edo State, to the royal Momoh family.
He was also the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of the University of Jos.
In January 2011, he became the National Chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change CPC, one of the “legacy parties” which merged to form the now ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Known for his bluntness, Prince Momoh was one individual who was committed to any cause he believed in irrespective of whose ox was gored.
Before his death, he reportedly told newsmen that money spent on elected officers was enough to develop Nigeria.
“You must decongest the political space. When you decongest the political space, economic deregulation will be automatic.
“The constitution shares powers among all the organs of government— the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary.
“We are running a centralised government in the name of a Federation in Nigeria, where you have regional governments as we had in the First Republic which had powers and part-time legislature.
“Now everything is full time— it cannot work. We must look back, have one lawmaking arm at the Centre because that is what we need now; and lawmakers will be part-time.
“Then perhaps, in the regions or so, we have a Parliamentary system because in the states, for now, only the governor is elected, the deputy governor is a spare tyre.
“The governor has all the money coming to the state; he pockets it and decides what to do with it.
“But if we have a Parliamentary system in the states, for instance, the majority would form a government and execute the programmes of the zones.”
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