By Rose Nwankwu (Anambra State Correspondent)
The Anambra State Government has expressed sadness over the death of Dr. Linus (Larry) Udorji, former President of the World Igbo Congress (WIC), the most famous association of the millions of Igbo-speaking people in the Diaspora.
According to an official statement on behalf of Governor Willie Obiano on Sunday, July 18, 2021, by the Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Hon. C. Don Adinuba, Dr. Udorji, 59, died in the Washington area of the United States of America after a protracted battle with prostate cancer.
The statement said that Governor Obiano in a message to the current President of the WIC, Professor Anthony Ejiofor, who was a close friend of the deceased, stated that “Larry was relatively young, vibrant, energetic, forward-looking and passionate about the living standards of the people at home as he was about the affairs of our people in the United States and elsewhere in the world”.
The governor also lamented that “the government and people of Anambra State have lost a versatile intellectual, entrepreneur, community mobilizer and devotee to the public good whose values were shaped by his several years of training in the seminary in Nigeria and in such secular institutions as Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Howard University in Washington DC and Walden University in Minnesota where he trained in disciplines as diverse as Latin, Philosophy and Clinical Psychology”.
Professor Ejiofor however thanked Governor Obiano for his “swift message to the World Igbo Congress”, noting that Obiano “is the first Nigerian governor to condole the WIC leadership following the passage of a worthy predecessor, friend, and confidant”.
In a message to the Traditional Ruler of Ihiala, Igwe Thomas Ikenna Obidiegwu, over Dr. Udorji’s death, Governor Obiano advised “Ihiala people to take solace in the fact that though your distinguished son left this planet at a rather early age, you should be proud of the fact that he touched many lives deeply and took an active part in the social and cultural affairs of his hometown that enabled him to take the high traditional title of Ichie Ihiala, a town which, according to the Anambra State Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Town Union Affairs, has a well-established history of monarchy spanning some 700 years”.
Governor Obiano also asked the Ihiala people to follow Dr. Udorji’s footsteps and embrace the values of peace, reconciliation, forgiveness, progress, service above self, and solidarity which is commonly referred to in Igboland as “onye aghana nwanne ya.
“These are the values which drive rapid progress in Igboland, especially Anambra State in the last few years”. NNL.
