Chukwuma Onuekwusi, Channels TV Aso Villa’s correspondent, passes on at 55

The Channels Television Correspondent for the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Mr Chukwuma Onuekwusi, is dead.

The versatile broadcaster was said to have passed on in the early hours of Tuesday.

Aged 55, the late Onuekwusi reportedly died at the Zenith Medical and Kidney Centre in the Garki area of Abuja.

The late Onuekwusi had covered several beats on Channels Television before he was deployed to the presidential villa in Abuja as the state house correspondent.

A graduate of the University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka, the late Onuekwusi joined the Channels TV in 1998.

He is survived by his wife and children.

But the news of his demise was received with shock by his colleagues at the presidential villa, Abuja.

According to his colleagues, the late Onuekwusi was a professional to the core, saying that his commitment to journalism is worthy of note.

Some of his colleagues even went on the social media to comment on the late Onuekwusi.

Olalekan Adetayo of The PUNCH wrote on his Facebook thus, “I have lost a colleague, friend and brother. Chukwuma Onuekwusi was a good man. He went beyond being a colleague on the beat, he qualified to be called a friend indeed. He was always calling me, “My friend, Olalekan” and I always responded by saying ‘Chukwu, Chukwu, Chukwu.”

“He was a very hardworking man, one of the attributes that attracted him to me. He was always holding the Channels Television-branded microphone as if his life depended on it. He did that to the point that we joined some people who paid homage to former President Jonathan on a Christmas Day and the former President could not hide his feeling. ‘You are still holding this your thing today again’, Jonathan said, referring to Chukwuma and his trademark microphone.

“I met Chukwuma closely for the first time a few minutes before I got my accreditation to the villa a few years back. We met at the FirstBank in CBD Abuja. There was a long queue and people were impatient. An elderly man took on a young Bank teller who he felt was too slow and called him ‘Baba Go Slow’. Chukwuma turned back and corrected the man politely. ‘That is not fair sir’.”

The SUN’s State House Correspondent, Juliana Obalonye, also wrote that, “My brother and friend, a thorough professional to the core and a lover of God. To say I’m pained by your death is an understatement. You did assure you will stand up from that sick bed and we will join you for thanksgiving.

“But we are consoled by this scripture, therefore, we do not mourn like those without hope. Rest in peace my brother, I will miss you sourly!”