Former military governor of Lagos State, Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu has died, aged 78.
The military officer died on Wednesday at an undisclosed hospital after a brief illness. Sources say he died of COVID-19.
Ndubuisi Kanu was born in Abia State in 1943. He Joined the navy, and fought on the Biafran side during the civil war but was reabsorbed into the Nigerian military at the end of the war in 1970. In 1975 as a lieutenant commander he was appointed a member of Murtala Muhammed’s ruling Cabinet, the Supreme Military Council.
He was later appointed the governor of Imo State in March 1976 after the state was created. He is famed to have brought in town planners to prepare a plan for Owerri.
He also expanded the number of Local Government Areas to 21 and founded the Imo Broadcasting Service, which went on air in December 1976. He was appointed the military governor of Lagos between 1977 to 1978. He later became Rear Admiral and Naval chief.
He was a member of the pro-democracy group, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which fought for the revalidation of the late Moshood Abiola’s annulled June 12, 1993, presidential mandate.
He was among those, who signed an ultimatum for the General Sani Abacha regime to revalidate Abiola’s mandate and hand over power to him, which brought about one of the most vicious crackdowns by a regime in peacetime Nigeria.
He was the chairman of NADECO’s Action Committee, which organised and participated in protest marches and public sensitisation activities.
Going into private business, he founded RANGK LTD, a maritime consultancy and was also a Director of Fidelity Bank PLC.
He is survived by his 10 children.
