Akwa Ibom confirms Nkanga died of COVID-19

• President Buhari Mourns
• Flags To Fly At Half-mast For Seven Days

Akwa Ibom State Government has formally announced the death of its former Military Governor, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (rtd.).
In statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, the Pan Niger Delta Elders Forum (PANDEF) chairman died on Christmas eve.

The statement read: “Information from the Isolation Centre, where he was admitted and managed, indicates that the first indigenous military Governor of our state and leader of PANDEF died from complications resulting from COVID-19 infection. Requisite protective protocol and contact tracing have been immediately activated.

“Otuekong Nkanga was the Director General of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s Divine Mandate Campaign organisation 2015 and 2019. He was also the Chairman of the Ibom Airport Development Company and Ibom Air.

“The Governor, Udom Emmanuel, is greatly saddened by the news of his passing and condoles with the bereaved family. Consequently, the governor has declared a seven-day period of mourning, which began yesterday. Flags are to be flown at half-mast for the entire duration of the mourning in the state”.

Meanwhile, the President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed sadness over Nkanga’s death. The former military administrator, aged 68, served the state from September 1990 to January 1992, during the regime of former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida.
He retired as an Air Commodore in the Nigerian Air Force.

As the chairman of PANDEF, Nkanga was vocal in the campaign for the restructuring of Nigeria and the development of the country’s Niger Delta region.

In May 2001, he became a member, Board of the Cooperative Development Bank before he emerged as governorship candidate of the defunct Nigeria Democratic Party (NDP) in the 2003 general elections.

Nkanga was later appointed Chairman of the Akwa Ibom Airport Implementation Committee in 2007, and became a member of the South-South Elders and Leaders’ Forum in January 2010.

He was also appointed the Director-General for the Campaign Organisation of former Governor Godswill Akpabio in 2011, as well as the Director-General for Governor Udom Emmanuel’s Campaign Organisation in 2015 and 2019.