Itsekiri elite club, others mourn first NDA cadet

The Itsekiri elite club, Alpha-May, Lagos, friends, and associates have mourned the late Colonel Paul Osakpamwan Ogbebor (rtd) who passed on recently.

During a condolence visit yesterday to the widow, Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, at her Surulere home in Lagos, the leader of the delegation from the club, Mr. Ajijola Rone-Orugbo, condoled with the activist and the entire family over the irreparable loss.

Other members of the team included Chief J.J. Akpieyi-Otuedon; Mr. Robinson Eyeoyibo; Mr. Lawrence Anire juoritse Wilbert; Mr. Idundun and club secretary, Henry Hector Amiwero.

Other sympathisers, including Mr. Onife Pontius; Mr. Joseph Akpibiyi; Mrs. Roli Ibanga; Mr. Segun Ayankola; Mrs. Roli Mahmud and Evergreen Usman, penned their condolences.

The late Ogbebor, who attended Government Primary School, Benin City and Saint Patrick’s College Asaba, Delta State, was a pioneer cadet of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) commissioned in 1967 as a combatant regular officer.

He also attended the Army Signal School, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, the United States besides successfully undergoing an Executive Management programme at Penn State University, Pennsylvania in 1991 in the same American nation.

The Edo indigene had a brilliant military career that saw him holding the following posts: Commander, 81 Battalion, 8th brigade of 2 infantry division; 9th brigade major and commander, Warri area command; second-in-command, 3 infantry division of Aba sector (12 brigade); and Owerri sector (14 brigade); Acting Commander, Owerri, and Ihiala till the end of the civil war in January 1970.

He also held the positions of the commanding officer, 3 infantry battalion; commandant, Ibadan Garrison Training School; commander, 3 signal regiment infantry division, Port Harcourt and commander, 1 signal brigade, Apapa, Lagos.
On retirement, Ogbebor ventured into the private world where he equally successfully established a number of companies, including Paulosa Nig. Ltd, an engineering company; and Ogbebor Concrete Industry Limited in Abuja.

The widow, Lori-Ogbebor, submitted: “He was a great father, grandfather, great grandfather and jewel of the Ogbebor and Isiegbe families.”