Tributes as Michael Ibru is buried in Delta

The remains of renowned industrialist, Olorogun Michael Onajirevbe Ibru, were buried yesterday at his Agbara-Otor country home in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.



At a funeral service for the industrialist at the All Saints’ Cathedral Church, Anglican Communion in Ughelli, Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa urged the residents to unite so that development could be spread across the state.

Commiserating with the Ibru family, the governor noted that the major honour the people could accord the late Ibru was to remain together.

He described the late family patriarch as a man who touched the lives of so many people in the state, the country and the world.

Okowa advised well-meaning Nigerians to emulate the exemplary life of the late business tycoon.

He said: “I want to plead with each of you that no matter what might have gone wrong, it is time for us to unite and truly forget the past. This is because it is only then we can say we have done what our father, Olorogun Michael Ibru, asked us to do.

“There is no doubt that he has impacted the lives of people in Delta State and the world. I am glad that a lot of good things have been said about him. He was a great man and still a great man even in death.

“A lot of people are rich but they are arrogant with their riches. That is not the life we expect people to live. It is my plea to those who live, especially the extended Ibru family, that the best we can do is to ensure that we stay humble in all we do. A very humble heart is a loving heart. Every humble heart is for unity and for peace.”

The Archbishop of Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, Most Rev Nicholas Okoh, urged Christians to reconcile their problems with God before “the final day of rest”.

In his sermon, taken from Matthew 11:28, Okoh described death as a permanent rest without any of life’s worries and calamities.

The cleric urged all to pay their last respect to the late Ibru.

He said the time was short and all must act fast to safe themselves from the clutches of death.