Obasanjo, Amosun, others mourn Mills

POLITICAL leaders, parties, lecturers and groups on
Wednesday joined Ghanaians in mourning the death
of their President, Mr. John Mills.
Mills, a former lecturer of law at the University of
Ghana, died at a military hospital in Accra on
Tuesday. He was aged 68.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Ogun State
Governor Ibikunle Amosun; renowned economist,
Prof. Pat Utomi; Governor of old Anambra State Jim
Nwobodo; Lagos State University Vice-Chancellor,
Prof. John Obafunwa; and the House of
Representatives regretted Mill's passing, describing
it as "a big loss to Africa".
Others who lamented the death were Covenant
University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Aize Obayan; Lagos
State House of Assembly Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji;
the Save Nigeria Group, the Movement for the
Restoration and Defence of Democracy; the
Republican Party of Nigeria, a professor of History,
University of Lagos, Mr. Yomi Akinyeye; and former
Dean, Faculty of Law, UNILAG, Prof. Chioma Agomo.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Obasanjo,
who is in Ghana for an engagement, described Atta-
Mills death as a "shock to the people of Ghana and all
of us who knew him".
Obasanjo added, "He has been a stabilising influence
in his country and indeed West Africa.
"My heartfelt condolences to the people of Ghana,
the Vice Presid and the family of the late President.''
Amosun, in a statement by his Senior Special
Assistant on Media and Communications, Mrs. Funmi
Wakama, described Mills' death as "lamentable,
especially coming at a time when his leadership
qualities were beginning to reshape opinions of the
world about democratic governance in Africa".
He added, "Mills was a democrat par excellence, a
foremost academic, who brought his wealth of
experience both in the classroom and political field to
bear on the governance of Ghana. Africa and the
world will truly miss him."
Nwobodo told NAN in a telephone interview that
"Mill's death was a big loss for Africa in general and
ECOWAS in particular".
Utomi said "Mills was a part of the voice of thinking
in Africa".
He said, "He was an intellectual able to work with
reform minded soldiers for the sake of his country."
On their part, Obafunwa, Obayan, Akinyeye and
Agomo regretted that death had denied Ghana the
services of Mills.
Obafunwa told NAN, "One would like to remember
Mills for the efforts he was making to bring a
turnaround in the fortunes of the country's economy,
compared to what it used to be."
The House of Representatives, in a statement by the
Chairman of the House Committee on Media and
Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, described Mills'
passing as "a great loss not only to Ghana but to
Africa in general".
Ikuforiji, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary,
Mr. Rotimi Adebayo, said, "It is with great shock and
heavy heart that I , on behalf of my family, all my
fellow legislators, management and staff of the Lagos
State House of Assembly send our condolences to the
government and people of Ghana on this sad
occasion of the lsudden death of Mills, a great son of
Africa."