The immediate past President-General, Worldwide, Ibusa Community
Development Union (ICDU) , and current Executive Director , Planning
and Design , of the Benin-Owena River Basin Development Authority ,
Chief ( Dr ) Austin Nonyelim Izagbo, has said that Senator Nwaoboshi,
who passed on Friday, 19th December 2025, represented the resurgent
spirit of their town, Ibusa in the Oshimili North LGA of Delta state.
He said that Nwaoboshi typified the Ibusa children whose lives were
devastated by the Nigerian Civil War as Ibusa, like Asaba, suffered
from wholesale pogrom carried out by the Federal troops. The Ibusa
town was destroyed, buildings were razed to the ground, education,
social and commercial activities stopped for years, as the inhabitants
fled into the bush and the neighbouring towns, and only returned when
the civil war ended.

Yet, despite that setback, the people of Ibusa bounced back – like
Nwaoboshi who went on from heights to higher heights until he became a
Senator of the Federal Republic. Nwaoboshi was just 10 years old when
the Civil War devastated Ibusa in 1968. When peace returned, he
attended St. Thomas Teachers College and finished in 1976. But instead
of becoming a primary school teacher, the ambitious Nwaoboshi
graduated from University of Benin in 1986 with a Bachelor of Laws
degree. He also has a Master of Laws from Delta State University.

Dr. Izagbo who holds the Ide Ibusa traditional title, and now
Executive Director, Planning and Design of the Benin-Owena River Basin
Development Authority (BORBDA), said that from those humble
beginnings, Nwaoboshi emerged the most visible Ibusa politician after
the illustrious late Senator Nosike Ikpo.

Chief Izagbo, also a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC),
and one-time Commissioner, described the departed Senator who once
represented Delta North Senatorial district, as “a brother, friend and
political ally whose death was a personal loss to me because ever
before Nwaoboshi joined politics, we had become friends as we were
growing up in the town. Even when a journalist, Mr. Tony Eluemunor,
called to commiserate with me over Nwaoboshi’s death, he recalled that
he met Nwaoboshi for the first time in my Fola Agoro, Yaba, apartment
in 1983. Nwaoboshi was a university student then.

In a condolence message made available to the media, Chief Izagbo
recalled the over five decades long personal, communal and political
relationship he had with Senator Nwaoboshi. The political liaison
between them started from the early 1990s when he (Izagbo) was Delta
State Chairman of the National Republican Convention ( NRC), from
where he crossed paths to meet with Nwaoboshi who became the pioneer
state Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party from the Grassroots
Democratic Movement (GDM) coalition , and later State PDP Chairman .

Describing the late Nwaoboshi as the “arrow head” that fought for the
governorship position to rotate to Delta North in the 2015 election
cycle, Izagbo noted with nostalgia that Nwaoboshi’s resilience,
steadfastness and unwavering determination to entrench fairness and
equity in the political space, are indelible legacies worthy of
appreciation by all well-meaning lovers of democracy in the state and
beyond.

Chief Izagbo also said the late Nwaoboshi’s years at the Senate as
Committee Chairman on Niger Delta, were impactful on the Delta North
Senatorial District, with tangible projects and skill acquisition and
empowerment programmes visible for all and sundry to see.

Mourning, Chief Izagbo said “I received the devastating news of the
passing of my brother, friend and political associate of over four
decades, distinguished Senator Peter Onyelukachukwu Nwaoboshi, with a
deep sense of personal loss. Ibusa , Anioma nation , and indeed, Delta
state , has lost a rare gem, a personality who believed in standing
for whatever his convictions and conscience told him was right.
Nwaoboshi,s distinguished political and public service, as well as
community development profile , is legendary and marked with landmark
achievements and records. While praying for the repose of the late
Senator Nwaoboshi,s soul, Chief Izagbo urged the Delta State
government to keep the deceased’s legacy alive by immortalizing him.

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