The Edo State Government has declaredFridayas public holiday in honour of the late Dr Samuel Ogbemudia, former Governor of the defunct Mid-West Region and Bendel.

Mr John Mayaki, the Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Godwin Obaseki said this in a statement he issuedon Wednesdayin Benin.

He said the holiday was to enable the people of the state pay their last respect to the elder statesman.

Ogbemudia, 84, will be buriedon Fridayafter an interdenominational service at the Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin.

Obaseki and Ogbemudia during the campaign last year: He was my father, he says

Mayaki said students are expected to line up in their uniforms at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium by9 a.mon Fridayduring the state burial for the deceased.

The governor’s aide urged civil servants to be seated at the stadium by10 a.m.

Ogbemudia former governor of Mid West Region and the old Bendel State died in a private hospital in Lagos on March 9.

Edo and Delta states are collaborating to give the revered statesman a state burial.

“Late Ogbemudia is a father of modern Edo. He represents what we have today. The infrastructures we have in Edo and Delta are attributed to him,” Governor Obaseki said in a tribute on his Twitter handle on 12 March.

“We grew up to know him as our leader, our hero and our Governor. As a student at Eghosa Grammar School, he’d come, wake us up and lead in morning exercise

“I could not have gotten through the electioneering without his support. He adopted me

“In my first meeting with him, he gave me a pack of notebooks and asked me to take notes as I go round.

“He was always supportive. My project was his project. He was like my father. Nobody has served this state like him; I cannot forget the encouragement he gave me, without his open and clear endorsement, my campaign would have been difficult,” Obaseki reminisced.(NAN)