Channels Television’s State House Correspondent, Chukwuma Onuekusi died in the early hours of Tuesday.
He joined Channels TV in 1998 and has covered several beats before he was seconded to the Presidential Villa.
A graduate of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Onuekwusi also worked at Imo Broadcasting Corporation, Owerri.
According to his close associates, he has been ill for sometime now.
Some of them took to social media to honour the late journalist.
READ WHAT THEY WROTE AFTER THE CUT..............................
“I have lost a colleague, friend and brother. Chukwuma Onuekwusi was a good man. He went beyond being a colleague on the beat, he qualified to be called a friend indeed. He was always calling me, “My friend, Olalekan” and I always responded by saying ‘Chukwu, Chukwu, Chukwu’,” Olalekan
Adetayo of PUNCH, wrote on Facebook.
“He was a very hardworking man, one of the attributes that attracted him to me. He was always holding the Channels Television-branded microphone as if his life depended on it. He did that to the point that we joined some people who paid homage to former President Jonathan on a Christmas Day and the former President could not hide his feeling. ‘You are still holding this your thing today again’, Jonathan said, referring to Chukwuma and his trademark microphone.
“I met Chukwuma closely for the first time a few minutes before I got my accreditation to the villa a few years back. We met at the FirstBank in CBD Abuja. There was a long queue and people were impatient. An elderly man took on a young Bank teller who he felt was too slow and called him ‘Baba Go Slow’. Chukwuma turned back and corrected the man politely. ‘That is not fair sir’.
“He left the bank before me. A few minutes after, I received a phone call to come and complete my accreditation process in the villa. Immediately I completed the process, I moved to the Press Gallery where I was introduced to colleagues. Lo and behold, I saw Chukwuma there. He did not know me but I asked if he was at the bank a few minutes ago and he said yes. I reminded him what transpired at the bank and he said, “My brother, we need to be encouraging people, especially young ones, not discouraging them.” That was vintage Chukwuma.”
“He was a very hardworking man, one of the attributes that attracted him to me. He was always holding the Channels Television-branded microphone as if his life depended on it. He did that to the point that we joined some people who paid homage to former President Jonathan on a Christmas Day and the former President could not hide his feeling. ‘You are still holding this your thing today again’, Jonathan said, referring to Chukwuma and his trademark microphone.
“I met Chukwuma closely for the first time a few minutes before I got my accreditation to the villa a few years back. We met at the FirstBank in CBD Abuja. There was a long queue and people were impatient. An elderly man took on a young Bank teller who he felt was too slow and called him ‘Baba Go Slow’. Chukwuma turned back and corrected the man politely. ‘That is not fair sir’.
“He left the bank before me. A few minutes after, I received a phone call to come and complete my accreditation process in the villa. Immediately I completed the process, I moved to the Press Gallery where I was introduced to colleagues. Lo and behold, I saw Chukwuma there. He did not know me but I asked if he was at the bank a few minutes ago and he said yes. I reminded him what transpired at the bank and he said, “My brother, we need to be encouraging people, especially young ones, not discouraging them.” That was vintage Chukwuma.”
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