CITIZENS COMPASS— Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has reportedly lost a long-time associate and friend, High Chief Okey Ezeibe, who was found dead in a hotel room in Owerri, Imo State.
The death occurred a few hours before a scheduled political meeting with Chief Martins Agbaso, the governorship candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), in the state.
Ezeibe, a Lagos-based businessman and politician from Anambra State, was discovered dead on Sunday, September 20, after associates became concerned when he failed to emerge from his hotel room for the planned meeting. His death has since been confirmed by associates in the Lagos International Trade Fair business community.
The businessman had travelled to Imo State for discussions with Agbaso as political activities gather momentum ahead of the 2027 elections.
According to an initial account of the circumstances surrounding his death, Ezeibe had been scheduled to meet Agbaso for dinner on Saturday. The meeting could not hold because Agbaso had travelled to Delta State for another engagement.
Both men subsequently agreed to meet over breakfast on Sunday.
When the time he was expected to leave the hotel for Agbaso’s residence passed without any sign of him, his associates went to his room. After knocking repeatedly without receiving a response, the door was eventually forced open.
Ezeibe was found dead inside.
An initial report suggested that he may have suffered a heart attack, but no official medical finding establishing the cause of death had been made public at the time of reporting. Another account simply said he went to sleep and did not wake up.
Beyond his business and political profile, Ezeibe enjoyed a particularly long relationship with Atiku.
Their friendship was publicly highlighted only four months ago when Atiku travelled to Marrakech, Morocco, to chair the May 9 wedding of Ezeibe’s son, Muna, to Cherina, daughter of former Burkina Faso Prime Minister Lassina Zerbo.
Atiku’s media office at the time stressed that the Morocco trip was personal rather than political, describing Ezeibe as a long-standing friend and associate of the former vice president. Social-media posts around the occasion described their friendship as stretching more than 45 years.
However, despite his longstanding friendship with Atiku, reports indicated that Ezeibe had aligned politically with Peter Obi ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
That distinction made him an unusual figure in the developing opposition realignments: a decades-long personal friend of Atiku who was reportedly supporting a different presidential contender.
