BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

BENIN CITY- Edo State chairman of  Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Comrade Godwin Erhahon, yesterday said the late former Vice-President and member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu (rtd), was abandoned by his friends after he fell ill.

Erhahon, who was the Publicity Secretary of the All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP, in the state when Admiral Aikhomu was chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party, lamented that the deceased sounded abandoned by friends and beneficiaries during his last communication with him a few weeks to his death.

He pointed out that though he agreed that the former Vice-President deserved all the praises he had received so far after his death, it was unfortunate that Nigerians easily forget their leaders when they are in pains and praise them only in death.

He said:  “I called him to give my get well wishes after I heard that he was ill. I did not hear about his illness early enough as his exit from the ANPP in 2004 severed our relationship.

“Our hero, Admiral Aikhomu, sounded so forsaken and forlorn. Perhaps a little show of love from some of those who are now singing praises over his corpse would have alleviated his emotional pains and delayed his death.

“ So whatever those who forsook him during his illness may contribute towards his funeral is, in my opinion, unholy and unwanted. The funeral will be holier and merrier without such contributions.”by