Ifeanyi Izeze, a pioneer member of the media team of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has passed away, the Atiku media office confirmed on Sunday. The statement said the former Vice President was thrown into mourning over the loss.
Izeze joined Atiku’s media team in 2006 from Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria, serving as Office Manager. At a critical stage in Atiku’s political career, he applied his extensive experience in media, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria’s oil and gas industry to the work of the team.
Trained as a geologist at the University of Port Harcourt up to postgraduate level, Izeze built a notable career in journalism, reporting and writing extensively on the oil and gas sector for publications such as Sunray, Anchor, and NewAge newspapers before joining ALSCON.
Within the Atiku Media Office, he was a senior figure and the pioneer Office Manager who helped shape the campaign policies of Atiku’s presidential campaigns in the Niger Delta, especially on oil and gas matters.
A man known for his prodigious sense of humour and a devout born-again Christian of the Christ Embassy, Izeze was also an ordained preacher within the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria.
The media office statement said:
“May God give his family, friends, and colleagues the fortitude to bear his demise. Further details about his burial will be made public by his family. He left behind children, grandchildren and an elder and only surviving brother, Pastor Emeka Izeze of the Guardian Newspapers fame. May God grant Ifeanyi’s soul eternal rest and forgive him his sins.”