Renowned industrialist, Pat Okpalaeke dies at 70

, The highly respected and renowned Okpalaeke Family of Abam, Azia, in Ihiala LGA of Anambra State, has rolled out the burial plans for Ichie Pat Omenka Okpalaeke, KSM.

Omezilibe, like he was widely known and addressed, was the Vice Chairman of Ginpat Aluminum Products Limited, a pioneer aluminium manufacturing company founded by the three exemplary brothers, namely Chief Godwin Okpalaeke, Onowu Azia and Chairman of the company; Chief Barrister Uzama Okpalaeke, Ikenga Azia and MD and the deceased who was the Vice Chairman until his demise.

Aged 70, Omezilibe, a distinguished member of The Order Of The Knights Of Saint Mulumba as well as a philanthropist par excellence battled cancer for over a year in the United Kingdom before eventually succumbing.

A master strategist who spoke very minimally, his final journey home will commence on January 31, 2019 with a Vigil Mass at the Okpalaeke compound in Abam, Azia. Time is 5pm.

A Burial Mass will follow on February 1, at Mary The Queen Catholic Church, Azia, by 11am. And thereafter, interment in his compound.

The funeral and condolence visits, like it is customary, will occupy the whole of February 2. And finally, a Thanksgiving Service, at Mary The Queen Catholic Church, on February 3. The time for this is 9am.

An astute manager of men and resources, grassroots mobiliser and custodian of Igbo culture and traditions, Omezilibe, whose death shook Azia and Igboland greatly, considering his vast network and net worth, is survived by one wife and seven children. Plus brothers, sisters, nephews and cousins.

His immediate younger brother, Ichie Uzama Okpalaeke, a one-time member of the Anambra State House of Assembly, who spoke to YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine described the death as ‘both colossal and collateral. We have, however, taken solace in the fecund saying that the Lord gives and the Lord takes’.