The government and people of Anambra State have received with sadness the news of the death of Reverend Father Raymond Chukwunyerugwu Arazu after a battle with prostate cancer and diabetes.
The late Father Arazu was born in 1939 and hailed from Ihembosi in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State.
A release signed by the commissioner for Information & Public Enlightenment, Mr. C. Don Adinuba described the late Father Arazu as not just a good priest, but an amazing gift to Anambra State, Ndi Igbo and the world of scholarship.
According to the release, after his studies in Nigeria, Italy and the United Kingdom where he excelled in academics and sports, the late Father Arazu embarked on a lifelong campaign for African cultural Renaissance through psalm translation, music, scholarship and herbal medicine.
The release further disclosed that he translated the psalms in the Holy Bible into Igbo language and set them to music played entirely with African instruments like ubo, or thumb piano.
This Spiritan priest the release said had farms in places like Abakaliki, where he was constantly tilling the soil with hoes and cutting plants with cutlasses, alongside his workers and the produce was either sold or used to feed the numerous indigent people he was training without making a show of it in public.
An engaging scholar, who wrote numerous research articles and books on various subjects, the late Father Arazu, who spoke six international languages fluently, led his life entirely for the society.
The release prayed God to accept the soul of the dedicated servant of the people and a hero of African Renaissance, who led a life of poverty, chastity, humility, service to society and solidarity.