Aformer Senate spokesperson, Senator Ayogu Eze, is dead.
He represented Enugu North during the Sixth and Seventh Senate on the platform of the then ruling Peoples Democracy Party (PDP).
He was 65.
Eze, who was born on November 23, 1958, reportedly died at an Abuja hospital after a protracted illness.
It was learnt that the former Senate spokesman had been seriously ill, making it impossible for him to attend his child’s wedding in Lagos earlier in the year.
He was a founding member of the PDP before he defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), where he ran for Enugu State governorship election.
During his time in the Senate, Eze was appointed Chairman of its Committee on Information and Media, making him the official spokesperson of the Red Chamber in 2007.
After his reelection to the Senate in 2011, he was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Works.
Eze also served as a member of the Senate Committees on Police Affairs, National Planning, Marine Transport, as well as Federal Character and Inter-Government Affairs.
In May last year, the Senate confirmed appointment of Senator Eze and five others as Federal Commissioners in the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
Also, President Bola Tinubu has expressed his heartfelt condolences to the Eze family over the passing of Senator Eze.
A statement yesterday in Abuja by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said: “President Bola Tinubu extends his condolences to the Eze family over the passing of Senator Ayogu Eze…
“The President also condoles with the friends, associates, and former colleagues of the deceased, including the National Assembly as an institution.
“The President prays to God Almighty to grant repose to the soul of the departed and comfort to those in mourning.”
Also, the senator representing Enugu North, Chukwuka Utazi, has expressed shock over the death of Senator Eze whom he took over from in the National Assembly.
Utazi described Eze’s death as a great loss to Enugu State and the entire nation.
“Eze will be remembered as an intelligent, courageous and fearless politician,” he said.
Also, a former Senior Special Assistant on Protocols and Security to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the senatorial candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Enugu North in last year’s general election, Ambassador Ejike Eze, said the late Senator Eze was one man who excelled in whatever he did.
“As a journalist, he went around the world and he made his mark excellently; as a politician, he kept in touch with his people and ensured that he used his position to attract developments and dividends of democracy to his constituency,” he said.
Also, a former Enugu State House of Assembly member, Emma Ugwuerua, said: “…Eze’s death is indeed a colossal loss that will create a vacuum too difficult to fill.”