Ex Senator Arthur Nzeribe is dead

Former Nigerian Senator, Francis Arthur Nzeribe is dead. The late lawmaker was 83 years old.

He died on Sunday morning.

According to the source, Nzeribe was declared dead at a foreign hospital following an undisclosed ailment.

“He died this morning in a hospital abroad. The family will soon release a statement,” the source said.

In 2017, the photograph of aging and possibly sick Nzeribe, sitting languidly, with medics around him went viral on social media.

He was elected a Senator to represent Orlu first in 1999 but in November 2002, the then-Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim suspended Nzeribe indefinitely over an allegation of N22 million fraud.

Also, in April 2006, the Orlu People’s Consultative Assembly, sponsored by the then Governor of Imo State, Achike Udenwa, staged what it called a; “One million march” to drum support for Nzeribe’s recall from the Senate. Due to popular demand, in December 2006, Nzeribe was; defeated by Osita Izunaso during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries for the 2007 Senatorial election.

Meanwhile, Imolites have described the death of Chief Nzeribe as a great loss to the nation.

A legal practitioner, Barrister Enyinnaya Onuegbu said Nzeribe’s death has created a vacuum that is difficult to fill.

Onuegbu who is the attorney of the late Senator described the Oguta-born politician as a; maverick who knows what politics is all about.

He said the young politicians have a lot to learn from Nzeribe’s politics without bitterness.