It is very difficult to come to terms that the member representing Enugu State on the Board of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation, and Fiscal Commission is dead.
Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State said this on Friday in a tribute to the late spokesman of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Ayogu Eze. Senator Eze died on Thursday in an Abuja hospital after a long battle with a heart-related ailment.
Mbah said it was a monumental loss to the state and Nigeria as a whole, adding that the late Senator Eze served the nation creditably starting from his home state, Enugu, where he served as information commissioner during the regime of former Gov Chimaroke Nnamani.
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Mbah, in the statement he personally signed, said the state would stand by Eze’s family “in this time of grief” and prayed God to grant the deceased’s soul eternal rest.
He wrote, “I received with a deep sense of grief the news of the passing of my brother, friend, and our illustrious son, Distinguished Senator Ayogu Eze. This is a huge loss, not only to the Government and people of Enugu State, but also the nation as a whole.”
He described the deceased as “a thoroughbred media professional, entrepreneur, community leader, and nation-builder, who served Enugu State in several capacities before proceeding to the centre where he served as a two-term senator and on the Boards of the Nigerian Ports Authority and the RMAFC.”
Mbah said Senator Eze’s services to the people of Enugu State and the nation would be “sorely missed, especially at a time the nation is in need of experienced hands like him”.
He assured the bereaved family of the support of Enugu State in this trying time, and prayed God to grant them the fortitude to bear the grievous loss.
Senator Eze was a two-term senator representing Enugu North Senatorial Zone. He was once the Senate spokesman when he chaired the Senate Committee on Information and Media. He later chaired the Senate Committee on Works.
In 2015, he contested the governorship of Enugu State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. He lost to the then Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
Senator Eze later joined the All Progressives Congress and was the governorship candidate of the party in 2019. He lost again to Chief Ugwuanyi.
He died at the age of 66.