A former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, is dead.
Chetachi Mbadinuju, the former governor’s first son, announced his father’s death in a statement on Tuesday.
His statement said: “With heavy hearts but utmost gratitude to God for a life well spent, we announce the passing of our father, grandfather, uncle, friend and associate, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, a former governor of Anambra State and elder statesman.”
He said the former governor “passed on peacefully” on Tuesday morning at the National Hospital Abuja after a brief illness.
He said the patriarch died at the age of 78, adding “At this trying time, we pray for God’s grace and mercy upon him and those left behind to mourn him.”
Chetachi stated that his funeral arrangements would be announced in due course.
Mbadinuju served as governor of Anambra State from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2003, on the Peoples Democratic Party platform (PDP).
He ran for re-election as governor on the PDP platform, but was refused the party’s ticket under dubious circumstances during the party’s internal turmoil at the time.
Chris Ngige would eventually win the party’s governorship ticket ahead of the state’s governorship election on April 19, 2003.
Mr. Mbadinuju switched from the PDP to the now-defunct Alliance for Democracy, where he later became the party’s governorship candidate but lost in the general election.
Ngige of the PDP, who is now Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment, was pronounced the election winner, but he was fired three years later by the Court of Appeal in Enugu.
Mbadinuju worked as a personal assistant to Jim Nwobodo, the former governor of old Enugu State, between 1979 and 1980, before taking on the same post for former Nigerian President Shehu Shagari between 1980 and 1983.
