Former Edo Speaker, Garuba, dies at 54

A former Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Alhaji Zakawanu Garuba, is dead.

Garuba, a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who was speaker between 2007 and 2009, died in Abuja in the early hours of yesterday, July 18 after a brief undisclosed illness at the age of 54.

The ex-lawmaker, a former member of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), was born in the northern Edo State town of Auchi, Etsako West Local Government Area of the state on August 23, 1965.

He attended Our Lady of Fatima College, Auchi between 1978 and 1983 before proceeding to the famous Edo College, Benin for his Higher School Certificate, the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Osun State where he took a in law in 1989 and was called to the bar in 1990.

The former lawmaker is survived by a wife and three children.

Friends and former classmates have taken to social media to mourn the passage of the former two-time lawmaker.

A former member of the Edo State House of Assembly, Mr Pascal Ugbome, the World Wide President (WWP) of Our Lady of Fatima College Old Boys Association (OLOFOBA) who took to the association’s WhatsApp chat group to mourn Garuba, described him as a friend, brother and passionate Olofobaite.

Ugbome wrote: “Our friend, brother and passionate Olofobaite Rt. Hon Zakawanu Garuba has gone to be with the Lord. He passed on this morning. Oh God, what a Loss.”

Shell-shocked by the news, an old boy, Mr Martins Egwakhide penned: “WWP This is a lie. You can’t give us this kind of news.”

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