Senate, LP mourn Senator Okey Ezea

The Senate was thrown into mourning on Wednesday over the death of Senator Okey Ezea.

The lawmaker, who represented Enugu-North Senatorial District, died about 11.07 pm in a Lagos private hospital on November 18, according to a family statement issued by his son, Jideofor Ezea, on Wednesday.

Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and the Interim National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Senator Nenadi Usman, mourned the lawmaker on Wednesday in separate messages.

In a condolence message by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ismail Mudashir, Senator Jibrin said 63-year-old Ezea, who was, until his passing, the Vice Chairman of both the Senate Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa and NEPAD, and the Senate Committee on Culture and Creative Economy, made impactful contribution to the promotion of unity and progress in the country.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the immediate family of my friend, his wife, Madam Chioma, his children, the entire people of Enugu North Senatorial District and Enugu State in general.

“May God grant them the strength to bear this irreparable loss. Senator Okey Ezea was a patriotic Nigerian par excellence, who worked hard to enhance the standard of living of the people of Enugu North Senatorial district and beyond,” Jibrin stated.

On his part, Kalu condoled with the immediate family of the deceased, the leadership of the 10th Senate, the the people of Enugu-North Senatorial District over the loss of Ezea.

“As I mourn my dear brother, I take solace in knowing he lived honourably and touched countless lives,” Kalu said.

Also in her condolence message, Nenadi Usman praised the late senator for standing firm in his conviction of remaining in the Labour Party till his death despite being under pressure to defect to another platform.

Admitting that she received the news of Ezea’s death with “rude shock”, Usman described the late lawmaker as a dedicated public servant who offered his constituents “quality and purposeful representation.”

She added that Ezea’s patriotism was evident in the number of bills the deceased sponsored and the motions he moved in his contribution to the task of nation-building.

Usman equally highlighted Ezea’s unwavering loyalty to the LP, adding that “despite political pressures, he remained committed to the platform on which he was elected and, until his passing, stood as the party’s only representative from Enugu State in the National Assembly.”

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