The Senate, on Wednesday, mourned the late Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu, whom until his death on December 19 was the Chairman Senate Committee on Labour and Productivity.
Uwajumogu represented Imo North in the Senate.
The virtues of the detribalised Senator was extolled especially in his interpersonal relationship with colleagues and deployment of his intellect at his duties as a parliamentarian.
Senators maintained that he lived a good life and served his people the best he could leaving behind legacies to be emulated.
President of the Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan, in his remark said”he lived and died for his people. Indeed the loss of senator Uwajumogu is a loss to all of us.”
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“All our colleagues, who spoke, gave account of their experiences in and out of the Senate.
“Senator Uwajumogu gave a good account of himself. He was calm cool, calculated and purposeful,” Lawan stated
He assured the family, who were present at the Senate chamber for the valedictory session, that the Senate will work in accordance with his principle which is to meet the aspiration of the people and urged them to remain united.
“For us in the Senate and indeed this ninth National Assembly there is nothing more than working for, that is what our late colleague believed in and worked for.
“The submission by most of our colleagues for the family is that they live together. I think all of us are supposed to do whatever it is and ensure that the family remains united, go through this period of grief and of course live a post husband, post father, post brother life with dignity.
“We will continue to interact with you and do our best. We are going to participate in the funeral activities.
On his part, the Deputy President of the Senate described the late Uwajumogu as a rebel for good cause recalling their role in the Eighth Senate, when the committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), where they both belonged at the time, insisted on re-ordering of the election sequence.
He said Uwajumogwu stood by his conviction maintaining that if anyone was suspended in the matter, he would also join to be suspended.
“He was my compatriot in that Enterprise if you want to call it rebellion, then he was my compatriot in our rebellion.
“When I was threatened with suspension, he joined others to say if Omo-Agege was threatened, then we will be suspended alongside, he placed his legislative career in chamber on the line.
Deputy Leader of the Senate, Senator Robert Boroffice, said Uwajumogwu’s passing away should be a lesson to all of us, we should continue to lead a Good Life not only to ourselves but to the people we serve.
Senator Boroffice said he was a harbinger of good news.
For Rochas Okorocha (Imo West), the death Uwajumogwu should serve as an opportunity to do good.
“His death is indeed a welcome call as we speak to segregate our selves along political lines but in death we are united.”
Senator Francis Onyewuchi, (Imo East) said late Benjamin was the stabilising factor as a speaker in the Imo state House of Assembly under Rochas Okorocha.
He said it was a moment of sober reflection and urged senators to ask “ourselves if the life we are living is giving pleasure to the creator whom the Bible says made us for His pleasure.”
Senator, Ike Ekweremadu, while making his remark, listed over 13 senators whom he has met but have died in his seventeen years in the parliament and urged senators to make food of their lives while on this side of the life.
He said, “while his family mourn him and his body lay outside here, some of our colleagues are already positioning themselves to take his seat.”
Ekweremadu then proceeded to list 13 other Senators who had died in his seventeen years of his being in the Senate urging his colleague that senators that they should make the best out of their lives.
According to Ekweremadu, Senator Ama Iwuagwu ( Imo East), Senator Joshua Adagba (Benue North-West), Senator Sule Yari Gandi (Sokoto North), Senator Badamasi Maccido (Sokoto Central) passed on in the 5th Senate.
Accordingly, the 7th Senate witnessed the passage of Senator Uche Chukwumerije (Abia North), Senator Pius Ewherido (Delta Centra), Senator Gyang Dantong (Plateau North), Senator Dahiru Awisu Kuta (Niger East)
About four others died in the 8th Senate and they include: Senator Mustapha Bukar (Katsina North), Senator Ahmed Zannah (Borno Central), Senator Isiaka Adeleke (Osun West), Senator Ali Wakili (Bauchi South) and the latest being the duo of Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu (Imo North) and Senator Ignatius Longjan (Plateau North) in the 9th Senate.
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