Posted by From Alifa Daniel, Abuja on
AFTER a prolonged battle with cancer, one of the Senate's best minds on economic matters Senator Amah Iwuagwu passed on yesterday morning in the United States of America after nearly a six-month battle to overcome the debilitating ailment.
AFTER a prolonged battle with cancer, one of the Senate's best minds on economic matters Senator Amah Iwuagwu passed on yesterday morning in the United States of America after nearly a six-month battle to overcome the debilitating ailment.
A sad Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani said on phone yesterday that within 15 minutes of his death, he received a phone call from Iwuagwu's relative that he had died.
Iwuagwu, a Harvard-trained graduate was known in the Senate for his lucid contribution to debates on economic matters, especially in the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations.
It is to his credit, according to his colleagues, that a robust Appropriations Act was passed in 2004 with all its clauses that ensured strict compliance with the version passed by the National Assembly. Compliance by the Executive Arm ensured a nearly 90 per cent success rate.
Iwuagwu beat former Senate President Evan Enmerem to his senatorial seat in the year 2003.
Said the Senate President of Iwuagwu yesterday: "It is a big loss; he was very vibrant and played a very illuminating role in the Appropriation Committee. We will miss him very dearly because he was very diligent".
He fondly remembered the late Senator as a good friend and supporter who assured him that he was ready to vote for him to become Senate President from his hospital bed in the United States two weeks ago.
"He told me that if he was around, he would campaign for me. His loss is painful to me and the Senate. The Senate has lost a real gem," Nnamani said on phone yesterday.
Another Senator and friend of Iwuagwu, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), lamented the loss, adding that he first heard of the Senator's death from the Senate President. "We have lost a good, brilliant and quiet member. May his soul rest in perfect peace," Ndoma-Egba said yesterday on phone.
In his late 40s, Iwuagwu is survived by his siblings.