Senator Chukwumerije dies at 75

Abuja - Senator Uche Chukwumerije has passed
away.
Chukwumerije, a former Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Education, died on Sunday in a
Turkish Hospital in Abuja at the age of 75.
He was a three-time senator that represented Abia
North, he was elected into the Senate in 2003.
Chika Chukwumerije, son of the deceased,
confirmed the development in a telephone
interview that his father died of lung cancer at
exactly 4.30 p.m., on Sunday.
"We are trying to organise some things; he died at
exactly 4.30 p.m., this evening.
"He died here in Abuja and was surrounded by his
friends before his last breath.
"He has been an inspiration in ways I cannot
explain," Chika said.
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Chika also said that burial arrangements would be
communicated once it had been concluded.
Chukwumerije, elected a senator of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria in April 2003, represented Abia
North Senatorial District.
He served as minister of information in the dying
days of the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida
and later served in the same capacity in the interim
national government of Ernest Shonekan.
Senator Chukwumerije was rumoured to have
slumped and died in 2014 after the legislator lost
his return bid to the Senate in a PDP primary
election.
The rumour was later described as the handiwork
of “a few ungodly and irresponsible individuals.”