Governor, minister mourn as Kwara ex-senator dies at 58

FORMER Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, who represented Kwara South in the 8th National Assembly, has passed on at 58 years of age. Ibrahim, who died about 4.30am, yesterday, at an Abuja hospital, has been buried according to Islamic rites in a Muslim cemetery, Osere, in Ilorin, Kwara State.

The deceased was, reportedly, an ally of former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and served in the Senate from 2015 to 2019. He was Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions in the 8th Assembly.

Mourning the politician, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, stated: “I received with shock and profound sadness reports of the death of Senator Rafiu Ibrahim of the PDP after a brief illness.”

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, added, in the statement, that the governor sent his “heartfelt condolences to the family of the late senator, the people of Ojoku in Oyun Local Council, and the PDP on this sad development.

“This shocking development again reminds everyone of the inevitability of death for all human beings and the fact that it could come unannounced for anyone.”

Also, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Abdullahi, expressed deep regret over the development.

In a condolence message to the Kwara State Government, the people of Kwara South and Ojoku Community, the minister said he was saddened by the news of the death of an illustrious son of Kwara and former colleague with whom he had a healthy and productive working relationship.

The governor and the minister prayed God to forgive the shortcomings of the late senator and to grant his soul al-jannah firdaus. They equally urged the bereaved family to be consoled by the remarkable accomplishments of the late senator.