Ex-reps speaker Agunwa Anakwe is dead

Agunwa Anakwe, former speaker of the house of representatives, is dead.

TheCable understands that he died on Saturday.

Law Mefor, commissioner for information in Anambra, confirmed his passing in a telephone conversation on Monday.

Although the cause of his death is unclear, the former speaker was said to have been nursing an ailment for some time.

Anakwe led the third house of representatives at 36 under the interim civilian government of Ernest Shonekan in 1992 until Sani Abacha seized power the following year.

He opposed the agitation for the creation of more local governments at the time, which, though a legitimate aspiration, was pushed as a disguise to prolong the transition to democracy.

“He steered the House with a lot of dexterity, wisdom and patience, a situation that saw the House having more stability than its Senate counterpart before the military led by General Sani Abacha struck on November 17, 1993, after the annulment of the presidential election won by MKO Abiola of the SDP,” Chris Ngige, former governor of Anambra, where Anakwe hails from, wrote in a statement.

Ngige described Anakwe as a close friend and trusted political ally.

“As Governor, he stood with me in the fight to behead the god-fathers that held Anambra hostage under Gov Mbadinuju resulting in ‘years of the locusts’ situation with unpaid salaries and gratuities for workers, teachers resulting in closure of schools for one academic session; a situation we quickly reversed with restoration of payment of salaries and gratuities as and when due,” he added.

The former labour minister noted that his last visit to the ex-speaker was in late March “when I heard he was sick and was billed for a major surgery”.

“The camaraderie we shared that night and his happiness at seeing us after many months, lifted our spirits not knowing that death, ‘the biggest thief in the night’ was lurking around to steal our friend and brother, Ide Anaocha,” he said.

Ngige said Anakwe’s death has left a “very big void, difficult to fill because of the dearth of principled, accountable and truthful persons in the murky and dirty waters of Nigerian politics”.

TheCable could not immediately reach Anakwe’s family for comments.