Senate Minority Leader, Senator George Akume Mourns His Deputy ,ChiefOgiri Ajene.

I received with rude shock the news of the death of a colleague, a friend and my Deputy when I was the Executive Governor of Benue state, Chief Ogiri Ajene, and I write on behalf of my family and the good people of Benue North-West Senatorial District to commiserate with his immediate family, Obi Local Government, the Igede nation and Benue State at large.

Chief Ajene was a man I knew for a long time and worked intimately with for eight memorable years. He was from the lineage of very honourable and hardworking men and so he distinguished himself by his sheer brilliance, diligence, discipline and doggedness.

He was affable, and a motivating worker. We were a team and his sense of loyalty to the cause we espoused and worked for never swayed. At no point throughout the years we were together did I have any cause to doubt his allegiance and competence. His preoccupation was to provide the best for the people, and his humility at every turn was perhaps one of his strongest points and I believe history will remember him as one of the few Deputy Governors of that era that never rebelled against his boss.

The death of this fine and extraordinary man has left a gap that will be very difficult to fill, however we are consoled by his legacies. To me it is a personal and a heartrending tragedy. He was indeed a man of many virtues and he will be remembered by many for the passion he had for his people.

We have lost a rare gem but may his soul be granted eternal peace in the bosom of the Lord.


SENATOR GEORGE O. AKUME, (KSJ) FNIM
Senate Minority Leader