A former Nigerian senator, Saidu Kumo, is dead.
Mr Kumo, 71, died Sunday after a brief illness, his son, Abubakar disclosed.
He died on Sunday at a Gwagwalada hospital in Abuja where he was receiving treatment for the undisclosed illness.
Mr Kumo represented Gombe Central Constituency in the Senate between 1999 and 2003 on the platform of the All Peoples Party (APP) which later became the All Nigeria Peoples Party.
He also served briefly as a special adviser to President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2008.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the death the former Senator and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Buhari described Kumo’s death as “a major loss to the APC”, adding that the deceased was the pillar of strength in Gombe State.
Kumo defected to the ruling party in 2019 and Buhari noted that his move had energized the supporters for change.
Buhari said this in a condolence message on Sunday, signed by his Spokeman, Garba Shehu.
“I have received the news of the death of Senator Kumo with profound shock and sadness because his contributions to the growth of our party cannot be forgotten,” Buhari said.
Buhari said that the history of victory of the party in 2019 cannot be complete without reckoning with the significant contributions of Kumo, who, according to him, “had brought his enormous political goodwill into our efforts to retain power.”
President Buhari also mourned the death of Madawakin Keffi, Abubakar Senior, a distinguished civil servant and the second in command in the Keffi Emirate Council.
He prayed to Allah to forgive the souls of Kumo and Senior, reward their good deeds with aljanna.