A luminous epoch in the politics of Nigeria, which actually circumscribed the Second Republic’s socio-political crusading, has ended somewhat abruptly with the death of Nigeria’s only female Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in Second Republic Franca Afegbua.
Her death happened on Sunday like the visit of a thief in the night. The grim reaper came and took her away, albeit in a celebratory fashion at a ripe old age. She was 80 years.
THE CONCLAVE reports that Senator Afegbua died in her home in Benin City.
She reportedly woke in Sunday morning, took her bath, and asked for her breakfast.
She was said to have thereafter retired to her bedroom. It was when the breakfast was ready and someone went to invite her to the dining table that it was discovered she had quietly passed on.
She was not ill.
A prominent member of the Afegbua family and former Information Commissioner in Edo State, Prince Kassim Afegbua told THE CONCLAVE that she died Sunday morning in her home in Benin City.
He said that her second son who was around when she passed had deposited remains in the morgue of one of the hospitals in Benin , and had firstly informed the State Government of her death.
Prince Afegbua described his late auntie as a stormy petrel of the Nigerian political firmament even as he said that members of the Afegbua family were hot-headed whether man or woman.
“She was firm, principled, and unbending. She knew how to network within the male-dominated politics. She never believed that her gender would inhibit her achievement of goals, especially at that time in 1983 when Bendel North that she represented was much bigger than what it is now.”
He prayed that the Almighty God would grant her soul eternal repose
The late Franca Afegbua hailed from Okpella in Etsako East Local Government Area, Edo State.
Senator Afegbua represented Bendel North, the only female elected into the Nigerian Senate in 1983.
She was a staunch member of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
Senator Afegbua had her tertiary education in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Before venturing into politics, she worked as a highly successful hairdresser in Lagos.
She was influenced into politics following her high-rated relationship with Joseph Tarka, who introduced her to his party, NPN.
On her mission to becoming the first female senator in the country, she calculated that wooing more women to vote could give her a victory and it worked for her as she was able to defeat John Umolu of the ruling party, Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).
This victory made her name popular within her Etsako community.
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