A former governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Senator Gbenga Aluko, is dead.
Aged 58, the Ode-Ekiti-born politician was said to have died on Saturday.
He reportedly collapsed in his office in Abuja.
An aide of his confirmed the fatal incident to THE CONCLAVE. He said every member of Aluko’s immediate and distant family was still in shock.
Aluko said to have been rushed to a hospital where he passed on.
The aide said that Aluko was not sick.
Feelers from some quarters implicated a heart attack.
Gbenga was the son of the late renowned professor of economics, Sam Aluko.
He was elected into the Nigerian Senate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 1999 to represent Ekiti South Senatorial zone.
He was the only PDP Senator in the SouthWest while the others were Alliance for Democracy, AD, senators.
He got the support of the people of Ekiti South Senatorial Zone on account of his community development programmes.
He had, for instance, embarked on provision of boreholes to communities to tackle the problem of lack of potable water.
There was a common question among the people who were going to fetch water if they were going to fetch Gbenga Aluko’s water or water from government’s taps which had obviously stopped running. His popularity had soared, translating into political capital.
Gbenga Aluko did not return for a second term in the Senate having completed his first from 1999 to 2003.
He had got a plum job with Chevron Nigeria Limited thereafter as the multinational oil company’s government relations manager in Abuja leveraging his wide contacts in government.
In 2018, Gbenga Aluko indicated interest in being governor of Ekiti State. He vied for the governorship ticket on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC
Popularly referred to as “SGA” he was a grassroots politucian who defined his life and times with the magnitude of his brilliance.
He had seven children, including Eniola and Sone, who are both international footballers.
Others are Gbemisola, Lolade, Bubemi, Temisan and Folarin.
●The man Daniel Olugbenga Aluko (Biography by Wikipedia)
Daniel Olugbenga Aluko (born 20 July 1963), known as Gbenga Aluko, is a Nigerian politician. He was elected Senator for the Ekiti South constituency of Ekiti State, Nigeria at the start of the Nigerian Fourth Republic, running on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) platform. He took office on 29 May 1999.
▪︎Birth and early career
Daniel Olugbenga Aluko was born on 20 July 1963, to Professor Sam Aluko, a prominent Nigerian Economist from Ekiti State of Nigeria. He attended Federal Government College, Ilorin, and then was admitted to the University of Benin, graduating in 1982 with a degree in Geography and Regional Planning. He went on to the College of Energy and Petroleum Studies, Oxford, England for a Post Graduate Course in International Oil Trading and Pricing. Positions held between 1983 and 1999 included Managing Director/CEO of HYGYNIX, Executive Director of Baseline Petroleum and Chemicals and Executive Chairman of Independent Strategists. He was appointed Special Assistant to the Minister of Transport and Aviation and General Manager of Nigeria Shipper’s Council from 1993 to 1995.
▪︎Senate career
After taking his seat in the Senate in June 1999 Aluko was appointed to committees on Selection, Senate Services (vice chairman), Aviation, Women Affairs, Finance & Appropriation, Social Development & Sports and Local & Foreign Debts. He was appointed Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate. Later he was appointed Vice Chairman of the Gas Committee and Chairman of the Petroleum Committee. Aluko was opposed to plans to privatize the Nigerian Mint. He was appointed Chairman of an ad hoc committee to investigate the controversial closure of Savannah Bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria. In September 2002, he seconded a motion to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate alleged constitutional and budgetary breaches committed by President Olusegun Obasanjo, which could be grounds for impeachment. In October 2002, Aluko replaced Oserheimen Osunbor as Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission. Aluko was involved in controversy when he was among those indicted by a panel chaired by Senator Idris Kuta that investigated financial improprieties by Senators. The panel and a subsequent ad hoc committee chaired by Senator Victor Oyofo issued reports that found Aluko had overcharged for repairs to senators’ quarters and overpriced computers and office equipment supplied to senate members, and recommended that he refund the excess. However, in September 2002, the Senate adopted a motion proposed by Aluklo that senate should duly absolve all Senators indicted in both reports.
▪︎Later career
After leaving the Senate, Aluko continued in private enterprise, holding a controlling interest in Alstegg and Midlands, a Civil Engineering Firm and serving as a Director of Crest Healthcare, Consultant to DFID on Parliamentary Matters and Director of Government Affairs with Chevron Nigeria. He left the PDP for the Labour Party, on which platform he unsuccessfully contested the Ekiti State governorship election in 2007. In December 2009, Aluko returned to the PDP.
▪︎Personal life
Aluko is married to Sileola and the couple have seven children, including the footballers Eniola and Sone.
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