Two-time Governor of Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu, didn’t see his death coming, YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine can exclusively reveal. As a matter of fact, the man and his team were already warming up to take over the mantle of leadership in the State and based on the ‘hand writing they were seeing on the wall’ when the unexpected happened. ‘Nothing prepared us for this shocker. His death was so sudden and shocking and mysterious. The man only complained of stomach upset and disorder, then he suffered a stroke and now this – death! So, I still can’t believe this – that The Prince is no more. All what we are talking about happened in a few hours; that is between when he complained about the stomach trouble and when death came knocking.
‘None of us saw this coming. And to tell you the truth, we were already planning how to make Kogites smile again and getting ready for governance. Not even in our wildest imagination did we envision this. The whole camp has been throwing into serious mourning and weeping and wailing’, lamented one of his close associates.
Most likely to be buried tomorrow, the late Audu was born on October 27, 1947, which makes him 68 years. The son of His Royal Highness, Pa. Audu Oyidi, Orego Atta of Igalaland and paramount ruler of Ogbonicha-Alloma, Ofu LGA of Kogi State, he attended NA Junior & Senior Primary School, Alloma, Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha and Jos Commercial College, where he bagged his O & A Levels.
From here, he proceeded to London where he studied Banking & Personnel Management. He worked with First Bank for over 20 years before crossing over to the then FSB International Bank, and rising to the enviable position of an Executive Director.
Delving into politics from there, he was made the Commissioner for Finance & Economic Planning in 1986. And in 1991/92, he emerged Kogi Governor on the ticket of National Republican Convention, NRC. Re-elected again in 1998, this time on the shoulders of All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP, he was coasting home to victory for the third time when death halted everything on Sunday, October 22, 2015.
Although, prior to this, INEC, that is the Independent National Electoral Commission, had declared the election inconclusive. Thus halting temporarily the joy and celebration already going on in his camp and that of his running mate, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke.
Audu, of course, was on his way one more time to the Government House and
in spite of the N12 billion corruption allegation hung on his neck by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC when death came. He ran on All Progressives Congress, APC, ticket against the incumbent, Idris Wada, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
In love with outlandish embroidery on his Agbadas and Kaftans, he was married to Olivia and blessed with children. He also had other women like Aisha et al.
He will be sorely missed by his family members, political associates and Kogites who were already warming up for his third coming before death came calling. The political landscape of Kogi will obviously not be the same again with his demise, especially as it concerns who governs the Confluence State next.