Ali Wakili, an All Progressives Congress (APC) senator from Bauchi state, is dead.
Yusuph Olaniyonu, spokesman of Senate President Bukola Saraki, confirmed this to TheCable on Saturday.
“I can confirm that the lawmaker is dead but we don’t have the details at the moment,” Olaniyonu said.
TheCable gathered that the lawmaker, who was one of the guests at the wedding of the daughter of Aliko Dangote, billionaire businessman, died in Abuja on Saturday.
He reportedly slumped at his residence in Gwarimpa, Abuja, and was taken to a hospital where he was attended to immediately.
The senate president said he received the news while on his way to the wedding ceremony of one of the daughters of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, and that he stopped over at the residence of the deceased before continuing the journey.
Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, who hails from the same state with Wakili, described the death as devastating and heartbreaking.
He said the late lawmaker was a “personal friend, true brother and dependable ally”.
“The death of Sen. Ali Wakili is a personal loss to me. I’m short of words to describe how devastated and heartbroken I am over the passing away of this true friend, brother and confidant, with whom I had excellent brotherly relationship and association,” he said in a statement.
“We in Bauchi state and in particular, Bauchi south senatorial district, have lost a worthy ambassador and a distinguished gentleman. But we’ll take solace in the fact that his humanitarian services and other accomplishments will continue to be a source of inspiration to us all.”
Aged 58, the lawmaker served as chairman, senate committee on poverty alleviation until his death.
He joined politics after retiring as comptroller in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
Wakili obtained his bachelor’s degree in arts in 1982 from the Bayero University Kano (BUK).