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| Chukwumerije |
He died today, April 19, of lung cancer after suddenly slumping in his home.
Chukwumerije entered the country's political terrain as the director of propaganda, later, director of of information for the former breakaway Biafra republic during the Nigerian Civil War. He later emerged as a minister yet again during the Abacha regime. Following the birth of democracy in Nigeria, he reportedly forced the hitherto winner of the Abia North Senatorial constituency to sign over his mandate to him at gunpoint. This story is never corroborated but he went on to represent Abia North as a Senator in 2003.
Chukwumerije graduated from University College, Ibadan in 1961 and worked variously as a columnist for West African Pilot and Dailty Times. He later became CEO of African Beacon Lights Limited. He was often rumoured to be involved in arms trade starting from his days in the Biafra Civil War.
In 2006, after disagreeing with the then-ruling Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) for acting as chairman of Movement 2007 which shattered President Obasanjo's Third Term's tenure elongation plans, he left PDP and reentered the Senate chamber as a member of the Progressive Peoples' Alliance. He rejoined the upper chamber in 2011 as a PDP member.
Chukwumerije is divorced with 7 children, one of whom won the bronze Olympic medal in Karate at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Burial arrangements will be announced by the family later.
