Bayelsa State has been thrown into shock following the sudden death of Deputy Governor Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.
The Former Senator slumped in his office around midday and was immediately rushed to the Federal Medical Centre in Yenagoa, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Eyewitnesses and officials at the Bayelsa Government House said the deputy governor collapsed unexpectedly while attending to official duties. His death has also been confirmed by Lere Olayinka, Media Aide to the FCT Minister, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike.
Efforts to revive him at the hospital were unsuccessful.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo, aged 60, had served as Deputy Governor since February 2020 and previously represented Bayelsa West in the Nigerian Senate. Details surrounding the circumstances of his death are still emerging, and the Bayelsa State Government is expected to release an official statement soon.
UPDATE
Politics Nigeria learned that the Deputy Governor was in a meeting on Thursday which had in attendance some community leaders and stakeholders involved in pipeline surveillance. The meeting was heated and Ewhrudjakpo was said to have left the conference room of his office, where the meeting was held, and was climbing the staircase when he slumped.
His aides and top government functionaries who were with him when the incident occurred were said to have rushed him to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Yenagoa, where doctors confirmed that he had passed.
SO SAD. REST IN PEACE GREAT MAN. YOU DIED A PRINCIPLED MAN AND WILL FOREVER BE MISSED. MAY YOUR CREATOR STAY IN THE GAP FOR YOUR LOVED ONES YOU LEFT BEHIND
LIFE, A FLEETING EXPERIMENT
My heartfelt condolences
My condolences. May his soul rest in peace.
What an irony, people with no money to take care of themselves are living while a man who has everything at his disposal including quick access to good medical care just slumped and died. Terrible! May God have mercy on his soul and grant him a peaceful rest.