A former Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na’Abba, has died.
Details of his death are sketchy, but Na’Abba, who was Speaker of the House between 1999 and 2003, reportedly passed away on Wednesday morning.
There are reports that he died at a hospital in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Ghali Umar Na’Abba CFR was born into the family of Alhaji Umar Na’Abba, a businessman in Tudun Wada, Kano City, Kano Municipal Local Government on 27 September, 1958.
The executive arm of government, particularly the presidency, did not approve of his leadership.
Consequently, greater part of Na’Abba’s tenure witnessed grand plots by the Presidency to oust him, so as to replace him with a compromising legislator. This severed the relationship between the House and the Presidency.
He survived till the end of his four-year tenure on June 3, 2003. In August 2002, the House gave then President Olusegun Obasanjo an ultimatum to either resign or face impeachment action.
As speaker, Na’Abba said the House would not withdraw the resolution. Na’Abba was the leader of the impeachment movement. It was reported that Obasanjo gave members of the House inducements to bring charges against Na’Abba.
In April 2003, he sought a re-election into the House of Representatives on the platform of he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Presidency that brazenly lost the battle of removing him as Speaker extended the animosity to his re-election bid.
