Sen. Polycarp Nwite is dead

ABUJA—Senator Polycarp Ogbonna Nwite, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Political Matters is dead.

A statement signed by his media adviser, Mr. Edward Dibiana, quoted Senator Nwite’s first son, Mr Michael Nwite, as saying that his father passed on at the National Hospital, Abuja, where he was receiving treatment in the early hours of yesterday.

Senator Nwite was a political activist, who at the height of the ravenous regime of the late General Sani Abacha, was one of the arrowheads of the pro-democracy group, National Democratic Coalition, NADECO,which insisted on the validation of the June 12, 1993, Presidential election, believed to have been won by the late Chief M.K.O Abiola.

He was Chairman, Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence, during his period as a senator. In 2008, he was appointed the Nigerian High Commissioner to Bostwana by late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

He was, however, recalled to Nigeria in 2009 and made Senior Special Assistant to the President on Political Matters, a position he retained under the current government of President Goodluck Jonathan until he passed on.

He is survived by six children.