The Social Democratic Party (SDP) said it received with great shock the news of the passing of Senator Godiya Akwashiki, who was re-elected in 2023 into the 10th session of the National Assembly under its banner to represent Nasarawa North district.
On New Year’s eve, a family source had told the News Agency of Nigeria at Nassarawa Eggon that Akwashiki died in an Indian hospital earlier that day.
In his first term as a Senator in the ninth session of the National Assembly, he was a member of the All Progressives Congress.
Akwashiki was a member of the Nasarawa State Assembly from between 2011 to 2019 under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party and was the Majority Leader in his first term.
In his second term (2015-2019), he was elected the Deputy Speaker of the state Assembly, a position he held until 2019 when, under he contested and won the Nasarawa North senatorial election.
According to a statement on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Araba Rufus Aiyenigba, SDP’s Acting National Chairman of Dr. Sadiq Umar Gombe said that members of the party are devastated by the news of the lawmaker’s death.
Aiyenigba said that the strong grassroots political figure was reputed to have made remarkable impact in the soci-political development of Nasarawa North and the state.
The SDP spokesperson said: ‘His death has created a vacuum in the SDP and he will be greatly missed by the party, as well as by his people in Nasarawa North, Constituency, and in the political firmament of the state.
‘The party expresses condolences to his family, the people of Nasarawa North, and the government of the state.
‘We pray that his soul finds repose and that God will grant his family the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss’.
Akwashiki, 52, was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Inter-parliamentary Affairs and Vice Chairman of the Media and Public Affairs Committee.
Until his death, he was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Airforce, a position he was named into on 8 August 2023.
