Senator Gbenga Aluko dies at 58

Senator Gbenga Aluko, who represented Ekiti South at the Senate from 1999 to 2003, has died at the age of 58, one of his aides said.

The former governorship aspirant in Ekiti State died on Saturday after slumping in his office in Abuja.

An aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for not being authorised to comment, told Radio Nigeria that Aluko was neither sick nor exhibited any symptom of sickness.

The son of the late prominent economist Prof. Sam Aluko had in 2018 contested the governorship ticket on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti.

During his time at the Senate, Aluko was appointed to committees on selection, Senate services (vice chairman), aviation, women affairs, finance and appropriation, social development and sports and local and foreign debts.

He was once deputy chief whip of the Senate. Later, he held the position of vice chairman of gas committee and chairman of the petroleum committee. Aluko was opposed to plans to privatise the Nigerian Mint. He was appointed chairman of an ad hoc committee to investigate the controversial closure of Savannah Bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Aluko was married with five children.