Gloria Robert, Abuja
Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, has died after collapsing in his office in Yenagoa on Thursday.
Ewhrudjakpo was said to have slumped at about 1:30 p.m. while descending a staircase shortly after a meeting. He was immediately rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Yenagoa.
Hospital sources told Kano Times that he arrived the facility unconscious and was taken to the Emergency Unit before being moved to the Intensive Care Unit, ICU. All efforts by medical personnel to resuscitate him reportedly failed.
His media aide, Doubara Atasi, confirmed the incident but declined to give further details.
Shortly after the news broke, sympathisers trooped to the hospital in large numbers, prompting security personnel to tighten access to the premises.
Born on September 5, 1965, Ewhrudjakpo served as deputy governor from 2020. He had also represented Bayelsa West in the Senate and previously held the position of Commissioner for Works.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, confirmed the deputy governor’s passing, describing it as “inexplicable.”
Ewhrudjakpo, 60, a political associate of former Governor Seriake Dickson, was among the top officials who refused to leave the PDP following Governor Douye Diri’s recent defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Despite their longstanding alliance, relations between Diri and his deputy reportedly deteriorated after Ewhrudjakpo declined to join the governor in resigning from the PDP on October 15.
A key figure in the Dickson administration, where he served as Commissioner for Works from 2012 to 2019 before becoming senator for Bayelsa West, Ewhrudjakpo had maintained a cordial working relationship with Diri during their first term and the early part of their second.
Although Diri publicly stated that no official would be pressured to defect to the APC, there were moves in the House of Assembly to impeach the deputy governor. Ewhrudjakpo responded by dragging the Assembly to court over the alleged plot.
On October 27, the Federal High Court in Abuja restrained the Assembly from proceeding with any impeachment action against him.
