The immediate past Deputy Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon Enema Paul, is dead.
He died of an undisclosed illness in Abuja at a private hospital in the early hours of Saturday.
Before his death, Hon Paul was the member representing Okura State Constituency in the current 8th Assembly in Kogi State.
Hon Paul stepped down as Kogi State Deputy Speaker on health grounds, and he was later replaced by the member representing Ibaji State Constituency, Hon. Comfort Ojoma Nwuchiola.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Aliyu Umar Yusuf, has commiserated with the family of the former Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Enema Paul, whose demise was announced early Saturday.
This is contained in a press statement signed and made available to journalists in Lokoja by the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker, Yabagi Mohammed.
He described the deceased Assembly member as a friend, temperate, humble, team-playing, committed lawmaker, and public servant.
According to Rt Hon Umar, the former Deputy Speaker was a man who exemplified commitment to the unity of the state, having demonstrated a genuine desire to enhance pro-people legislation for overall development.
He noted that the late Enema Paul was also a devoted Christian who saw beyond religion and whose godliness and commitment to family values were unquestionable.
The Speaker prayed to God to grant the immediate family and members of the current and immediate past Assembly the fortitude to bear the huge loss.