Evan Enwerem (; 29 October 1935 – 2 August 2007) was a Nigerian politician who served as the 7th

president of the Nigerian Senate The president of the Nigerian Senate is the presiding officer of the Senate of Nigeria, elected by its membership. The senate president is second in line of succession to the Nigerian presidency, after the vice president of Nigeria. The current ...

in 1999. He was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Early life

Enwerem was born in

Ikeduru Ikeduru Local Government Area (LGA) is located in the western part of Imo State, in southern Nigeria, West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western A ...

Imo State Imo () is a States of Nigeria, state in the South East (Nigeria), South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by Anambra State, Rivers State to the west and south, and Abia State to the east. It takes its name from the Imo R ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, on 29 October 1935. He obtained his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

from the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Political career

Enwerem served as

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the Nigerian Airports Authority NAA between 1980 and 1983. He was elected

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

in 1991 during the failed Third Republic era of Nigerian

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. Enwerem was elected to the

Nigerian Senate The Senate is the upper chamber of Nigeria's bicameral legislature, the National Assembly. The National Assembly (popularly referred to as NASS) is the nation's legislature and has the power to make laws, as summarized in chapter one, sectio ...

in 1999 to represent the Imo-East Senatorial Zone He became the first

President of the Nigerian Senate The president of the Nigerian Senate is the presiding officer of the Senate of Nigeria, elected by its membership. The senate president is second in line of succession to the Nigerian presidency, after the vice president of Nigeria. The current ...

during Nigeria's Fourth Republic. Enwerem beat his chief rival, Senator

Chuba Okadigbo Chuba Wilberforce Okadigbo (; 17 December 1941 – 25 September 2003), was a Nigerian politician, philosopher, academic, writer and political scientist. He served as the 8th president of the Nigerian Senate from 1999 to 2000. Sometimes refe ...

, for the Senate

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

on 3 June 1999. Former

Nigerian President The president of Nigeria, officially the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is the head of state and head of government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The president directs the executive branch of the Federal Government and ...

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo (; ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian former army general, politician and statesman who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 200 ...

backed Enwerem for President of the Senate against Okadigbo. With the support of Obasanjo's allies in the governing party, and support from two Nigerian

opposition parties Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

, Enwerem easily defeated Okadigbo with 66 votes to Okadigbo's 43 votes. Enwerem did not hold the post of President of the Nigerian Senate for very long. A Nigerian Senate committee began investigating Enwerem for allegations of

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

in 1999. The allegations against Enwerem alleged that he falsified his name, and caused a

controversy Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an op ...

as to whether Enwerem's actual real name was Evan or Evans. Enwerem was removed from office on 18 November 1999, in an ouster spearheaded by allies of

. However, though removed as President of the Senate, Enwerem remained a member of the Senate until 2003. Okadigbo, Enwerem's rival and successor as President of the Senate, was in turn removed from office on 8 August 2000. Following Okadigbo's 2000 ouster, Enwerem briefly expressed interest in again assuming the presidency of the Senate. However, Enwerem withdrew from the race in favor of Senator

Adolphus Wabara Adolphus Nduneweh Wabara (born 1 June 1948) is a Nigerian politician and diplomat who served as the 10th president of the Nigerian Senate from 2003 to 2005. A pioneer member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Wabara had previously been a m ...

at the shadow election conducted by

PDP PDP may refer to: Computing and technology * Packet Data Protocol in wireless GPRS/HSDPA networks * Parallel distributed processing in Connectionism#Parallel distributed processing, connectionism * Plasma display panel * Policy Decision Point in t ...

Senators in Senate Hearing Room One. Enwerem ultimately served as a Nigerian Senator from 1999 until 2003 before leaving office. According to news reports, Enwerem expressed an interest in "good laws" whose "ripple effects on the populace would be wide, sweeping and enduring."

Death

Enwerem had been in poor health before his death in 2007. He had been hospitalized at National Hospital in

Abuja, Nigeria Abuja (; , ) is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, strategically situated at the geographic midpoint of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As the seat of the Federal G ...

for some time. Enwerem's family reportedly tried to make arrangements to transfer him to a

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

for medical treatment. The National Hospital initially refused his family's request, citing Enwerem's poor health. The National Hospital finally relented and released Enwerem to his family for transfer to Germany on 1 August 2007. on a private air ambulance to Germany. The two German doctors who arrived in the air ambulance refused to allow Enwerem to board the

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

due to his "very critical" condition, insisting that he was not strong enough to make the flight and rushed him back to the National Hospital, Enwerem was readmitted to National Hospital the same day, and plugged into a ventilator machine. Enwerem died the following morning on 2 August 2007, at the National Hospital in Abuja at the age of 73. One of his children, Mr Evan Enwerem Jr, has been appointed as Transition Committee Chairman of Ikeduru LGA. The then President of the Senate,

David Mark David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark (; born 8 April 1948) is a retired Nigerian Army brigadier general and politician. He served as the 12th president of the Nigerian Senate from 2007 to 2015 and was the Senator for Nigerian National Assembly dele ...

, learned of the news of Enwerem's death. Mark declined to formally announce the news to the Senate because most of Enwerem's family were out of the country at the time. The then

Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives The speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives (Nigeria), Federal House of Representatives of Nigeria, elected by its membership. The current House Speaker is Tajudeen Abbas who was elected S ...

, Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, issued a statement through her adviser, Funke Egbemode, saying that Enwerem's death "would leave a gaping hole in the nation's legislative history."

References

External links

AllAfrica.com: Enwerem - Exit of a Political Tactician
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enwerem, Evan Igbo politicians Presidents of the Senate (Nigeria) Governors of Imo State Alumni of the University of Southampton 1935 births 2007 deaths All People's Party (Nigeria) politicians Peoples Democratic Party members of the Senate (Nigeria) Senators of the 4th National Assembly (Nigeria)