The family of the late senator confirmed
his death to Daily Trust yesterday, disclosing that he died of diabetes.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Abubakar Hassan, his nephew and Personal
Assistant said the one time Minister of Labour died around 3:00pm on Monday.
He said the deceased was accompanied
to Germany about three weeks ago by his eldest daughter, Hajiyan Rabi, and his
personal physician for medical attention.
Hassan said that the family will be
moving to Kaltungo in Gombe State to receive the body of the late senator which
was expected to arrive in Abuja yesterday evening.
“We are expecting them tonight
(yesterday) or at most tomorrow morning (today). As you can see we are all
getting ready to start moving to Kaltungo, because the corpse is expected to be
received in Gombe. Earlier it was to be received in Abuja but the government of
Gombe State has made arrangements to ensure that the corpse is received in
Gombe,” he said.
Hassan said the last time the family
spoke to the late senator was about seven days ago when his grandson died.
“We last spoke with him about seven
days ago when Gaddafi’s son died. He was receiving so many calls so the
hospital had to call us and tell us that they were going to restrict his calls.
So since then his caregivers were the ones communicating with us.”
The family spokesman said the late
senator will be remembered for his humility, stressing that “he lived a
fulfilled life, no grudges with anybody and his doors were always open to the
public.”
At the family in Dogon Karfe, Jos,
yesterday, our reporter observed that relatives, friends and well wishers were
trooping in to commiserate with the family, while members of the immediate
family were making preparations to travel to Kaltungo.
Uba Ahmed was born on the 28 of April
1939. He was a product of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.
In his youthful days, he was a trade
unionist. In the First Republic, he was Secretary of the Northern Federation
Labour. In the Second Republic, he was elected into the Senate to represent
then Bauchi State and was one of the foremost voices in the senate during his
time. He later became the National Secretary of the ruling National Party of
Nigeria, NPN.
In 1994, Uba Ahmed was appointed
Minister of Labour by former military leader General Sani Abacha. He also
became a member of the National Political Reform Conference that was held in
2005 during the regime of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo. He is survived
by four children; Abubakar, Ghaddafi, Hajiya Rabi and Maimuna and six grand
children.