The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D., GCON, has expressed shock over the death of former Minister and ex-chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Chief Audu Ogbeh, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 78.
In a condolence statement issued on Sunday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Musa Abdullahi Krishi, Speaker Abbas described Chief Ogbeh as an elder statesman who devoted his life to diligent service to Nigeria and its people, noting that few citizens were privileged to serve the nation in as many capacities as he did.
Recalling Ogbeh’s public service career that began in the late 1970s, Abbas highlighted his roles in both the executive and legislative arms of government. In the Second Republic, Ogbeh served as Deputy Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly in 1979, later becoming Minister of Communications (1982–1983) and Minister of Steel Development before the 1983 coup.
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In the Third Republic, he was a member of the National Constitutional Conference Commission (1993) and the National Reconciliation Committee (1995). In the Fourth Republic, he co-founded the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), serving as its National Chairman from 2001 to 2005, and later as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (2015–2019) under the late former President Muhammadu Buhari. From 2020 to 2023, he chaired the ACF.
Speaker Abbas extended condolences to the Ogbeh family, the people and government of Benue State, as well as Ogbeh’s former colleagues in the National Assembly and Federal Executive Council, praying God to grant him eternal rest.
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