Bayelsa State capital has been thrown in disquiet following the collapse and death of the president of the umbrella body of Ijaw ethnic group known as Ijaw National Congress, INC, Senator Tari Sekibo.
Though the cause and exact location of the death are not known to newsmen, the INC president was reported to have arrived Yenagoa for the proposed National Executive Council, NEC, meeting of the INC and also had reportedly booked a private courtesy call by the NEC on the state governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson.
Senator Sekibo, 70, who was elected the INC president on the March 16, this year, reportedly died of heart related ailment on Monday morning in Yenagoa.
Late Sekibo, a prominent indigene of Okrika community in Rivers State, was the chairman of Unified Okrika Divisional Council of Chiefs, a former senator in the aborted third republic and a 1998 national award recipient of the Member of the Federal Republic, MFR, Award.
Bayelsa State government was yet to issue a reaction and condolence statement at the time of filing this report.
Contacted on the development, the publicity secretary of the INC, Pastor Victor Burubo confirmed the death of Sekibo.
“We have just heard the news that we have lost our president. We don’t have enough details but he died in Yenagoa. We are arranging to move to Yenagoa and get enough details on the sad incident.”