Ex-Customs controller turned Senator, Ali Wakili is dead

Ex-Customs controller turned Senator, Ali Wakili is dead
Ali Wakili

A former Controller, Tin Can Island Customs Area Command and Senator representing Bauchi South Senatorial District, Ali Wakili is dead.

SHIPS & PORTS DAILY gathered that Wakili died today (Saturday) in Abuja.

“I can confirm that the lawmaker is dead but we don’t have the details at the moment,” Yusuph Olaniyonu, spokesman of Senate President Bukola Saraki, said.

SHIPS & PORTS DAILY reliably gathered that the lawmaker, who was one of the guests at the wedding of the daughter of billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote, slumped at his residence in Gwarimpa, Abuja, and was taken to a hospital where he was attended to immediately.

The Senate President said he received the news while on his way to the wedding ceremony of one of the daughters of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and that he stopped over at the residence of the deceased before continuing the journey.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, who hails from the same state with Wakili, described the death as devastating and heartbreaking.

He said the late lawmaker was a “personal friend, true brother and dependable ally”.

“The death of Sen. Ali Wakili is a personal loss to me. I’m short of words to describe how devastated and heartbroken I am over the passing away of this true friend, brother and confidant, with whom I had excellent brotherly relationship and association,” he said in a statement.

“We in Bauchi state and in particular, Bauchi South Senatorial District, have lost a worthy ambassador and a distinguished gentleman. But we’ll take solace in the fact that his humanitarian services and other accomplishments will continue to be a source of inspiration to us all.”

Aged 58, the lawmaker, who was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), served as Chairman, Senate Committee on Poverty Alleviation until his death.

He joined the Nigeria Customs Service in 1984 after obtaining a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from the Bayero University Kano (BUK) in 1982.

Wakili joined politics after retiring on the rank of comptroller in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) where he had served in various capacity including as Controller, Murtala Muhammed International Airport Area Command and Controller, Tin Can Island Port Command.



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