At the First Baptist Church in Garki, Abuja, on Wednesday, friends, relatives, and political leaders gathered to honor the late Senator Jonathan Zwingina, who died on October 3, just a few weeks after turning 70.<\/p>\n
For his honesty, skill, and important contributions to Nigeria’s democratic scene, he was honored and remembered.<\/p>\n
A flood of accolades from luminaries who had good memories of the former Senate Majority Leader characterized the commendation service.<\/p>\n
Kabrh, the first son of the deceased legislator, paid tribute to him by recalling his father’s final moments.<\/p>\n
He said their father was at peace before to his death.<\/p>\n
Kabrh said, \u201cI want to give a testimony about his last moments.\u00a0 I called Reverend Tom and said we should meet at the hospital, when we got there, we felt things were off. So, he ( Reverend Tom) led us in prayers of salvation, and forgiveness, and right after that barely 20 seconds later, my dad passed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zwingina was characterized as a guy of vision and quality by Professor Jerry Gana, the former Minister of Information.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very shocking departure,\u201d Gana said, recalling the recent celebration of Zwingina\u2019s 70th birthday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spoke on that day (Zwingina\u2019s birthday) on behalf of friends and colleagues, not knowing our dear friend would leave us so soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cSenator Zwingina lived a life of tremendous impact, a life of integrity.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was always ahead of his colleagues with his tremendous capacity to think and lead with initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gana also emphasized Zwingina’s contribution to Nigeria’s political evolution, particularly during the PDP’s formative years.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was very close to me when we worked together to restore democracy. He was a leader of thoughts and actions,\u201d Gana added.<\/p>\n
Gana emphasised Zwingina\u2019s unwavering dedication to excellence: \u201cYour father, your husband, was a man of honour, integrity, and ideas. He lived a life of excellence, and we are proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similar opinions were also expressed by former Senate President Ken Nnamani, who praised Zwingina’s keen intellect and memory, earning him the moniker “encyclopedia” while he was a senator.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cI found Zwingina to be someone with impeccable memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the Ronaldo, or if you like, Messi, of the Constitutional Amendments debates. He has a knack of remembering things.\u00a0 His departure is a big loss to Adamawa state and the entire country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boss Mustapha, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, also gave a heartfelt remembrance, recalling his connection with Zwingina over the years.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cOur paths crossed during our university days, and we remained close ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a towering figure in the politics of Adamawa State. His wisdom and capacity will be a legacy for future generations. At his 70th birthday, he didn\u2019t show any sign that he would be leaving us so soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a same vein, Jonah Jang, the former governor of Plateau State, supported the claims of others that the dead was an exceptional man.<\/p>\n
He stated, \u201cI have known Zwingina for over 40 years, I first met him when I was the military governor of Gongola State and we appointed him as the Director General of Mass Mobilization for Self Reliance, Social Justice, and Economic Recovery. We have remained friends from then till now.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a very hardworking and intelligent man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adolphus Wabara, a former Senate President, described Zwigina as a real Nigerian.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cWe worked together in true harmony; he was a true Nigerian. I never knew he was from the North. I know that he is in the bosom of the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additionally, while serving as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Garki, Abuja, Reverend Israel Akanji, the president of the Baptist Convention, sang hymns honoring the deceased and his contributions to the church.<\/p>\n
He provided numerous instances of Zwingina’s commitment to and charity toward God’s goods.<\/p>\n
Among the dignitaries attending the event were former Health Minister Honorable Dr. Aliyu Hong, former SGF Babachir Lawal, former Senate President David Mark, former Speaker of Adamawa State Rt. Hon. James Barka, former Taraba State House of Assembly Member Honorable Aminu Umar, Honorable Frank Nweke Jr., Senator Binta Garba, and Mr. Kayode Komolafe, representative of the MKO Abiola Hope ’93 Campaign.<\/p>\n
Other individuals include former Kogi State Senator Tunde Ogbeha, former Gombe State Deputy Governor Tha’anda Rubainu, former Edo State Governor Oserheimen Osunbor, former Information Minister Labaran Maku, Senator Ugochukwu Uba, Senator Patrick Ndubueze, and former Federal Republic Minister Udo Udoma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the First Baptist Church in Garki, Abuja, on Wednesday, friends, relatives, and political leaders gathered to honor the late Senator Jonathan Zwingina, who died on October 3, just a few weeks after turning 70. For his honesty, skill, and important contributions to Nigeria’s democratic scene, he was honored and remembered. A flood of accolades […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":50753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,186],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52522"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52544,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52522\/revisions\/52544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}