For the second time in one week, the people of Gombe State gathered last Friday to bury the remains of another senator. This time it was Senator Kawu Peto Dukku, who until his death represented the state’s northern senatorial district in the National Assembly. He was 52.

His death at The Gua-rdian Specialist Hospital in Kaduna, after a brief illness, came two days after one of his colleagues from the same state, Senator Tawar Umbi Wada died at the National Hospital, Abuja, last Wednesday at the age of 53.
Dukku was the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on States and Local Government Affairs.

The Senate yesterday confirmed Dukku’s death in a statement issued by the Chair of the Committee on Information and Media, Ayogu Eze.

Eze’s statement reads: “We announce with sadness the sudden death of our dear colleague, Sen. Kawu Peto Dukku, who until his death on Friday April 2, 2010 represented Gombe North in the Senate.
“He died in Kaduna where he had gone to join his family for the one-week Easter break of the Senate. We will miss his humility and calmness. May his soul rest in peace.”

Yesterday, hundreds of sympathisers gathered at the Gombe main cemetery where Dukku’s remains were interred after prayers were offered at the palace of the Emir of Gombe for the repose of his soul.

Among the dignitaries at the burial are Governor Muhammad Danjuma Goje, Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Usman Bayero Nafada, Senator Abdullahi Idris Umar, Chairman, Senate Committee on Airforce, National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Professor Rufa’i Ahmad Alkali, Speaker, Gombe State House of Assembly, Hon Manga Musa Bojude, State Grand Khadis, Emirs, commissioners and other top government officials from within and outside the state.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the funeral, Governor Goje expressed deep concern over the death of two senators from the state within 48 hours.

Also commenting on the sad incident, Nafada described the death of the two senators as a great loss not only to the people of Gombe State but also Nigeria at large.

In a speech delivered at the occasion, the only surviving senator from the state, Senator Abdullahi Idris Umar, in an emotion-laden voice described the death as shocking but said that he and the other associates of the departed senators would take solace in the fact that it was God that gives and takes life from all mortals
Dukku was a member of the Gombe State House of Assembly from 1999 to 2003 and occupied the post of Speaker from 2003 to 2007 before he was elected into the Senate in 2007.

A public servant before he made his foray into politics, the late Dukku was born on January 14, 1958. He started his public service career as a teacher. He later joined the Goal Star Oil Company. He is survived by six children, three wives and an aged mother.

Source: This day