*** Died of Brain tumor
Nigeria’s former Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Gbenga Ashiru is dead.
He died in the early hours of today in a South African hospital after a long battle with brain tumor. He was aged 66.
Ashiru would be remembered for his infectious warmth, kindness and towering humanity, which made him the darling of all. He was a good man without pretence; mature and with a fine sense of factor. Yet death claimed him, leaving in his wake a cacophony of heartfelt tears and misery.
A few months ago, President Goodluck Jonathan had sacked Ashiru, alongside eight others in a cabinet reshuffle that shocked the nation. At the time of his sack, Ashiru was regarded as one of the best performing Ministers in the Jonathan administration. In fact, after his sack, Ashiru boasted that he had succeeded in getting 22 Nigerians into international positions barely two years into his appointment and that had he spent more time, he would have got two more.