Ayogu Eze: Nigeria’s Senate Mafioso of the Finest Mettle

Ayogu Eze’s suaveness covered many things about him in his salad days as a media man, real estate businessman, politician, and a true-blue Igbo man.

But his colleagues in the political elites know him backwards. He was one of the Senate clique many referred to as the Senate Mafia in the last few assemblies. Among them are former Sen. Deputy President Ike Ekweremadu, Teslim Folarin, and others. Eze, a smoothe, ranked among them later for his political clout and survivalist savvy. His eight years, and a steady grasp of the Senate public relations machine, plus his omnipresence on many Senate committees said a lot.

Eze had earlier given a command performance at the state level. As one of the founding members of the PDP, he returned to Enugu to establish the party, and prepared it for elections in 1999. His victory as the party’s national secretary first signaled how much punch he packed as an upstart. Then Gov. Chimaroke Nnamani appointed him time and again as commissioner and special adviser. Eze later ran for Senate, and won the seat, first time.

But he had his bad times, too, as all humans must. His political mobility hit a brickwall when he ran against the incumbent Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. The losing streak started from the primary, and ran on to high courts, appeal court, and Supreme Court. Even when he left for the APC in 2019, the dry spell continued. The party and INEC left out his name as a guber ticket contender He withdrew from the general election, and waited to launch another legal battle. But his tribesmen and reason prevailed on him. So as the Ebube Dike of his clan, he let things slide.

President Bola Tinubu last year nominated Eze as one of his appointees. The holdovers in the Senate recognized one of their own during the screening, and gave him a pass.

Like many Nigerian politicos, Eze came across as very cerebral. His top performance at the International Institute of Journalism, Berlin, and series of studies in governance and lawmaking across Harvard and Oxford confirmed his bookishness.

But unlike others, Eze remained a silver-tongued, fine gentle soul till his death April 24, at 66.