Chetachi Mbadinuju, his first son, stated this in a statement made accessible to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday.
“We announce the demise of our father, grandfather, uncle, friend and partner, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, a former governor of Anambra State and elder statesman,” he said in a statement.
Mr Chetachi, a lawyer, said the former governor “died on peacefully” at the National Hospital Abuja on Tuesday morning following a brief illness.
He stated that the grandfather passed away at the age of 78.
“At this difficult time, we pray for God’s compassion and mercy on him and those left to grieve him,” he said.
He stated that his burial arrangements would be announced in due time.
Mbadinuju served as governor of Anambra State from May 29, 1999 until May 29, 2003, on the Peoples Democratic Party platform (PDP).
He ran for re-election as governor on the PDP platform, but was refused the party’s ticket under dubious circumstances during the party’s internal turmoil at the time.
Chris Ngige would eventually win the party’s governorship ticket ahead of the state’s governorship election on April 19, 2003.
Mr Mbadinuju switched from the PDP to the now-defunct Alliance for Democracy, where he eventually became the party’s gubernatorial candidate but lost in the general election.
Mr Ngige of the PDP, who is currently Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment, was proclaimed the election winner, but he was fired three years later by the Court of Appeal in Enugu.
Mr Mbadinuju worked as a personal assistant to Jim Nwobodo, the previous governor of old Enugu State, between 1979 and 1980, and then for former Nigerian President Shehu Shagari between 1980 and 1983.
