Imo Lawmaker, Rt. Hon. Innocent Arthur Egwim, dies in Lagos hospital after surgery

Tobi Adetunji Politics 29/03/2023

A ranking lawmaker and parliamentarian, representing Ideato North Constituency at the Imo state House of Assembly, Arthur Egwim, is dead. He was reported to have died on Monday, days after he underwent a surgery in Lagos, following health complications.

He was first elected into the state House of Assembly in 2015 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and was reelected in 2019 via the Action Alliance party (AA). He contested, but lost another re-election bid to the House of Representatives seat in the just-concluded National Assembly elections under the aegis of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Arthur Egwim was a big voice in the 8th and 9th assemblies of the state parliament. A professional lawyer, decorated with garlands of Chieftaincy titles and chains of businesses. Sources who pledged anonymity disclosed his brief sickness and the medical surgery in a Lagos hospital.

The source who was quoted, as saying; “They just broke the bad news to us this afternoon (Monday). He was flown abroad before for treatment. Money was not the problem. The state government greatly assisted him to travel abroad for his medicals. It is very sad.”

Meanwhile, the speaker of the state House of Assembly, Emeka Nduka, in a statement he personally issued on Tuesday, called the demise shocking, describing Artur Egwim as one of the finest brains among the 27 lawmakers.

The statement reads;

“With heavy heart, but with total submission to the will of God, we, the members of Imo State House of Assembly, wish to announce the death of one of our own, a ranking parliamentarian of note and a strong voice in IMHA, Rt. Hon. Barr Innocent Arthur Egwim, who untill his death he represented Ideato State Constituency, whose sudden death took place on Monday, the 27th March, 2023 after a brief illness.”

“Imo House of Assembly has indeed lost one of its finest and best brains. His demise will for a long time create a vacuum in the House.

“May his gentle soul rest in peace and may God grant his wife and members of his family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss. We will miss him dearly. The burial arrangements will be announced by the family in due course.”