Deji Elumoye

t the advent of the Fourth Republic in May, 1999, Senator Evan Enwerem with the backing of then President Olusegun Obasanjo, emerged the President of the Fourth Senate, when it was inaugurated on June 7, 1999, although it was not long before the new set of Senators removed Enwerem and replaced him with their choice, Senator Chuba Okadigbo.

Enwerem served out his four-year term as PDP Senator from Imo State in 2003. Five years after, the cold hands of death snatched him after a brief illness in 2008. Last week, the Enwerem family in Abuja organised a book launch to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of their patriarch.

The leadership of the eighth Senate was not left out of the day-long event. Senate President and Chairman of the National Assembly, Dr. Bukola Saraki, used the forum to comment about salient national issues especially, those bordering on the legislature and national development while also pouring encomium on the late Senate President.

In his speech as Chairman of the occasion, Saraki identified peace in the National Assembly as a panacea for the growth of the legislature, as well as beneficial relationship with other arms of government and national progress.

He lauded Enwerem for laying a solid foundation for the National Assembly in 1999, saying the 8th Senate has benefitted immensely from his legacy of peaceful and friendly disposition as President of the Senate.

“It is a lesson to all of us, who are in the saddle of leadership today, that we could all use a dose of the Enwerem example, when in the hot seat. He worked with those who had worked against his emergence as President of the Senate; he won their respect, and was able to turn many of them into dedicated friends.

“The result of that cooperation and partnership is part of what we are benefitting from today in the 8th Senate, and which we strive to the best of our ability to emulate. Looking back, I think the late Senator Enwerem would be proud