Barnabas Bantex, former Kaduna deputy governor, is dead

Barnabas Bantex, a former deputy governor of Kaduna state, is dead.

Bantex, an architect, aged 65, was deputy governor of the state between 2015-2019.

Family sources said he died at a hospital in Abuja following a protracted illness.

His death was also confirmed in a press statement signed by Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, on Sunday.

Bantex resigned as deputy governor to contest for Kaduna south senatorial zone election in 2019 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He lost to the senator Danjuma La’ah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He served as a delegate to the 1994 constitutional conference, chairman of Kaura local government council and member for Kaura federal constituency in the house of representatives between 2007 – 2011 on the platform of the PDP.

El-Rufai described the late Bantex as a “dear friend and partner in the service of Kaduna state”.

He said the state will miss his brilliance and commitment, his easygoing manners, his sense of humour and steadfastness to his convictions.

“I have spoken to his family and conveyed our condolence on behalf of the government and people of Kaduna State. We shall work closely with his family to grant a befitting farewell to a man who gave so much to this even when hobbled by ill-health,” he said.

“We have been blessed to know Bantex and to work with him. We pray God to grant him peaceful repose and to comfort his wife, children and the entire family in this moment of grief and loss.”