Former Kogi Gov Idris dies at 77

Former Kogi State Governor Ibrahim Idris has reportedly died in the United Kingdom at the age of 77.

Sources disclosed the reported death on Sunday, although details surrounding his death were still being awaited at the time of filing this report.

Idris, popularly known as Ibro, governed Kogi State for two terms between 2003 and 2012 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.

He first became governor in May 2003 after defeating the incumbent, Abubakar Audu, in the governorship election.

His 2007 re-election was later nullified following a legal challenge over the exclusion of Audu from the poll. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision in February 2008 and ordered a fresh election.

Idris subsequently won the March 2008 re-run and remained in office until January 2012, when he handed over to his successor, Captain Idris Wada.

Born in Idah, Kogi State, in 1949, Idris had a business career before entering politics. He founded Ibro Trading Company, with interests spanning construction, furniture manufacturing and hospitality.

He also established a furniture factory in Sokoto and the Ibro Hotel, which was described in biographical accounts as the first three-star hotel in the old Sokoto State.

Idris attracted national attention in 2006 when three of his daughters survived the ADC Airlines Flight 53 crash. Following the incident, he described their survival as a “superlative show of mercy” from God.

The former governor suffered another personal loss in April 2024 when his son, Mohammed Ibrahim Idris, a former member of the House of Representatives, died in Abuja shortly after observing Eid-el-Fitr prayers.

Mohammed represented the Ankpa/Olamaboro/Omala Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. His death was confirmed at the time by the Kogi State Government in a condolence message to the former governor and his family.

Idris’s reported death, if confirmed, would mark the passing of one of the prominent political figures in Kogi State’s Fourth Republic history.