By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Former Petroleum Minister, Professor Tam Sokari David-West, is dead. He died at the age of 83.
David West, a consultant virologist, was also a social critic and author. He served as Commissioner of Education in the old Rivers State, and was Minister of Petroleum and Energy under the General Muhammadu Buhari military regime. He also served as Minister of Mines, Power and Steel under Gen. Ibrahim Babangida regime.
Reacting to the news of his death, President Buhari, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media, Femi Adesina, expressed deep sorrow at the passage of David-West, whom he described as his “ally and friend’.
Recalling that he usually called him “the indomitable Tam David-West”, the President said the late professor of Virology “had an indomitable spirit, stood resolutely by whatever he believed in, and was in a class of his own.”
Commiserating with the David-West family, the people of Buguma, Kalabari Kingdom of Rivers State, the academia, and all those who loved “the forthright Tam David-West”, Buhari prayed that God will rest the soul of the “committed nationalist.”
He urged all those who believe in the ideals he espoused to approximate same for the betterment of Nigeria and humanity in general.
