Franca Afegbua, the first elected female Senator in Nigeria, has died at the age of 81.
An announcement by the bereaved family of the colourful politician said she died at a private hospital in Benin City, Edo State, after battling an illness in the last few months.
Kassim Afegbua, one of her younger brothers and a journalist, confirmed the passing of the former female senator.
Kassim, a Commissioner for Information in Governor Adams Oshiomhole administration in Edo State and, currently, a member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress, APC, disclosed that his sister died Sunday morning and her body had been deposited at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) mortuary.
Born in 1942, the late Franca Afegbua was elected Senator of the Federal Republic on the platform of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1983. She represented the then Bendel North Senatorial District in the old Bendel State.
She served in the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly from October to December 1983 before the military coup brought the Second Republic to an end on December 31, 1983.