Former Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, has reportedly died in the United Kingdom at the age of 77.
Sources disclosed the development on Sunday, although details surrounding his reported death were still being awaited as of press time.
Idris, popularly known as Ibro, governed Kogi State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party between 2003 and 2012, serving two terms with an interruption following the nullification of his 2007 election.
He first assumed office on May 29, 2003, after defeating the incumbent governor, Late Prince Abubakar Audu, in the governorship election. He was re-elected in 2007, but the result was later nullified by the courts following a legal challenge relating to the exclusion of Audu from the election.
The Court of Appeal upheld the nullification in February 2008 and ordered a fresh election. Idris subsequently won the March 2008 re-run and returned to office, despite another legal challenge by Audu over alleged electoral irregularities.
He completed his tenure in January 2012 and was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Captain Idris Wada.
Idris was born in Idah, Kogi State, in 1949. He began his early education in Onitsha, Anambra State, before moving to Kano, where he completed his primary education.
He later attended King’s Commercial College in Buguma, Rivers State, and obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Abuja.
Before entering politics, Idris built a career in business. He founded Ibro Trading Company, with interests spanning construction, furniture manufacturing and hospitality.
He later established a furniture factory in Sokoto and the Ibro Hotel, which biographical accounts describe as the first three-star hotel in the old Sokoto State.
His emergence as governor in 2003 marked the beginning of a nine-year tenure in Kogi politics, interrupted only by the legal battle over the 2007 election. Available election records confirm his victory for the PDP in the 2003 poll.