Atta Igala, His Royal Majesty (HRM), Alaji Mathew Opaluwa Ogwuche 11, has lost his immediate elder brother, Prince Samuel Ogwuche Akpa on Monday to the cold hands of death.
His death came ten days to the presentation of staff of office to the monarch by the Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.
The deceased prince was said to have been sighted in the palace of Ata Igala in the ancestral headquarters of Igala kingdom on Sunday hale and hearty, cracking jokes with his junior brother to the admiration of all.
It was learnt that the deceased prince who contested the crown with his junior brother recently but lost the game in the process cupped sickness at the early morning of Monday and died towards the evening of the day .
“He died in his mid 60s after a day Illness at Idah. The sad event occurred in the evening of Monday the 21st of February 2022”, a source from the palace said.
It was further gathered that the deceased suffered from a partial stroke before, an illness said to have weakened his succession bid to mount the ancestral stool of his forefathers in the kingdom.
“If not for the stroke attack, he would have succeeded the late Ata Igala, late Micheal Idakwo Ame Oboni who had gone on hunting expedition,” said an elder from the palace.
Until his death on Monday, Sam as he is popularly called was a retired senior staff of Central Bank of Nigeria.
The royal palace is said to be in a mourning mood as insider said an emergency meeting was in the offing to decide the scheduled official staff of office presentation ceremony to the newly crowned Ata Igala which was billed to take place on 4th march.
