A former Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Mr Tam David-West, a retired professor of virology, died yesterday at 83.

A family source said David-West had been bedridden for 11 days at a private ward of University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

The source said the elder statesman died around 11am.

Public Relations Officer of UCH, Mr Toye Akinrinlola, who confirmed the death of David-West, declined to make comments on the cause of the death.

David-West, born in Buguma, Kalabari, in what is now Rivers State, received his higher education at University of Ibadan (1956-1958) and earned a BSc degree at Michigan State University (1958-1960), an MSc degree at Yale University (1960-1962), and a PhD degree at McGill University (1964-1966).

He served as a member of the fifty-person Constitution Drafting Committee for the Federal Military Government of General Murtala Muhammed (1979).

He served as Minster of Petroleum between 1983 and 1985 during the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari and later served General Ibrahim Babangida as a minister of Steel and Mine.

The deceased, who was removed as minister and arrested by the Babangida regime for allegedly contributing to the economic adversity of the country, was discharged and acquitted of the charges by Nigeria’s Special Appeal Court on 8 August 1991.

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday voiced deep sorrow at the passage of his ally and friend, David-West.

Buhari, in a statement by his spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, said “the indomitable Tam David-West” had an indomitable spirit, stood resolutely by whatever he believed in, and was in a class of his own.

Daily Trust