BREAKING: Nigeria’s First Female Senator, Franca Afegbua Dies at 79

The exit of an Icon is the apt word used by many Edo politicians to describe the death of Nigeria’s first female Senator, Franca Afegbua, who family sources confirmed died on the morning of Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the age of 79.
Franca Afegbua, born in Okpella, in present-day Edo State was a combination of beauty and brain during her impactful life of service to Nigeria and humanity.
The beautician shattered the glass ceiling in politics when she was elected in 1983 under the defunct National Party of Nigeria, NPN to represent the then Bendel North Senatorial District of old Bendel State in the Senate of the Second Republic.
She had her tertiary education in Sofia, Bulgaria, and won an international hairstyling competition in 1977 before joining active politics in 1983. She reportedly targeted wooing more women in Etsako land to vote for her which was a strategy that gave her a slim victory in the election against the established politician, John Umolu.
Prior to her political career in the Second Republic, Franca Afegbua worked as a hairdresser in Lagos State focusing on high-income clients. Many say her close relationship with renowned Middle Belt politician, Joseph Tarka of Benue State who introduced her to his party, the NPN before his death in March 1980 led to her joining politics.
Her family says funeral arrangements will be announced soon.
Calls also made to family members in her Okpella home in Edo state similarly confirmed her passing
NOTE: Additional reports referenced from AITlive!