Fred Aghogho Brume (Fred A. Brume, Fred Brume) (25 September 1942 – 12 September 2011) was a Nigerian politician. He was elected Senator for the
Delta Central Senatorial District
Delta Central Senatorial District in Delta State, Nigeria covers 8 local governments which include Ethiope East, Ethiope West, Sapele, Okpe, Ughelli North, Ughelli South, Udu
The udu is a plosive aerophone (in this case implosive) and an i ...
of
Delta State,
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
at the start of the
Nigerian Fourth Republic
The Fourth Republic is the current republican government of Nigeria. Since 1999, it has governed the country according to the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Second Republic, which was in place between 1979 an ...
, running on the
People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to:
* People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
*People's Democratic Party (Belize)
*People's Democratic Party (Bhutan)
*People's Democratic Party (Chile)
* People's Democratic Party (Dom ...
(PDP) platform. He took office on 29 May 1999.
Educational history and background
Brume was exceedingly bright, inducted into the oldest engineering honor society,
Tau Beta Pi, as a junior at
University of Maine
The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifie ...
in 1963. He obtained a Chemical Engineering degree from
University of Maine
The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifie ...
in 1965 and a post-graduate degree in Industrial Management from the
Sloan School
The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, as ...
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T) in 1967. Brume joined the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
in the fall of 1967 and was an officer of the World Bank until 1969.
His background was in engineering and industrial management, where he held various executive positions.
He established the Delta Steel Company as the first general manager and CEO in the 1980s, although his work was curtailed under the regime of
General Muhammadu Buhari following a military coup in 1983.
Senate career
After taking his seat in the
Senate in June 1999 Brume founded and became president of the
Urhobo Leadership Forum in
Abuja.
[
He was appointed to committees on Science & Technology, Establishment, Niger Delta (Chairman), Privatization, Tourism & Culture and Economic Affairs.
In February 2001, after a reshuffle of the Senate committees Brume became chairman of the Steel committee.
He lost this position in another reshuffle in October 2002, apparently because he opposed moves by Senate President ]Anyim Pius Anyim
Anyim Pius Anyim (born 19 February 1961) is a Nigerian politician who served as president of the Nigerian Senate from 2000 to 2003, he was Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) during Goodluck Jonathan presidency. He was elected a ...
to impeach President Olusegun Obasanjo
Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo, , ( ; yo, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its presid ...
.
Brume had accused supporters of impeachment of evil intentions for the country, saying they were not comfortable with having a Southerner as President. He said the move would truncate democracy in Nigeria if it succeeded.
As a Senator he was instrumental in establishing the Niger Delta Development Commission
The Niger Delta Development Commission is a federal government agency established by Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo in the year 2000 with the sole mandate of developing the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
In September 2008, Presi ...
, gained approval for establishing a federal university in Delta State, pushed for highway construction and attempted to revive the steel sector.[
However, Brume's moderate position on allocation of revenues from oil produced in the ]Niger Delta
The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitic ...
to other regions of the country earned him unpopularity in his home state.
After the Delta Central Development Coalition passed a vote of no confidence on him in September 2002, Brume did not succeed in getting the PDP nomination to run for a second term in the Senate.
The PDP instead selected former governor Felix Ibru
Felix Ovudoroye Ibru (7 December 1935 – 12 March 2016) was a Nigerian architect the first democratically elected Governor of Delta State and Senator for Delta Central Senatorial District. Until his death he held the position of President Gene ...
as their candidate.
Brume decamped to the Alliance for Democracy (AD), becoming senatorial candidate for that party.
After losing the election to Ibru, Brume filed a petition with the Delta State Electoral Tribunal seeking nullification of Ibru's election.
Later career
In January 2006, Brume was one of the aspirants to be a candidate for the 2007 presidential election, screened by the South-South People's Assembly Presidential Search Committee led by Chief Matthew Mbu
Matthew Tawo Mbu (20 November 1929 – 6 February 2012) was a Nigerian lawyer, politician, diplomat, and a permanent fixture in Nigerian political affairs for more than fifty years.
Early life
Mbu was born in Okundi, Cross River State. He rece ...
.
He had recently returned to the PDP.
Brume was chairman of a committee that screened candidates for governor of Delta State in the 2007 elections, selecting Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru as the consensus candidate accepted by Urhobos, Ijaws, Itsekiris and other tribes for the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP).
However the PDP candidate Emmanuel Uduaghan
Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan (born 22 October 1954) was the Governor of Delta State from 2007 to 2015. He assumed office via an inconclusive election on 29 May 2007 and was a member of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). A medical doctor by pr ...
, protégé of the outgoing governor James Ibori
James Onanefe Ibori (born 4 August 1959) is a Nigerian politician who was Governor of Delta State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. An ethnic Urhobo by descent, Ibori is a member of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a leade ...
, was elected.
The April 14 elections were violent. Brume was later arrested on suspicion of involvement in the burning of several houses owned by PDP supporters.
He was soon cleared of these unfounded charges.
In May 2009, as Chairman of the Niger Delta Consultative Forum Senator Brume described the Niger Delta situation as being very precarious and called on the government to adopt new methods of dealing with the problems. He said "it is truly time to re-consider our strategies and our actions".
In June 2009, as leader of the PDP Delta Central Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders Forum, Brume advised Urhobo people to avoid self-imposed political isolation. Although the majority in the region, he said they should reach out to other ethnic groups and avoid extremes of ethnic nationalism.
In a rare interview in August 2009, Brume discussed the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill.
He complained of bias against the people of the South-South, citing the decision of Rilwanu Lukman
Rilwanu Lukman (26 August 1938 – 21 July 2014) was a Nigerian engineer who held several ministerial positions in the Nigerian Federal government before becoming Secretary General of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) fro ...
, Minister of Petroleum Resources, to only train lower-level workers at the Petroleum Training Institute in the Delta, while senior staff would be trained in Kaduna
Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the gateway to northern Nige ...
. He stated that the federal university in Delta State was being starved of funds, that the Liquefied Natural Gas project was being moved to a western location rather than cited in Bayelsa State
Bayelsa is one of the states in the South-South region of Nigeria, located in the core of the Niger Delta region. Bayelsa State was created in 1996 and was carved out from Rivers State, making it one of the newest states in the federation. Yena ...
as promised, and that the NNPC leadership were all Northerners.
Senator Fred Ayo Aghogho Brume died on 12 September 2011 after a brief illness. He died of heart-related complications.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brume, Fred Aghogho
1942 births
2011 deaths
Delta State politicians
Peoples Democratic Party members of the Senate (Nigeria)
Alliance for Democracy (Nigeria) politicians
20th-century Nigerian politicians
21st-century Nigerian politicians