Alhaji Idris Ibrahim passed away on Sunday, September 20, 2026. His d3ath was confirmed by Michael Idoko, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Kogi State, and widely reported by multiple Nigerian media outlets.
Details of the exact cause of d3ath were not immediately disclosed, though some family sources indicated he had suffered a prolonged illness.
Kogi State Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo reacted swiftly to the news. He visited the late former governor’s residence in Abuja, where he condoled with members of the Idris family. Accompanied by former Governor Yahaya Bello and other senior officials, Ododo described the d3ath as a profound loss to Kogi State and Nigeria.
In an official statement issued by the state Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, Ododo declared a three-day period of mourning in honour of the late governor. He directed that the national and Kogi State flags be flown at half-mast across government offices and other designated public institutions throughout the mourning period.
The governor also announced that Idris would receive a state burial, with the Kogi State Government taking full responsibility for all burial expenses and arrangements.
In a condolence letter to the family, Ododo noted that Idris had devoted a significant part of his life to public service. He highlighted interventions in infrastructure, education, healthcare and other critical sectors during Idris’s administration, saying the impact of those years would remain part of the developmental history of Kogi State.
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central in the National Assembly, also mourned the late governor. In a statement, she described his passing as a profound loss to Kogi State, the PDP and Nigeria. “He was a major political figure whose years of service contributed to the political development of our state,” she said.
Idris served as governor of Kogi State from 2003 to 2012 on the platform of the PDP, making him one of the state’s longest-serving civilian governors. He first won election in 2003, defeating the then-incumbent Prince Abubakar Audu, and was sworn in on May 29 of that year.
He was re-elected in 2007, but the courts later nullified that victory after ruling that Audu, the All Nigeria Peoples Party candidate, had been improperly excluded from the poll. Idris won the subsequent March 2008 re-run election and completed his tenure in January 2012, when he was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Captain Idris Wada.
Born in 1949 in Idah, present-day Kogi State, Idris began his education in Onitsha, Anambra State, before completing primary school in Kano. He later attended King’s Commercial College in Buguma, Rivers State, and obtained a degree from the University of Abuja. Before entering politics, he built a successful business career that included construction, furniture manufacturing and hospitality interests, notably establishing one of the early three-star hotels in the old Sokoto State.
Idris attracted national attention in 2006 when three of his daughters survived the ADC Airlines Flight 53 crash. In April 2024, he lost his son, Mohammed Ibrahim Idris, a former member of the House of Representatives representing the Ankpa/Olamaboro/Omala Federal Constituency.
Tributes continued to pour in from political associates and residents of Kogi State as news of the former governor’s d3ath spread. Funeral arrangements are expected to be announced by the family and the state government in due course.
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