A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba, has died in Abuja at the age of 65 years.

Ahmed Lawal, an aide to the deceased, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview on Wednesday in Kano.

He said the former speaker died in the early hours of Wednesday at the National Hospital, Abuja.

Mr Na’Abba emerged as the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate in the April 1999 National Assembly election in Kano Municipal Federal Constituency of Kano state. He became the Speaker of the House after the resignation of the first Speaker of the fourth republic, Hon. Salisu Buhari following a certificate forgery controversy.

He left behind one wife, 10 children and three grandchildren.

”We are currently making arrangements to transport the corpse to Kano for burial today,” he said.

Na'abba was known for his fierce challenge of the Presidency during his four years in office which led to a concerted effort to deny hi re-election into the House of Representatives in the 2003 elections.