EKWEREMADU PAYS TRIBUTE AS SEN. JOHN MCCAIN DIES AT 81

LAGOS, Nigeria – Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekwweremadu has joined the rest of the world in mourning the death of Senator John McCain. In his tribute titled JOHN MCCAIN: TRIBUTE TO A MAVERICK, the senator said he joins the rest of the world to pay respect to Senator John Sidney McCain- war veteran, former Prisoner of War, peacemaker, iconic politician, statesman per excellence, two-term Member of the US House of Representatives, six-term Senator, valiant political fighter, good loser, and maverick politician with a mind of own. 

According to him, “From McCain, we learn to love our political parties, but to love our country more, adding that his death is a grave loss to entire humanity, adding that he was a role model to millions, who found in him one or more things to love, for rarely do you have so much embedded in just one mortal.

“Goodnight, gallant soul”, he said,

McCain, a retired Navy Capt. John S. McCain died on Saturday in Arizona after a long battle with cancer. He was 81. McCain chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee, but it was his life of service and his heroism in Vietnam that inscribed his name in the hearts of service members everywhere.

Speaking on his death, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said, we have lost a man who steadfastly represented the best ideals of our country. As a Naval Officer and defiant prisoner of war, John McCain stood with his brothers-in-arms until they returned home together.

“Passionately committed to our country, Senator McCain always put service to the Nation before self. He recognized that for our experiment in democracy to long endure, people of action and passion must serve.  In this he represented what he believed, that “a shared purpose does not claim our identity—on the contrary, it enlarges your sense of self.”

“His was a life well lived, one whose actions epitomized the motto of his alma mater, the U.S. Naval Academy: non sibi, sed patriae—“not for self, but for country.”

“On behalf of all of the men and women of the Department of Defense, we will remain forever grateful for the life, the passion, and the example of Senator John McCain. Our sympathy and kindest wishes are with Cindy and his family”, he said.