Former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Professor David-West is dead. He died on Monday at the age of 83.

A consultant virologist and lecturer at the University of Ibadan for decades, David-West was Petroleum Minister when President Muhammadu Buhari was the military Head of State between 1984 and 1985.

Reacting to the development,  Buhari, in a Monday tribute expressed deep sorrow at the death of David-West who he described as an ally and friend with an indomitable spirit.

“He had an indomitable spirit, stood resolutely by whatever he believed in and was in a class of his own,” President Buhari said of the academic and social critic. 

He commiserated with the David-West family, the people of Buguma, Kalabari Kingdom of Rivers State, the academia and all those who loved ‘the forthright Tam David-West’.

Buhari prayed God to rest the soul of the professor, urging all those who believe in the ideals he espoused to approximate same for the betterment of Nigeria and humanity in general.

Born in Buguma, Kalabari in what is today known as Rivers State, David-West did his higher education at the University of Ibadan between 1956 and 1958. He then proceeded to the Michigan State University where he earned a BSc degree in 1960.

He bagged an M.Sc. degree at Yale University (1960–1962) and a Ph.D degree from the McGill University.

He first served in government as Commissioner of Education and a member of the Executive Council of Rivers State from 1975 to 1979.

He was a member of the fifty-man Constitution Drafting Committee for the Federal Military Government of General Murtala Muhammed. In 1986, he served as Minister of Mines, Power and Steel under General Ibrahim Babangida.

He was eventually removed as Minister and arrested by the Babangida regime for allegedly contributing to the economic adversity of the country. He was however discharged and acquitted by Nigeria’s Special Appeal Court on August 8, 1991.