Ahmed Aruwa, who died early Sunday morning, has been buried at Turaki Aliyu Cemetry, Unguwar Sarki, Kaduna after funeral prayers held at Sultan Bello Mosque.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a cleric, Ahmad Gumi, led the funeral prayer at about 1:00 PM.

The funeral prayer was attended by former Vice President Namadi Sambo, Governor Nasril El-Rufa’i, and former governors of Kaduna State, Ahmad Makarfi and Ramalan Yero, as well as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Isa Ashiru, among others.

Mr Aruwa represented Kaduna central senatorial district in the upper legislative chamber between 1999 and 2007 under the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

He founded the defunct Ranchers Bees football club that nurtured prominent national players like Daniel Amokachi, Dahiru Sadi among others.

Mr Aruwa who died around 4:30 am at a private hospital in Barnawa, Kaduna, had suffered prolonged illness before his death.

In his reaction to Mr Aruwa’s death, Mr El-Rufa’i described him as a philanthropist who contributed immensely to the development of sports, agriculture and politics during his life time.

This is contained in a statement issued on Sunday in Kaduna by Samuel Aruwan, media aide to the governor.

“I received the news of Senator Mukhtar Ahmad Aruwa’s death with sadness. Our thoughts are with his family and we pray Allah to grant him Aljannah Firdausi.

“He was a senator and a philanthropist par excellence who assisted our people in different sectors.”

The governor added that the deceased had made a significant contribution to football when he established the Ranchers Bees Football Club that produced many stars “like Daniel Amokachi, Tajudeen Oyekanmi, Abubakar Balarabe and some of the Babayaro brothers,

“He was also into farming where he employed many people and helped to develop several communities in our state.

“He was a member of Kaduna State Elders Committee and participated in several peace initiatives including the Kaduna State Peace and Reconciliation Committee of 2011.”(NAN)