Hage Geingab, Namibia’s President, Dies at 82

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

Namibia’s  President, Hage Geingob, has passed on at the age of 82, a presidential release said on Sunday.

The statement signed by the Acting President, Nangolo Mbumba, said: “It is with utmost sadness and regret that I inform you that our beloved Dr. Hage G. Geingob, the President of the Republic of Namibia has passed on today.”

Geingob who had been in the US briefly for “treatment therapy” for cancerous cells died late Saturday, a few days after he returned to continue receiving treatment in Namibia.

He was reported to have died at Lady Pohamba Hospital with his wife and his children by his side.

The statement by the Acting President further read: “His (Late Pesident’s) medical team, as I informed the nation only yesterday, has been trying its utmost best to ensure that our President recovers. Regrettably, notwithstanding the team’s spirited effort to save his life, sadly, fellow Namibians, President Geingob passed on.”

Mbumba described the president’s passing as the loss of a “distinguished servant of the people, a liberation struggle icon, the chief architect of our constitution and the pillar of the Namibian house.”

He advised Namibians to remain calm while the government attends to all necessary state arrangements, preparations and other protocols.

Before his demise, the 82-year-old president who also served for 12 years as prime minister, had a record of health complications that preceded his election as Namibia’s third president in 2014.

In 2013, he underwent brain surgery, and the following year he revealed that he had survived prostate cancer.

Last year, Geingob announced he had undergone aortic surgery in neighbouring South Africa.

Namibia, a former German colony that gained independence from South Africa in 1990, is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in November, this year.