Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, received the remains of Senator Barinada Mpigi at the Obafemi Awolowo International Airport, Port Harcourt, on Thursday. 

‎‎Mr Wike and other Rivers State politicians received the late lawmaker’s body ahead of his funeral over the weekend.

‎Mr Mpigi, who represented Rivers South-East senatorial district, died in London on February 19, 2026. He was 64.

The funeral service for the deceased is scheduled to take place at the Missionary Anglican Church, Karoma Tai, on Saturday. 

The deceased was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2011 and was reelected to a second term in 2016.

In 2019, he was elected as the senator representing Rivers South-East senatorial district on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.

During the Ninth Assembly, the lawmaker was appointed chairman of a joint senate committee set up to investigate crude oil theft in the Niger Delta region.

Mr Wike, during a night of tributes held at the Bola Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja on Wednesday, described the late lawmaker as a rare breed of politician whose consistency and reliability were inimitable.

“As a politician, I have seen people who are inconsistent. Barry was not that type. He will tell you what he will do, and he will go ahead and do it. He is not a man that you will discuss with, and you will have a double mind. He was a reliable politician whom you could count on”, the minister stated.