Presidential aide, Isaiah Balat, dies at 61

Mr Isaiah Balat, a Senior Adviser on Special Duties in the office of Vice-President Namadi Sambo, is dead.
Balat, 61, died on Tuesday at the National Hospital at about 1 p.m., according to a family source.
The source said the former Senator and Minister of Works took ill on Saturday, and was awaiting to be transported to a German hospital before he died.
The Chairman of Zangon Kataf Local Government in Kaduna State, Mr Christopher Haruna, confirmed the death in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He described the death as a big loss to the community.
NAN reports that Balat was born on Oct. 23, 1952 in Gora, a village in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
After his primary and post-primary education, he attended a programme in Marketing at the Kaduna Polytechnic between 1976 and 1978.
Balat also attended the Advanced Management Programme at the Harvard Business School and the College of Petroleum and Energy Studies at Oxford, UK.
He was elected Senator for Kaduna South Zone and served between May 2003 and May 2007.
Balat was also appointed a Minister of State for Works in the cabinet of President Olusegun Obasanjo in June 1999.
Until his death, he was the Senior Adviser on Special Duties in the office of the Vice-President.(NAN)