Florence Ita Giwa (born
19 February 1946) was elected Senator for the Cross River South constituency
of Cross River State, Nigeria at
the start of the Nigerian Fourth Republic, running on
the All People's Party (APP) platform.
She held office from May 1999 to May 2003.
Ita-Giwa was born on 19 February 1946 in Atabong, Bakassi LGA,
Cross River State, and attended the Kilburn Polytechnic in London, United Kingdom. She
became a nurse, then a representative for the Beecham pharmaceutical company, and then
moved to Standall Pharmaceutical where she represented Lagos State.
She
married Dele Giwa,
the founding editor of Newswatch magazine. They were married for only ten
months, after which Dele Giwa married Olufunmi Olaniyan, who was married to him
until his death in 1986.
Ita-Giwa joined politics and emerged as NRC chairman for Delta
State. Thereafter, she was elected a member of the federal House of Representatives
1992-93, and was a member of the committee on devolution of power
constituent assembly 1994-95. She became involved in Bakassi affairs,
and earned the nickname "Mama Bakassi".
Ita-Giwa was elected
Senator for the Cross River South constituency in April 1999 and was appointed
to committees on Rules and Procedures, Environment, Foreign Affairs, Women,
Niger Delta and Drug & Narcotics.
After leaving the senate in 2003, she joined the People's Democratic Party PDP,
and became President Olusegun
Obasanjo's Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters. In May
2010 there were rumors that funds were missing from the account of the Bakassi
Resettlement Committee, chaired by Ita-Giwa, who asked the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission to investigate the matter.
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