Former director-general of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Edet Akpan, is dead.

Mr Akpan, a retired major general in the Nigerian army, died Friday morning in his home in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, two persons who work as his domestic aides confirmed his death on Saturday.

One of Akpan’s aide said his death was shocking and that they were too shocked to break the sad news to Mr Akpan’s wife who lives in the same home with the late husband.

Mr Akpan was commissioned a lieutenant in the Nigerian army in 1968 and was appointed the director-general of NYSC in 1984. He was promoted to the rank of a major general in 1994.

Mr Akpan was actively involved in Akwa Ibom politics and was one of the most influential politicians between 1999 and 2007, during the administration of Victor Attah, the second civilian governor of Akwa Ibom.

One of the sad moments in his post-retirement life was in February 2010 when he was abducted inside a church, Qua Iboe Church, at his hometown, Nsit Atai, by gunmen who shot and killed a woman, a police officer, and a soldier.

That was during the administration of Godswill Akpabio when the oil-rich state recorded several unresolved abductions and killings.

Akpan was arrested for alleged involvement in ballot stealing during the April 2015 general elections in Akwa Ibom state. He was detained for four days by the State Security Service in Uyo and later charged to court.

The retired general retired from active politics after his tumultuous experience during the Akpabio era, and lived a quiet life with his family in Uyo.