Rita Enemuru, Reporting
BARELY three months to the 2027 general elections, Dr Austin Avuigwerie Orette, a Nigerian-American physician and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate for the Delta South Senatorial District in the 2027 elections, has passed in Houston, Texas, United States.
He was 65.
The news of his death was broken on Saturday by prominent journalist and political communication expert Henry Ovie Ebireri, who described himself as devastated by the loss.
“I’m devastated. Austin Orette’s death leaves me cold,” Mr Ebireri said in a statement, describing the deceased as an honest and courageous individual.
Dr Orette, an indigene of Owhelogbo in Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State, trained as a physician at the University of Nigeria College of Medicine, Enugu, graduating in 1985.
He later completed his Family Medicine Residency at the Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston between 1992 and 1995, going on to build a career spanning family medicine, emergency medicine and chronic disease management in the United States.
Beyond medicine, he was known for his writings on national security, governance reform and economic development.
He was a founding member of the All Progressives Congress in Delta State before moving to the Nigeria Democratic Congress in 2026 and subsequently joining the ADC.
Dr Orette secured the ADC ticket to contest the Delta South seat and recently approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking ₦1 billion in punitive damages against the Independent National Electoral Commission over the alleged omission of his name from the final list of candidates for the 16 January 2027 election.
He maintained that he had won the party’s direct primary with 10,950 votes.
His campaign centred on constitutional restructuring, healthcare, education, digital access, youth entrepreneurship and agriculture, alongside calls for greater fiscal autonomy for the Niger Delta.
His death has cut short his political ambition ahead of the 2027 polls.
