Famous Nigerian politicians(1)

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Jacob Obande was a Nigerian businessman from the old Northern region. He was a minister of state in charge of the Nigerian Army during the Nigerian First Republic. In 1959, he was the parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa

 

His Royal Majesty (HRM) Alhaji Aliyu Ocheja Obaje is the paramount ruler of the Igala Kingdom in Nigeria.^[1]

He holds the title of Attah,Igala. Tha Attah’s palace (the seat of power in the Igala Kingdom) is located in the ancient cityIdah.

Born in 1920, Dr. Aliyu Obaje was the youngest person ever to be installed as Attah Igala. He mounted the stool at the age of 36.

HRM Aliyu Obaje ascended the throne on the October 20, 1956 following the death of his predecossor. HRM Ameh Oboni.

He is one of the longest serving monarchs in Nigeria.

HRM Aliyu Obaje is currently the chairman of the [[Kogi State council of [[Traditionalal chiefs].

Having served as the Attah Igala for fifty years, HRM Aliyu Obaje is a household name among the Igalas and indeed a majority of Nigerians.

He holds the Nigerian national honour of GCFR (Grand Commander of the Federal Republic

Jolly Tavoro Nyame (born 25 December 1955 in the Zing Local Government Area of present-day Taraba State) was Governor of Taraba State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He also served as governor of the state from January 1992 to November 1993. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Ike Omar Sanda Nwachukwu (born September 1, 1940) is a Nigerian politician who, among other positions, has served as Foreign Minister of Nigeria twice and as a Senator in the National Assembly

 

Born on September 1, 1940 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Nwachukwu had his early education at the Ladi-Lak Institute, Yaba, Lagos, and Lagos City College, also in Yaba, Lagos. He obtained military training at the Nigerian Military Training College, Kaduna, at the Royal Canadian School of Infantry, and at the Royal School of Infantry, Aldershot, Warminster, United Kingdom. He also studied at the Institute of Humanitarian Law, San Remo, Italy, the United Nations Peace Academy, and the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Kuru, Nasarawa State.

Nwachukwu held the position of Military Governor of Imo State, where he founded the Imo State University (now the Abia State University) in Uturu. From 1986 to 1987 he was Minister for Employment, Labour and Productivity, where he founded the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to alleviate the problems of unemployment, especially graduate unemployment. From 1987 to 1989, and again from 1990 to 1993, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Among the organizations and groups Nwachukwu has served as the chairman of are the Organization of African Unity Liberty Committee, the Organization of African Unity Council of Ministers (three terms), the Economic Community of West African States Council of Ministers, plenary sessions of the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Governing Council of the African Regional Labour Administration Center.

Nwachukwu has headed and led several delegations to various international summits and negotiations, and obtained resolutions from the United Nations on behalf of Nigeria. Some of them include: addressing the United Nations General Assembly and chairing United Nations special sessions on varying subjects, leading the Organization of African Unity Ministerial Delegation to the Conference for Democratisation of South Africa, leading Nigeria’s negotiations for Agenda 21 and the convention at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

As an Abia State senator, Nwachukwu served as Chairman of two senate committees, the Senate Committee on Power and Steel and the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs.

Nwachukwu was conferred with several medals and decorations whilst in military service, as well as traditional titles in his present status as a civilian.

Nwachukwu’s national decorations and service medals include: the Nigerian Independence Medal, the Forces Service Star, the Defence Service Star, the Nigeria Republic Medal, the National Service Medal, and the order of Commander, Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFR).

Nwachukwu has been awarded three national merit awards. They are the Special Certificate of Merit of the African Youth Congress, the Award of Recognition of the Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ISSSAN), and the Merit Award by Achike Udenwa, former Governor of Imo State, on the occasion of the state’s Silver Jubilee.

Nwachukwu has been conferred with several international medals and awards, which include the Grand Commander of Equatorial Guinea, presented by the President of Equatorial Guinea, the Federal Republic of Germany’s Grand Cross of Merit (GMCS), the Grand Master of the National Order of the Southern Cross (GMSC), from the President of Brazil, the Diplomatic Medal (DMM) from the President of the South Korea, the Grand Cruz de la Order dei Merito Civil de Espana (GCMC), by King Juan Carlos I of Spain, the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG), awarded by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and the Commander of the Order of Mono (COM) from Gnassingbé Eyadéma, President of Togo.

 

Chimaroke Nnamani (born May 1960) is a Nigerian politician from Enugu State. He is a former Governor of Enugu State and currently a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Senator for Enugu East.

Nnamani, though born in Port Harcourt, hails from Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State. He attended the Methodist Primary School, Agbani Road, Enugu, and the College of Immaculate Conception (CIC), also in Enugu. He is a graduate of the College of Medicine, University of Nigeria (Enugu Campus) (1977-1983).

Nnamani had his post-graduate training as follows:

• 1987-1991 – State University of New York; the Inter-faith Medical Center/Down State Medical Center, Brooklyn New York (Obstetrics and Gynecology).
• 1991-1993 – Postgraduate Training and Research
  • Perinatal Biology Center, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, Southern California;
  • Molecular Biology and Tissue Cytology Laboratory, Jerry “L” Pettis Veterans Administration Hospital, Loma Linda, California;
  • Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Perinatal Biology, College of Medicine, Loma Linda University (with specialization in Maternal Fetal Medicine);
  • College of Medicine, University of South Florida.

Nnamani was the disgraced governor of Enugu State from May 1999 until May 2007. He was elected to the senate to represent the Enugu East Senatorial District during the April 2007 general election. He left office as the most corrupt governor in the history of Nigeria and currently under investigation for stealing government resources valued at $500 million. He was recently released from prison, but is presently Deputy Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.^[1]

 

 

Bartholomew Nnaji is a Nigerian scientist, innovator and one of the inventors of the E-Design concept. He was born in Enugu State, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics at St John’s University, and then proceeded to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for post-graduate studies.

He joined the faculty at University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1983. After a few years, he became the director and a founder of the Automation and Robotics Laboratory at the University. He was made a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering in 1992. As a researcher, he focused on three major topics: Computer Aided Design, Robotics and Computer Aided Engineering. Using the knowledge he gained from his research pursuits, he created the term geometric reasoning, the idea that most things we operate has a geometric configuration. He is also credited as one of the innovators of the E-design concept.

He is also the founder of the first indigenous owned power generating company in Nigeria and was also a former minister for Science and Technology in the country.

He ran in the 2007 Nigerian presidential election as the candidate for the Better Nigeria Party.

Nkechi Nwaogu is the current Senator representing Abia-Central Senatorial district. She previously served as an Abia State representative in the Nigerian National Assembly.

 

Raymond Njoku (born 1915) is a Nigerian politician and former minister for Transport. The son of an Igbo Chief, he was born in Owerri and raised in a Roman Catholic household. He attended Our Lady’s School at Emekuku, for primary education. Later on, at St Charles, college, Onitsha, where he was studying, he applied and won a scholarship that earned him an admission into a teachers training school. After brief stints at tutorship in various schools including St Gregory, Lagos and St Charles, Onitsha, he decided to change course and study law. After completing his Law studies at the University of London, he was called to the bar in 1947. He returned to Nigeria and practiced Law at Aba, and also served the Aba community as the leader of the Aba Community League of the Ibo State Union. He contested for a regional seat in 1951, but was unsuccessful, However, in 1954, he was elected a member of the Eastern Region House of Assembly. In 1957, he was appointed minister for Transport, after relinquishing a previous post as minister for Trade. He was also elected as the vice president of the N.C.N.C..

Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige (born 8 August 1952) was governor of Anambra State in Nigeria from 29 May 2003 to 17 March 2006. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

A medical doctor by profession, Ngige graduated from the University of Nigeria-Nsukka in 1979. He immediately went into the civil service, serving at the National Assembly and State House clinics at different times. He retired in 1998 as a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Health.

Thereafter, Ngige turned to politics, becoming a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). By 1999, he was Assistant National Secretary and Zonal Secretary of PDP in the South East region of the country.

Elected in 2003 under controversial circumstances, he quickly broke ranks with his self-styled “political godfather” after an unsuccessful attempt on 10 July 2003 to illegally remove him from office through a fabricated letter of resignation which the state assembly accepted.

He became a local hero with the people by focusing on developing infrastructure in a state with virtually none, and paying lengthy backlogs of wages to civil servants. He has been unable to maintain a warm relationship with the President Olusegun Obasanjo mainly because he accused the president of coming to power under the same flawed election as himself. Ngige is very popular among his people and other Nigerians who consider him as a Robin Hood of sorts.

A Nigerian Federal Court of Appeal affirmed the nullification of Ngige’s purported 2003 election victory on 15 March 2006. The court declared that Peter Obi, candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) was the bona fide winner of the election. However, this nullification has not diminished Ngige’s popularity. Ngige has accepted the court ruling rather than appeal to the nation’s Supreme Court, and publicly wished his successor well.

Lieutenant General Muhammad Gado Nasko(rtd) (born 1941) was briefly the military governor of Sokoto State^[1] between 1978-1979. Nasko retired from the army in 1993 after a palace coup by his colleague Sani Abacha ushered in a new set of ministers. He was at the time a Lt Gen and one of the few high ranking Generals left in 1993 after the exit of military dictator Ibrahim Babangida retired to his village Home in Nasko Niger state quietly to his new life as a farmer and community leader. he was decorated by president Olusegun Obasanjo with the national honour award of commander of the order of the Niger(CON) and recognised as one of the most respected states men in Nigeria. he is married to two wives Fatima and Rakiya with 9 children namely: Umar, Hamza, Ibrahim, Abdulazeez, Abubakar, Aminu, Fatima, Zainab,and Maryam .

Usman Bayero Nafada (born January 1961) is the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria. He is a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) member and represents the Dukku/Nafada Federal Constituency of Gombe State.

Nafada was born in January 1961 in Kano State to Bayero Nafada.^[1]

He holds a Teacher’s Certificate from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State and degrees in accountancy from both ABU^[1] and the University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Borno State.^[2]

Nafada was a member of the Gombe House of Assembly for the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) from 1999 until 2003,^[3] and held the post of Speaker starting in June of that term.^[1] He was also previously the Assistant State Auditor of Gombe State.^[2]

Nafada was elected to the national House of Representatives in 2003 as an ANPP candidate for Dukku/Nafada, but switched to PDP membership when his state began to vote that way. After the resignation of Babangida Nguroje amid the Patricia Etteh corruption scandal,^[3] Friday Itulah of Edo State nominated Nafada to succeed Nguroje as Deputy Speaker. He was elected unopposed on November 2, 2007.^[1]

Aliyu Musa (born December 1, 1957) is a member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria. A member of the People’s Democratic Party, he was elected in 1999 and represents the Mani/Bindawa constituency in Katsina State.^[1]

Musa graduated from Ahmadu Bello University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science & History. He is married with two children.^[1]

Enyinnaya Harkcourt Abaribe (born March 3, 1955) is a Nigerian politician who represents Abia-South Senatorial District of Abia State in the Senate of Nigeria. He holds the title Nnadiohanma Ngwa

Abaribe earned his WASSCE from Government College Umuahia in 1974. He received a bachelor’s degree economics in 1979 and a master’s degree in the same subject in 1982, both from the University of Benin. He lectured at Edo State University from 1982 until 1985.^[1] From 1985 until 1991, he was SCOA Nigeria’s area manager for Southern Nigeria. After that, from 1991 to 1992, he was employed as Nicon’s senior manager for investment. From 1993 until 1995 he was the CEO of Integrated Mortgage Co.^[1]

Abaribe became Abia State’s Deputy Governor after Orji Uzor Kalu’s 1999 election to the Governorship. The state’s House of Assembly impeached the deputy governor twice in 2000^[2] and a third time in 2003; as he was facing his third impeachment, he resigned on March 7, 2003, sending his resignation via DHL so as to have written record of it.^[3] The House of Assembly formally voted him out of office several days later, in a move Abaribe called “medicine after death”.^[4]

Abaribe ran for the governorship on the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) platform in 2003, but lost to Kalu.

Abaribe was elected to the national Senate in 2007 on a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ticket;^[1] Eric Acho Nwakanma of the PPA challenged the validity of the election.^[5]

Abaribe is Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs (Senator Abdulaziz Usman of Jigawa-North East is Chairman).^[6] He is also a member of the Committees on the Independent National Electoral Commission, Senate Services, and Works.^[1] In October 2007, as Ralph Uwazuruike, leader of the banned secessionist organization Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), was on trial for treason, Abaribe and six other southeastern senators protested at the Federal High Court in Lagos to demand his release.^[7]

 

Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (often referred to as M. K. O. Abiola, August 24, 1937 – July 7, 1998) was a Nigerian Yoruba businessman, publisher and politician, though he was an accountant by training. He ran for the presidency in 1993, and won, but was denied the opportunity to become President when the election results were annulled by a court during the regime of Ibrahim Babangida

Abiola was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State.^[1] His name, Kashimawo, means “Lets wait and see“.^[2] His early career was with the ITT Corporation, where he later rose to the position of Vice President, Africa and Middle-East. Abiola built a vast business empire consisting of an airline, publishing company, farms, shipping line, bookshops, oil company, bank, to name a few. Abiola, along with ex-military leader Olusegun Obasanjo, was “name-dropped” at the end of musician Fela Kuti’s 25-minute political screed “International Thief Thief”, which led to Fela’s arrest in 1983 on faked currency charges. There is no evidence to suggest that Moshood Abiola had anything to do with Fela’s arrest.

In the presidential elections of June 12, 1993, Abiola was the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (his running mate was Baba Gana Kingibe) and overwhelmingly defeated his northern rival, Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention. However, the election was annulled by Ibrahim Babangida, and subsequent events led to General Sani Abacha seizing power later that year. When Abiola declared himself the lawful president of Nigeria, he was accused of treason and imprisoned. He is widely believed to have won what was considered to have been Nigeria’s freest and fairest presidential election. He has been referred to as Nigeria’s greatest statesman^[3], but in a country with a history of political corruption, it is impossible to say how far Moshood Abiola would have gone in overhauling the system, as he died before ever getting to the Presidency. However, given his track record for philanthropy and generosity, which was doled out without discrimination, both inside and outside of Nigeria. Plus the military’s unwillingness to allow him to ascend to the Presidency, he was likely to have been very much in favour of the Nigerian masses. Moshood Abiola was criticised for being close to the military, however the way that he was treated by them after winning the June 12 elections, most likely indicates that the relationship was superficial at best.

Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, was murdered in a drive-by shooting in her car, for her dogged pursuit for the actualization of the perceived electoral mandate of her husband. His daughter, Hafsat Abiola, later became a democracy activist and founded the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy in honor of her mother.

Shortly after the death of Abacha, Abiola himself succumbed to a heart attack while in prison on July 7, 1998. Ironically, this was also the day he was due to be released from imprisonment. Though there is little evidence to support it, some conspiracy theorists in Nigeria allege that his death (and possibly Abacha’s) was masterminded by the American CIA

Prince Abubakar Audu was twice Governor of Nigeria’s Kogi state, first from January 1992 until November 1993 and again from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2003. Since leaving office he has had charges of misrule made against him by his successor, Ibrahim Idris. The ousted governor Ibrahim Idris and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have yet to substantiate their claims against Audu. ^[1] Abubakar Audu was once detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, but released on bail..^[2]

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (Turakin Adamawa), GCON (born 25 November 1946) was the Vice-President of Nigeria^[1] from 1999 to 2007. He is a native of Adamawa State and was a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) until being expelled in 2006 when he switched affiliation to the Action Congress party.

Abubakar came up the ranks of the ruling PDP primarily, due to the pivotal role he played in its formation. He was also an ardent opponent of General Sani Abacha, the late dictator. Atiku’s source of wealth has caused some curiosity among Nigerians but that also goes for many other wealthy Nigerians. He has said in a new biography yet to be published that he made his money, “through wise investments, hard work and sheer luck of being at the right place at the right time,” but many think this statement is just a smokescreen.

He worked as a Customs Officer for twenty years, rising to the rank of Deputy Director before turning to business and politics in 1989. While serving as a Customs officer in charge at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos in 1984, the infamous “53 suitcases” scandal belonging to the late Emir of Gwandu happened. This incident incensed the then Head of State, General Buhari and his Deputy, Brig. Tunde Idiagbon, who ordered an immediate and thorough investigation into the matter, to the chagrin of the Head of State’s then ADC, Maj. Mustafa Jokolo, who was, incidentally, the Emir’s first son.

The Finance Minister at the time, Onaolapo Soleye and another young but influential Army Officer, Col. Chris Alli, tried in vain to plead Atiku’s case before Buhari and Idiagbon. Fate was later to conspire in Abubakar’s favour just as his trial was all set to go ahead: General Ibrahim Babangida, in an effort to save his own skin, overthrew the Buhari regime. This worked perfectly well for Atiku Abubakar, who was eventually eased out of office (effectively sacked). A counter-view is however posited by Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, who records, “Not only did Buhari dispatch his aide-de-camp, Jokolo…to facilitate the entry of those cases, he ordered the redeployment…of the Customs Officer (Atiku) who stood firmly against the entry of the contravening baggage” (The Guardian, Feb. 6, 2007, p2)

Since becoming Vice President in 1999, he has presided over the National Council on Privatization during which hundreds of loss-making and poorly managed public enterprises were sold off in a manner that has prompted more questions than answers. There have been wild allegations that Atiku engaged in unwholesome practices during the privatization of some of those previously State-owned parastatals. President Obasanjo’s son, Gbenga, alluded to this allegation in an interview with an internet-based journal, Elendu Reports, where he insinuated that Atiku “sold Pentascope to himself”.^[2] These allegations, yet again remain unproven, though many political analysts see him, rather sympathetically, as a man who is more prone to cock-ups than conspiracy.

Abubakar’s first and most senior wife Hajia Titi Abubakar, is believed to be an Ilesha-born Roman Catholic, hailing originally from the Togolese Republic; together they have four children and two grandchildren. He has three other wives: Rukayat (the daughter of the Lamido of Adamawa, an influential monarch); Fatima, a lawyer based in Lagos and Jamila (AKA Jennifer Iwenjiora, an Ibo woman from Onitsha, who was a former television newscaster and now a doctoral degree student in the United States). As a result, political associates and critics, tend to agree Atiku is one of the most detribalized northern Muslim aristocrats.

The role played by Atiku in a ’state of emergency’ invoked on Plateau State also gives credence to his support for fairness to people of other faiths.

In 2006, Atiku had in a face-off with his direct superior, President Olusegun Obasanjo, due to the latter’s eventual failed attempts to amend certain provisions of the constitution in order to take another shot at the presidency (for the third consecutive time). It is unclear whether Atiku’s opposition to President Obasanjo’s inordinate ambition was altruistic or selfish. Nonetheless, Atiku had never hidden his interest in the coveted post. The debate and acrimony generate by the failed constitutional amendment has caused a rift in the People’s Democratic Party.^[3] It also appears to have irreparably damaged both men’s political and personal relationship, of which, Mr Abubakar, from all indications, is feeling the brunt of it. Despite the furor, the Nigerian National Assembly eventually voted against any amendments allowing Obasanjo to run for another term.

In August, 2005 Abubakar surfaced in a report by the BBC World Service,^[4] as the intended recipient of a bribe as part of a scheme involving United States Congressman Bill Jefferson to promote Nigeria’s adoption of internet technology from the American firm iGate, Inc. According to the FBI, Jefferson allegedly told an informant that he would need to give Abubakar $500,000 “as a motivating factor” for business contracts, but there is no evidence that Abubakar received^[5] nor sought^{[citation needed]} such a bribe, which makes some skeptics think that Atiku may be a target of a witch-hunt.^{[citation needed]} Jefferson had allegedly collected $100,000 from a business partner to give to Atiku, but $90,000 of the marked money was later found in the Congressman’s house wrapped in a foil and neatly tucked away in a freezer.^[5]

On September 18, 2006, Abubakar was indicted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which alleged that he had embezzeled ₦71,123,250,000 in campaign funds and made various bribes

On 25 November 2006 Abubakar announced that he would run for President; he did not announce immediately which party he would represent, although he inaugurated a presidential campaign committee.^[7]

On 20 December 2006, he was chosen as the presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC).^[8]

On 15 March 2007, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the final list of 24 aspirants for the 21 April presidential election. Abubakar’s name was conspicuously missing even though he is seen by many as the only ‘credible’ opposition candidate to the powerful ruling PDP party in the election.

In a statement released by INEC, it states that Abubakar’s name was missing because he is on a list of officials indicted for corruption by a panel set up by the ruling government. The creation of this list is seen by many as a tool to weed out opponents of the PDP who may have a strong showing in the forthcoming polls. This school of thought is supported because officials like Andy Uba, a former presidential adviser to Obasanjo, is being allowed to contest in the polls despite a history of well publisised fraudulent activities, i.e fake educational certificates and money laundering charges in the USA. INEC disqualified Abubakar even though there is a court judgement which states that INEC doesn’t have the power to disqualify candidates. INEC appealed this court decision and this move has cast doubts on the neutrality of INEC as an umpire in the forthcoming elections.

Abubakar headed to the courts on 16 March to get his disqualification overturned despite a statement from the INEC chairman which says it will be impossible for him to contest even if he gets a judgement in his favour as it will be logistically impossible to reprint ballot papers and distribute them round the country before the April polls.

According to reports on 26 March on a Nigerian newspaper run website, Professor Iwu, the chairman of INEC may be prepared to adhere to a court ruling in the case of Abubakar but with the caveat that it has to be a ruling by the supreme court. His words “Yes, he (Abubakar) will run if the Supreme Court says so. This is where the logistics issue actually comes in. We must have our own fallback preparation. I am not the type that makes plan without having plan A, B, and C. If the Supreme Court decides that, we will obey the Supreme Court.” [1]

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on 16 April that INEC has no power to disqualify candidates. The ruling allowed Abubakar to contest the election, although there were concerns that it might not be possible to provide ballots with Abubakar’s name by 21 April, the date of the election.^[9] On 17 April, a spokesman for INEC said that Abubakar would be on the ballot.^[10]

According to official results, Abubakar took third place, behind PDP candidate Umaru Yar’Adua and ANPP candidate Muhammadu Buhari, with about 7% of the vote (about 2.6 million votes).^[11] He rejected the election and said that it should be cancelled and held again, describing it as Nigeria’s “worst election ever”.^[12]

He said that he would not attend Yar’Adua’s inauguration on 29 May due to his view that the election was not credible, saying that he did not want to “dignify such a hollow ritual with my

Atiku was mentioned as part of a Saturday Night Live skit mocking the 2000 US Presidential debate between Al Gore and George W Bush. Bush (played by Will Ferrell), attempts to prove his competence in foreign affairs, as he discusses the Nigerian Government: “I’ve been very impressed with the new leadership over there, President Olusegun Obasanjo, Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, his special assistant, Mr. Tunde Olusunle, even the Director General of Public Enterprise Mr. Malam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai. They’re all top notch.”

 

Abdullahi Adamu (born 6 July 1945) was governor of Nasarawa State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Niyi Adebayo (born 1958) is a Nigerian politician. He served as Governor of Ekiti State from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2003 and represents the Alliance for Democracy (AD). Niyi Adebayo was an effective leader but his works were not easily noticed because during his governorship Obasanjo gave Ekiti state about a third (budget wise) of what he gave to Fayose’s administration. This was the primary reason why people did not see the works of Niyi Adebayo.

Adebayo Adedeji (born December 21, 1930 in Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria) was Executive Secretary to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa from 1975 to 1978 and UN Under-Secretary-General from 1978 until 1991.

Adebayo Adefarati (February 14, 1931^[1] – March 29 2007) was a Nigerian politician.

Adefarati was governor of Ondo State from 1999 to 2003, but was defeated when he ran for re-election in 2003. He was later a presidential candidate for the Alliance for Democracy party in the April 2007 presidential election,^[2] but died in Owo, Ondo State at the age of 76 of an undisclosed ailment a few weeks before the election.^[1] He had not been considered a major candidate, but his death raised the possibility that the election would be delayed. A spokesman for the Independent National Electoral Commission said that this would not happen, and that the party could name a replacement candidate.^[2]

Mojisola Adekunle-Obasanjo is a retired Major of the Nigerian army who ran for the Presidency under the Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN) in 2003, and is currently on the ballot as the only female contender for the 2007 presidential elections.

She is also an ex-wife (1991-1998) of the incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Tope Ademiluyi (born August 23, 1965) is a Nigerian politician from Aramoko-Ekiti, Ekiti-West, Ekiti State.^[1] He was appointed to the position of acting governor on April 27, 2007, and succeeded Tunji Olurin, the previous acting governor.^[1] Ademiluyi held that position until 29 May 2007, when Olusegun Oni took office.

Oluyemi Adeniji (born July 22, 1934 in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State) is a Nigerian politician who was the Internal Affairs Minister of his country from June 21, 2006 to ??. He was previously the Special Representative of the General Secretary with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) from November 19, 1999 to July 16, 2003 and Foreign Minister of Nigeria from July 2003 to June 2006.

Beginning in early March 2008, he is heading negotiations in Kenya related to that country’s political crisis, following the departure of the previous head negotiator, Kofi Annan.^[1]

Ayodele Patrick Aderinwale MFR is the West Africa Vice President of the African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council for West Africa.[1] He is the Executive Director of the Africa Leadership Forum in Ota, Nigeria.

Aderinwale was born in Oshogbo, Nigeria. He attended the University of Lagos where he earned a Bachelors Degree in Political Science in 1985 and a Master of Science in Political Economy and International Relations in 1987.

He is an alumnus of the United Nations University’s International Leadership Academy, and Harvard University’s Executive Program for Leaders in Development. He also participated in the Salzburg Seminar, the Sixth Lisbon Youth Summit, and the Center for Advanced Studies in International Negotiation in Geneva, Switzerland.

He was the Lead Consultant for 2 years, on the Union Government Project that finally drafted the institution of having a United States of Africa. He is a close adviser and confidant of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He is married to Tosin and has two sons, Damola and Doyin.

Aderinwale became involved with Olusegun Obasanjo’s NGO, Africa Leadership Forum (ALF) in the 1990s, eventually became the Executive Director. He began several programs such as the Regional African Parliamentarians Conference, the Africa Women’s Forum and the Democratic Leadership Training Workshop that focused on a range of issues including capacity building programs for African Parliamentarians and Political Leaders. He helped create the Conference on Stability, Security, Development and Cooperation in Africa (CSSDCA) which was adopted by the African Union in 2002.

He has consulted for several international agencies, including the United Nations, the European Union, and the Organization of African Unity. He participated in the initial drafting of the Millennium Plan for Africa (MAP) which later became the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

He is a scholar and motivational speaker. He has published series of books and academic papers on thematic development and governance issues. Recent publications include CSSDCA: An African Agenda for Peace and Prosperity 2001 and “Value, Ideology and Nation Building” (2003).

Currently, as ALF Executive Director, he oversees the overall development and implementation of projects. He is currently the Chairman, Board of Directors, Business School Netherlands, Nigeria, and formerly Member of the Commonwealth Peoples Forum 2003 Steering Committee; Member of Board of Editors, Daily Times of Nigeria. Mr. Aderinwale MFR chaired the African Capacity Building Foundation’s Parlianet, based in Harare Zimbabwe; currently the Vice President of the Statutory organ of the African Union, the Economic, Cultural and Social Council ECOSOCC presided by Prof. Wangari Maathai, Africa’s Nobel Peace Laureate.

Mr. Aderinwale, MFR, is the Chairman Board of Governors of the Bells Educational Services, and of the Bells Comprehensive Secndary School for Boys and Girls in Ota Ogun State. He is Chairman of Docu-thrill, an indigenous company with interests in Information Technology capacity building as well data protection and retrieval. He Chairs the Justrite Limited one of the largest superstores in Lagos and Ogun States. He also functions as the Managing Director of The Temperance Hotel, Nigeria.

On the 21st December 2006, the President and Commander-in-Chief, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR conferred on him the National Honor of Member, Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In further commemoration of the National Honor, his classmates and colleagues launched a foundation, the Ayodele Aderinwale Foundation for Education and Leadership in Africa (AAFELA) in his honor

 

Bola Afonja is a Nigerian politician. He was Minister for Labour under Ernest Shonekan^[1] and was once a member of the board of trustees of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP

 

Martin Agbaso (born 1959) is a Nigerian Economist, politician and was a candidate for Governor of Imo State. Agbaso is the former Imo State Senator for Owerri, a special assistant on Ecology to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and is married to Robin Agbaso, an American. The Agbasos have three children.

Chief Martin Agbaso was born into a strong catholic family in Emekuku in Owerri Imo State. As a child, he was a student at Our Lady’s Primary School/Chief Obi Memorial School, Emekuku. He graduated primary school in 1971 and graduated from Emekuku High School in 1976. Agbaso furthered his educational career at Pontifical University, St Thomas Aquinas in Rome Italy and obtained a BSc degree in Finance from SUNY Old Westbury in 1983. Upon graduating, Agbaso worked at Prudential Inc as a Financial Analyst.

Agbaso was a member of General Ibrahim Babangida’s presidential cabinet and was elected senetor for Owerri in 1998. Under president Olusegun Obasanjo, Agbaso served as the special assistant on Ecology ot the president. He ran twice for Governor of Imo State.

Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, CFR (born April 15, 1952) is a Nigerian politician from Azare, Bauchi State, and Defence Minister of Nigeria. Ahmed is the Ajiyan Katagum, a Katagum Emirate position, and the Akowojo of Idanre Kingdom, in Ondo State

Ahmed was born in the town of Shira in southern Azare, Bauchi State, to Ahmadu, an Islamic scholar and farmer.^[1] He attended Shira Primary School, Government Secondary School Azare, and then Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, Kaduna State, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science in 1976 and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration in 1981. He completed his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) service in 1977.^[2]

He has been awarded an honorary Doctorate Degree in Law by the University of Abuja and an honorary Doctorate Degree of Letters by Bayero University.^[1]

Ahmed joined the Bauchi State Civil Service in 1977. In 1982 he became deputy secretary to the state’s Ministry of Animal Health and Forestry Resources, and the next year, in 1983, he became acting permanent secretary to the Ministry of Rural Development and Cooperatives.^[1]

In 1986, he joined the federal government’s civil service, holding various positions in the Ministries of Internal Affairs and of Education. He was a member of the 1988 Ministerial Committee on the Civil Service Reforms.^[1]

Ahmed was appointed to the position of Head of Civil Service (chief civil servant) of Nigeria on December 18, 2000, by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who described Ahmed as “Mr Civil Servant”.^[1]

In May 2006, Yahuza Mohammed Bauchi, Chairman of the Bauchi Actualization Forum (BAF), encouraged Yayale to run in the 2007 Bauchi State Governorship race. According to Bauchi, the people of Bauchi State were “clamouring for Alhaji Yayale Ahmed to assume the mantle of leadership in the state so as to consolidate the good works of governor Ahmed Mu’azu.”^[3]

President Umaru Yar’Adua appointed him to the position of Defence Minister July 26, 2007. He had no military experience prior to the appointment. On September 8,2008, President Umaru Yar’Adua appointed him as the Secretary to The Government of The Federation replacing Alhaji Babagana Kingibe.^[4]

 

 

Professor Claude Ake (18 February 1939 in Lagos; 7 November 1996) was a Nigerian political scientist. Ake gained a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1966 and during his life he held various academic positions at institutions around the world, including Yale University (United States), University of Nairobi (Kenya), University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and University of Port Harcourt (Nigeria). He was active in Nigerian politics and is well-known for his work in studies of development and democracy, his overriding concern being Africa. He died in an aeroplane crash on a flight between Port Harcourt and Lagos in Nigeria.

 

Augustus Meredith Adisa Akinloye, popularly known as A.M.A, (August 19, 1916 – September 18, 2007) was a Nigerian lawyer, politician, and the Seriki of Ibadanland (a traditional high chief).^[1]

Born to Babarinde Akanbi Akinloye & Madame Adepele Akinloye, his family were one of the richest cocoa farmers in west Africa. The family house was built more than a century ago still stands firm on its locoation till date. Akinloye read law at the London School of Economics between 1946 and 1948. Akinloye became the third Ibadan Lawyer to be called to the Bar after Chief A.M.F Agbaje & Victor Owolabi Esan. He would go on to establish his own chambers which he named Modupe Chambers. After his appointment as minister in the old western region he went into partnership with Chief Odumosu and he rechristened his chambers Akinloye & Odumosu & co(Solicitors & Advocates)^[1]

Akinloye was instrumental to the formation of the first ever political party in Ibadan called Ibadan Peoples Party (IPP) which he served as its president,^[1] with Adegoke Adelabu as his deputy. His IPP party later merged with the Action Group, led by Obafemi Awolowo, to form the first government in the Western Region of Nigeria, in which Akinloye was appointed the Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources.^[1] During the second half of 1950s he was elected Chairman of Ibadan City Council.

During the Western Region crisis in the early 1960s, he left the Action Group for Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola’s newly formed Nigerian National Democratic Party and served in the cabinet led by the then Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. (The government was overthrown in a military coup on 15 January 1966

Akinloye was the Chairman of the then largest political party in Africa, the National Party of Nigeria, which ruled the country between 1979 and 1983 while Shehu Shagari was President. Akinloye went into exile in London,England during Nigeria’s coup d’état of 1983 when his party was overthrown by the military junta headed by General Muhammadu Buhari& Tunde Idiagbon. Akinloye returned to Nigeria after ten years in exile & spent three months in incarceration on orders of General Sani Abacha who was then Military head of state. Akinloye was detained alongside other political prisoners such as Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola & Olusegun Obasanjo who after his release would go on to become Nigeria’s 12 president. On his release from incarceration he withdrew from active politics & adopted the role of elder statesman. He played a vital role in the emergence of Obasanjo as the flagbearer of the People’s Democratic Party (Nigeria) in the 1999 elections. Till his death Akinloye was on the PDP board of trustees.

Akinloye was married three times, with the last wife being Carol Akinloye of Ibo extraction and had multiple children. Most notable, Honorable Olusegun Akinloye who currently represents Ibadan North-East Federal constituency,Oyo State in House of Representatives of Nigeria. Akinkumi Akinloye & Akinlagun Akinloye who both attended Hill House School.^[2] He died at aged 91 shortly after being admitted to University College Hospital, Ibadan on September 18, 2007 of chronic liver failure.^[1]. His burial lasted for seven days as scores of former associates,well wishers and political heavyweights thronged to the ancient city of Ibadan.

 

Akinwande Bolaji Akinyemi (born January 4, 1942) is a Nigerian professor of political science^[1] who was his country’s External Affairs Minister from 1985^[2] to late 1987.^[3] He is chairman of the National Think Tank.^[4]

 

Akinyemi was born in Ilesa, in what is now Osun State. He attended Igbobi College in Yaba from 1955 until 1959, Christ’s School in Ado Ekiti from 1960 to 1961, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, from 1962 to 1964, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, US, 1964 to 1966, and Trinity College, Oxford University, England, from 1966 until 1969.^[2]

He was a visiting professor at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva and at the Diplomacy Training Programme, University of Nairobi, Kenya, both in 1977. He was Regents Lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, US in 1979, Professor of Political Science at the University of Lagos, from 1983 until 1985, and Visiting Fellow, St. John’s College, Cambridge, England in 1984.^[2]

Akinyemi was Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) from 1975 until 1983.^[2] The NIAA is an organization focusing on Nigerian foreign policy; while he was Director-General, it was involved in promoting Nigerian-Angolan relations, among other things.^[5]

He married Rowena Jane Viley in 1970. They have one son and three daughters

Akinyemi was appointed Minister of External Affairs by military leader Ibrahim Babangida in 1985. While in this position, he originated the Technical Aid Corps (TAC), a program which sent Nigerian professionals overseas to engage in volunteer work. It was designed to “promote the country’s image and status as a major contributor to Third World and particularly African development”.^[6] He also came up with the concept of the “Concert of Medium Powers“.^[2]

In his position as Minister of External Affairs, Akinyemi headed numerous Nigerian delegations. Among the delegations he headed were his country’s delegations to the United Nations General Assembly Session (1985), the Organisation of African Unity, Council of Ministers Session (1986), the Non–Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference (1986), the United Nations General Assembly Annual Session (1986), the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the Critical Economic Situation in Africa (1986), the Budget Session of the Council of Ministers of the Organisation of African Unity (1987), the Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers of the Organisation of African Unity (1987), the United Nations General Assembly Session (1987), and to the Extra–Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers of the Organisation of African Unity devoted to African debt (1987).^[7]

In 1987, Akinyemi stated his support for Nigeria developing nuclear weapons.^[8] He referred to the proposal as the “black bomb,” and said that “Nigeria has a sacred responsibility to challenge the racial monopoly of nuclear weapons.”^[8]

During the short-lived Third Republic of 1993, he called on the military to overthrow Ernest Shonekan’s administration;^{[1] [9]} Sani Abacha, Defense Minister at the time, later did so, and assumed the position of head of state. Akinyemi was later among those who opposed Abacha’s regime.^[2]

In August 2007, President Umaru Yar’Adua appointed him to the newly-created Electoral Reform Panel

 

Adeyemo Alakija KBE (May 25, 1884-1952) was a Nigerian lawyer, politician, and businessman. He was a newspaper entrepreneur who co-founded the Daily Times of Nigeria. He was also a member of the governor’s executive council, the legislative council of Nigeria and was president of the Nigerian Youth Movement.^[1]

He was heavily influenced by the tidal waves of cultural nationalism in Nigeria during the early twentieth century.

Alakija, whose first name originally was Plasido, was of Afro-Brazilian descent like many freed slaves resident in Lagos. The groups were sometimes called Amaros. The Alakija family for a while were the most prominent Amaros in Nigeria.

Alakija studied at Oxford University in the early 1930, and became an ardent proponent for the provision of tertiary education to Nigerians during the colonial period. In Nigeria, he embraced some traditional elements of Yoruba socio-political and religious history when he co-founded the reformed Ogboni society and became the Olori Oluwo (Lords of Lords) of society. As a member of the Ogboni confraternity, he introduced the use of masonic symbols inside the organization, such as the unblinking eye on an inverted V and three vertical shapes. ^[2]

Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala (born June 3, 1950) is a Nigerian politician and the current Governor of Oyo State, Nigeria. He first occupied the office between January 12, 2006 and December 12, 2006 when as the deputy governor he replaced the impeached former governor Rasheed Ladoja but Akala was reelected as governor in the controversial elections of May 29, 2007. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Alao-Akala replaced Rasheed Ladoja, who was impeached by the state House of Assembly. The impeachment was challenged in the courts on the basis of it being illegally carried out by the less than two-thirds majority requirement of the constitution. With only 18 of the 32-member House of Assembly voting in favor of removal, the majority claims that suspended members are not required to be considered in determining two-thirds majority.

Alao-Akala was the de-facto governor while Ladoja claimed to be de-jure governor pending the determination of the suit.

Alao-Akala was removed from his current position as state governor after the Appeal Court in Ibadan declared the impeachment process of Rasheed Ladoja null and illegal, and the supreme court upheld the appeal’s court’s decision. Nevertheless, he was reelected in the 2007 general election. Chief Alao Akala it was who erected a statue of the “Unknown Soldier” to replace that of a revered icon of Yoruba emancipation Chief Obafemi Awolowo

 

 

Dabo Aliyu is a Nigerian politician. He was acting Administrator of Anambra State November – December 1993, and served as Administrator of Yobe State from December 9, 1993 to August 22, 1996

 

Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha (“DSP”) (born 16 November 1952) was governor of Bayelsa State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 9 December 2005.

He was detained in London on charges of money laundering in September 2005.^[1] Metropolitan Police officers allegedly found £1 million cash at one of his many London homes. He has been found to own real estate in London worth an alleged £10 million. His state’s monthly federal allocation for the last six years has been in the order of £32 million.^{[citation needed]}

He jumped bail in December 2005 from the United Kingdom by allegedly disguising himself as a woman, though he denies this claim. He was suspended from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in early December 2005 before being impeached by the Bayelsa State Assembly on 9 December. He was replaced by his Deputy Governor Goodluck Jonathan.

On July 26, 2007, Alamieyeseigha pleaded guilty before a Nigerian court to six charges and was sentenced to two years in prison on each charge; however, because the sentences were set to run concurrently and the time was counted from the point of his arrest nearly two years before the sentences, his actual sentence was relatively short. Many of his assets were also ordered to be forfeited to the Bayelsa state government. According to Alamieyeseigha, he only pleaded guilty due to his age and would have fought the charges if he was younger.^[2] On July 27, just hours after being taken to prison, he was released due to time already served.^[1]

George Akume (born 27 December 1953) was governor of Benue State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Before then he was a career civil servant who rose to the apex of the professional career ladder as a permanent secretary.

Muhammad Adamu Aliero (born 1959?) was governor of Kebbi State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP).

Born in Aliero, Aliero Local Government Area of Kebbi State (then part of the Northern Region, Adamu received his primary education at an Islamic school. His elementary education commenced in 1965 at Aliero Town Planning School. He then attended the Government Secondary School in Koko and graduated in 1976.

This was followed by admission into the School of Basic Studies at Ahmadu Bello University, where he enrolled in the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) certificate program. He began undergraduate studies in 1977 and graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree Political Science in 1980.

In 1981, Aliero began his working career as an administrative officer at the College of Education in Sokoto and joined the Nigeria Customs and Excise Service in the same year. In 1997, he voluntarily resigned from the Customs and Excise Service and went into the private business sector, dealing in export and import trade.

His political career began in 1998 when, running on the platform of the now defunct United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), he contested and won a Senate seat representing the Kebbi Central constituency. The results of the election annulled soon after they were announced. Following the death of military dictator Sani Abacha and a brief period of transition, new elections were held. Aliero, now representing the All People’s Party (APP), contested and won the Kebbi State gubernatorial election. He was sworn in on 29 May 1999.

Aliero was re-elected in 2003 for a second four-year term and was one of only four incumbent ANPP (the APP was later renamed All Nigeria People’s Party due to a factional split) governors to maintain their positions.

Aliero left the ANPP and joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in February 2007. He contested the April 2007 General Elections for the Senate and won under the banner of the PDP. He is currently the Member Representing Kebbi Central Senatorial District in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 

Ambrose Alli was the governor of the defunct Nigerian state of Bendel (now the Nigerian states of Edo and Delta), from 1979 to 1983. He was the first civilian governor.

He brought massive development to Bendel in different sectors, from the establishment of numerous post-primary schools and tertiary institutions, and massive construction of roads and housing.

Prior to his election as Governor, he was Professor of Morbid Anatomy in University of Benin. The Bendel State University, Ekpoma, with campuses in Ekpoma, Abraka and Asaba was established during his tenure. However, with the creation of Delta State by the administration of Gen. Babangida, the University became two Universities, namely Delta State University, and Abraka and Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, posthumously named after him.

Apart from the establishment of the University, he also established various colleges of Education in Ekiadolor near Benin City, Agbor, Warri, Ozoro and Agbor, and three Polytechnics, with a college of agriculture and fishery proposed for Agenebode.

In the housing sector he built low cost housing estates in Ugbowo, Ikpoba Hill in Benin City, and Bendel Estates in Warri.

Later , he was imprisoned on charges of corruption; he died shortly after being released

Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is a Nigerian politician who is the current Governor of Rivers State. He was previously Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly from 1999 until 2007. He is an alumnus of the University of Port Harcourt. He is a native of Ubima in Ikwere local government area of Rivers state.

Chief Anthony Enahoro, born 22 July 1923 is one of Nigeria’s foremost anti-colonial and pro-democracy activists. He was born in Uromi in the present Edo State of Nigeria. Chief Enahoro has had a long and distinguished career in the press, politics, the civil service and the pro-democracy movement.

Educated at the Government School Uromi, Government School Owo and Kings College Lagos, Chief Enahoro became the editor of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s newspaper, the Southern Nigerian Defender, Ibadan, in 1944 at the age of 21, thus becoming Nigeria’s youngest editor ever. He later became the editor of Zik’s Comet, Kano, 1945-49, also associate editor West African Pilot, Lagos, editor-in-chief Morning Star, 1950-53.

Chief Enahoro became a foundation member of Chief Awolowo’s Action Group party; secretary and chairman, Ishan Division Council; member Western House of assembly; and later member, Federal House of Representatives in 1951. He later became Minister of Home Affairs in the old western region. He was the Opposition spokesman on Foreign policy and Legislative Affairs in the Federal House of Representatives, 1959-63; and moved motion for the independence of Nigeria. He was a delegate to most of the constitutional conferences leading to the independence of Nigeria in 1960.

During the 1962 crisis in the old Western region, he was detained along with other Action Group members. Accused of treason during the Awolowo alleged coup trial, Chief Enahoro escaped to the United Kingdom in 1963. He was extradited from the UK and imprisoned for treason. In 1966, he was released by the Military Government.

During the Nigerian crisis that followed the 1966 coups, Chief Enahoro was the leader of the then Mid-West delegation to the Ad Hoc Constitutional Conference in Lagos. He later became Federal commissioner (Minister) for Information and Labour under the General Yakubu Gowon Military Government, 1967-74; Federal Commissioner for Special Duties, 1975. He later became member of the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, 1978-83. He was the president, World Festival of Negro Arts and Culture, 1972-75.

Chief Enahoro was the chairman of the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO; a pro-democracy group that fought dictator Sani Abacha till Abacha’s death.

Chief Enahoro was conferred with the national honour of Commander, Order of the Federal Republic, CFR, in 1982, and is the chairman of the Movement for National Reformation, MNR; as well as the Pro-National Conference Organisation, PRONACO. He was awarded honorary DSC by the University of Benin in 1972. Among his publications include the treatise Fugitive Offender. Chief Enahoro plays golf and follows cricket ardently.

Emeka Anyaoku, GCVO, CON (born January 18, 1933) was the third Commonwealth Secretary-General. He is a Nigerian of Igbo descent

Born in Obosi, he attended the University College of Ibadan, then a college of the University of London, from which he obtained an honours degree in Classics.

In 1959, Emeka Anyaoku joined the Commonwealth Development Corporation. Following Nigeria’s independence, he joined Nigeria’s diplomatic service, and in 1963 was posted to its Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.

In 1966, he joined the Commonwealth Secretariat as Assistant Director of International Affairs. In 1968-69 there was a campaign by the Nigerian military government for the recall of Anyaoku; which said he was not a suitable Nigerian nominee, and they were anxious about his loyalty to the country of his birth. But Emeka had resigned from the Nigerian Foreign Service and Arnold had no difficulty in turning aside the demand. ^[1]

In 1977, the Commonwealth governments elected him as Deputy Secretary-General.

In 1983, Nigeria’s civilian government appointed Anyaoku to become Nigeria’s Foreign Minister. After the overthrow of the Government by the military later that year, he returned to his position as Deputy Secretary-General with the support of the new government in Nigeria and the endorsement of all Commonwealth Governments.

At the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting at Kuala Lumpur in 1989, Anyaoku was elected the third Commonwealth Secretary-General. He was re-elected at the 1993 Limassol CHOGM for a second five-year term, beginning in July 1995.

Aside from his international career, Chief Anyaoku continues to fulfill the duties of his office as Ichie Adazie of Obosi, a traditional Ndichie chieftainship. In 1990, the heads of all 19 communities of the Idemili Clan in his home state of Anambra accorded Anyaoku a unique honour by investing him with the title of Ugwumba Idemili. His wife, Bunmi, is also a chief – Ugoma Obosi and Idemili – in her own right, with a long involvement in welfare work in Nigeria and through Commonwealth organisations.

Anyaoku is currently President of the World Wide Fund for Nature.

 

Brigadier Daniel Patrick Archibong (died- March 11, 1990) was a Nigerian soldier and politician.

Archibong was admitted to the Nigerian Defence Academy in January 1964. He did not initially complete the course with his original class because of the crisis of 1966. However, he returned after the war and was commissioned in August 1970 – with loss of seniority.

He was appointed Military Governor of Cross River State in January 1984 following the Buhari coup and held the position until 1986.

Archibong is survived by a wife and six children.

Obong Victor Bassey Attah (born 20 November 1938) was governor of Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Before assuming the governorship of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Attah practised as an architect and served as the National President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIS). He is currently under investigation for corruption by the EFCC

Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo (March 6, 1909—May 9, 1987) was a Nigerian politician and leader, a Yoruba and native of Ikenne in Ogun State of Nigeria, who started as a regional political leader like most of his pre-independence contemporaries. He founded many organizations, including Egbe Omo Oduduwa, the Trade Unions Congress of Nigeria and the Action Group political party. He was an active journalist and trade unionist as a young man, editing The Nigerian Worker amongst other publications while also organizing the Nigerian Produce Traders Association and serving as secretary of the Nigerian Motor Transport Union. After earning a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Nigeria, he travelled to London to earn a law degree. He was the first indigenous Premier of the Western Region under Nigeria’s parliamentary system, from 1952 to 1960, and was the official Leader of the Opposition in the federal parliament to the Balewa government from 1960 to 1963.

Chief Awolowo was a leader who believed that the state should channel Nigeria’s resources into education and state-led infrastructure development. Controversially, and at considerable expense, he introduced free primary education for all in the Western Region, established the first television service in Africa in 1959, and expanded electrification projects in the region using proceeds from the highly lucrative cocoa export industry. Although very popular among the Yoruba in western Nigeria, his left-leaning but superior politics made him unpopular with the nation’s (supposedly) largest political bloc – the northern, Muslim, Northern People’s Congress (NPC), which many Nigerians believed were being directed by the British government

Prior to independence, he was persuaded by prominent members of the Action Group to lead the party as Leader of the Opposition at the Federal Parliament, leaving Samuel Ladoke Akintola as the Western Region Premier. Serious disagreement between the Awolowo and Akintola on how to run the western region led the latter to an alliance with the Tafawa Balewa led NPC federal government. A contrived constitutional crisis led to a declaration of a state of emergency in the Western Region, after an election which Awolowo claimed Akintola and his new coalition had lost, but rigged the result of. Revolt began with the Agbekoya attacking all known Akintola sympathisers in what became known in Nigeria political lore as “wetie.”

Excluded from National government, the position of Awolowo and his party became increasingly precarious. Some politicians, mostly of Akintola’s group, angered at their exclusion from power, formed a break-away party, the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), under Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola. Constitutional crisis in the region led the federal parliament to declare a state of emergency in the west, the elected Western Regional Assembly was thus suspended, only to be reconstituted after new elections that brought the NNDP in control. Shortly afterward, in 1964, Awolowo and several others were charged and jailed for conspiring with some Ghanaian authorities under Kwame Nkrumah to overthrow the federal government. The remnants of the Action Group fought the National election of 1965 in alliance with the largely Igbo, and south-eastern NCNC. Amid accusation of fraud by the opposition, the NPC-NNDP won the election. There were violent riots in some parts of the Western region

In the aftermath of the election there was a military coup on 15th January, 1966, establishing a National military government, following by a counter-coup on 29th July, 1966 six months later. Chief Awolowo was pardoned and freed from prison by the July 1966 coupists who were led by Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon and Lt.Col. Murtala Mohammed. When the civil war broke out over the secession of the Eastern Region, Awolowo visited the Biafran headquarters and attempted to broker a peace agreement between Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and his Nigerian counterparts. When the negotiation failed, Chief Awolowo was invited to join the Nigerian government as the finance minister.

He went on to resign his position a year after the end of war in preparation for elective office.In 1979, Chief Awolowo founded the Unity Party of Nigeria as a successor to the Action Group, and contested the presidential election that year. He lost to Alhaji Shehu Shagari in a heavily rigged election by about 400 000 votes. In 1983, he again contested the presidential election, this time losing to Shagari by over four million votes, in an election that Awolowo regarded as fraudulent.

Chief Awolowo is remembered for building the first stadium in West Africa, first television station in Africa, running the best civil service in Africa at the time (in the Western Region), introducing free health care till the age of 18 in the Western Region, introduction of free and mandatory primary education in Western Nigeria, and coining up the name Naira for Nigeria’s currency (formerly known as the Nigerian Pound) as the Federal Commissioner of Finance under the Military Government of General Yakubu Gowon.

Chief Awolowo was respected by Kwame Nkrumah, and some politicians in the West continue to invoke his name, his policies, and the popular slogan of his Action Group party—”Life More Abundant”—during campaigns. He was also the author of several publications on the political structure and future prospects of Nigeria. These works include Path to Nigerian Freedom, Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution, and Strategies and Tactics of the People Republic of Nigeria.

The University of Ife, located in Ife, Nigeria, was re-christened Obafemi Awolowo University as a posthumous honour. His portrait adorns Nigeria’s one hundred naira currency note

 

Alhaji Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa (born 4 October 1954) was governor of Sokoto State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is the founder of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and became its presidential candidate at the 2007 presidential elections in Nigeria. He was originally elected and re-elected on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 1999 and 2003 respectively

 

Isaiah Chawai Balat (born October 23, 1952) is a Nigerian politician and business man from the state of Kaduna.

Isaiah Chawai Balat was born in Gora, a village in Zangon Kataf local government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Losing his mother as an infant, he had to live with his grandmother until he was mature enough to fend for himself. He later left the village and moved to the city to make a living. After his primary and post-primary education, he attended a sandwich programme in Marketing at the Kaduna Polytechnic between 1976 and 1978. Seeking to further his education, he attended the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School and the college of Petroleum and Energy Studies at Oxford, United Kingdom.

 

Al-Haji Sir Ahmadu Bello (1910 – 1966) was a Nigerian politician, and was the first premier of the Northern Nigeria region from 1954-1966. He was one of the prominent leaders in Northern Nigeria alongside Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, both of whom where prominent in negotiations about the region’s place in an independent Nigeria. As leader of the Northern People’s Congress, the party was able to win the 1959 parliamentary elections. However, he was assassinated on January 15, 1966.

He was born on June 12, 1910, in Rabbah, Sokoto State. The son of a district head and heir to the Sokoto Emirate. His great-grandfather was Sultan Bello, the founder of Sokoto and son of the revered Usman Dan Fodio. Ahmadu Bello received his education first at the Sokoto Provincial School, the only modern school at the time in the Sokoto province. Then, he proceeded to the Katsina Teacher’s Training College. After spending five years at Katsina, he was appointed by the Sultan to become a teacher at the Sokoto Middle School, his former school which had undergone rapid transformation. In 1934, he was made the district head of Rabbah, four years later, he was promoted and sent to Gusau to become a divisional head. In 1938, he made an unsuccessful bid to become the new Sultan of Sokoto. The successful sultan immediately conferred upon Sir Ahmadu Bello the traditional, now honorary, title of “Sarduna” and elevated him to the Sokoto Native Authority Council. In 1948, he was offered a scholarship to study local government administration in England. Ahmadu Bello took the scholarship sensing he needed to shore up his knowledge about the process of governance.

After returning from England, he was nominated to represent the province of Sokoto in the regional House of Assembly. As a member of the assembly, he was a notable voice for northern interest and embraced a style of consultation and consensus with the major representatives of the northern emirates: Kano, Bornu and Sokoto. In the first elections held in Northern Nigeria in 1952, Sir Ahmadu Bello won a seat in the Northern House of Assembly, and became a member of the regional executive council as minister of works. Bello was successively minister of Works, of Local Government, and of Community Development in the Northern Region of Nigeria.

In 1954, Bello became the first Premier of Northern Nigeria. In the 1959 independence elections, Bello led the NPC to win a plurality of the parliamentary seats. Bello’s NPC forged an alliance with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s NCNC (National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons) to form Nigeria’s first indigenous federal government which led to independence from Britain. In forming the 1960 independence federal government of the Nigeria, Bello as president of the NPC, chose to remain Premier of Northern Nigeria and devolved the position of Prime Minister of the Federation to the deputy president of the NPC, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.

Bello’s greatest legacy was the modernization and unification of the diverse people of Northern Nigeria. He was assassinated during a 15 January 1966 military coup which toppled Nigeria’s post-independence government. He was still serving as premier of Northern Nigeria at the time.

The Ahmadu Bello University is named after him. His portrait adorns Nigeria’s 200 naira note, and he is survived by one child

 

Ali Sa’ad Birnin-Kudu is a Muslim barrister and former governor of Jigawa State, northern Nigeria. He was a member of the now-defunct Social Democratic Party and served as governor from January 1992 until November 1993

 

Babalola Borisade is a Nigerian politician and former Minister of Aviation.

Chief Michael Botmang (born 1938), former Plateau state deputy governor, was sworn in as governor of Plateau State following the impeachment of Chief Joshua Dariye on 13 November 2006. He held that position until 27 April 2007, when the Supreme Court ordered the reinstatement of Dariye with immediate effect

Uche Chukwumerije (born November 1939) is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Abia North Senatorial District. Prior to his election, Chukwumerije served as the Minister of Information in the President Shehu Shagari administration.

Adamu Ciroma (born 1934 in Potiskum, Yobe State^[1]) is a Nigerian politician and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.^[2] He is currently a member of the People’s Democratic Party.

In 1979, Ciroma was one of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) presidential aspirants who contested in the party’s presidential primary,^[3] in which he was supposedly sponsored by the faceless Kaduna Mafia, a rumored group of northern intellectuals, serving officers and bureaucrats stationed around Kaduna.^[4] He came third in the primary, behind Shehu Shagari and Maitama Sule, his candidcacy having been partly financed by Hamza Rafindadi Zayyad, the head of the New Nigeria Development Company.^[5]

Ciroma was briefly the secretary of the NPN and was later made Minister for Industries, Agriculture and Finance. As a senior cabinet minister in the Shagari administration, he played pivotal roles in the implementation of the president’s agenda especially in the areas of food production and working with international agencies to develop an agricultural development project ADP.^[6] In September 1983, he was made the chairman of a presidential transition committee, which further demonstrated the trust the president had in his capabilities. The committee was mandated to make proposals on how to re-structure the federal government which was going through a crisis of confidence.^[7]

Ciroma is a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which has been ruling Nigeria since 1999. He served as Minister of Finance in the government of Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2003. Currently, his wife holds the position of Minister of Women Affairs and Youth in the same government

Gbenga Daniel (born 6 April 1956) is a Nigerian politician and the Governor of Ogun State of Nigeria since 29 May 2003. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP

General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (Rtd.) is a Nigerian Jukun soldier, politician, and businessman. He was formerly Minister of Defence under Olusegun Obasanjo.^[1] Danjuma is chairman of South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO).^[

 

Joshua Chibi Dariye (born July 27, 1957) assumed office as the Governor of Plateau State, Nigeria on May 29, 1999 on the platform of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). He was re-elected for another four-yeBorn in Horop, Mushere, Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, Dariye was a businessman before becoming a politician. He was a strong mobilizer for the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo in the People's Democratic Party Primaries in 1999 as well as Obasanjo's re-election in 2003.^{[citation needed]} At a regional level, he has chaired the Governors’ forum of the States in Northern Nigeria. Dariye’s wife is named Valentina and together they have four children.

During his time as governor, he was arrested along in London, England on 20 January 2004, with large sums of money. ^[1] Serving governors have immunity from criminal prosecution and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), an agency of the current administration established to check corrupt practices is waiting for 2007 to charge him to court for money laundering. He is accused of stealing about $9m of public funds and of money laundering.^[1]

In early October 2006, eight of the twenty-four state assembly members issued an impeachment notice against Dariye. In his defence, he stated that the notice was invalid as the eight did not form a quorum of the assembly. A crowd of Dariye’s supporters tried to prevent the assembly members from entering the state assembly building. Riot police then fired into the crowd, killing two protestors.^[2]

Dariye was impeached on November 13, 2006. His deputy, Michael Botmang, became the new Governor. On March 10, 2007, after a Court of Appeals ordered Dariye reinstated as Governor, the Plateau State Government announced its intention to appeal to the Supreme Court.^[3]

On 27 April, 2007, the Supreme Court refused the appeal of the Plateau State Government and ordered the reinstatement of Dariye with immediate effect.^[4]

Following his reinstatement, Dariye’s term of office as Governor of Plateau State concluded on 29 May 2007.^[5]

ar term starting in May 2003, and was impeached in November 2006

Tam David-West is a Nigerian scholar and former petroleum minister. During his tenure as oil minister he successfully negotiated quota increases for Nigeria’s Bonny and Forcados oil, and also led a price reduction for Nigerian oil in the midst of an oil glut.

 

Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo (born 1964), formerly Melford Dokubo Goodhead Jr. and typically referred to simply as Asari, is a major political figure of the Ijaw ethnic group in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. He was president of the Ijaw Youth Council for a time beginning in 2001 and later founded the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force which would become one of the most prominent armed groups operating in the Niger Delta region. He is a devout Muslim with populist views and an anti-government stance that have made him a folk hero amongst certain members of the local population

Asari was born in 1964 into a middle class Christian family headed by a court judge and a housewife, who also had four other children. He received both primary and secondary education in Port Harcourt and was accepted into law school at the University of Calabar but dropped out after only three years in 1990, citing problems with university authorities as his reason for doing so. He made other attempts to complete his education but his activism caused him to quit on his degree at Rivers State University of Science and Technology for reasons similar to those at Calabar.

After dropping out of school, Asari converted to Islam and changed his name to Mujahid Dokubo-Asari to reflect this. He spent much of the 1990s attempting to become involved in regional politics, running for two offices in Rivers State in 1992 and 1998 but failing to win on either.

In 1998, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) was formed and Asari, as a founding member, was appointed to the vice-presidency of the organization. The organization issued the Kaiama Declaration in November, expressing long-held Ijaw concerns about the loss of control of their homeland and their own lives to the Nigerian state and oil companies operating in the region. The declaration and a letter addressed to oil companies called on them to suspend operations and withdraw from Ijaw territory. The IYC pledged “to struggle peacefully for freedom, self-determination and ecological justice,” and prepared a campaign of celebration, prayer, and direct action – ‘Operation Climate Change‘ beginning December 28. The Nigerian government responded with an immediate crackdown on the group.

Asari became the IYC’s president in 2001 and led the group to pursue an agenda of “Resource Control and Self Determination By Every Means Necessary”.

By 2004 Asari had retreated into the bush to create the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), which would emerge as a major catalyst for unrest in the Delta region. The NDPVF, a militant group, was funded in large part by local and regional politicians who sought great profits from the region’s oil revenue. The NDPVF quickly escalted an armed conflict with a rival group, known as the Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV), who were also seeking to control the Delta’s oil resources. Combat was concentrated primarily in Warri and subsequently, Nigeria’s oil capital Port Harcourt, as well as areas to the city’s southwest. Both groups engaged in oil ‘bunkering’ and other illegal forms of local resource extraction.

A change in political ideals by the NDPVF caused the group’s former sponsors to withdraw their financial support, and begin funnelling funds to the rival NDV. Asari’s NDPVF then made a declaration of “all-out war” against the Nigerian state.

The threats to attack oil wells and pipelines by the NDPVF caused companies operating in the area to withdraw most of their personnel from the Delta, resulting in a massive drop in oil production of 30,000 barrels per day and pushing up the price of petroleum worldwide significantly. Due to the crisis this precipitated, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo called Asari and the leader of the NDV, Akeke Tom to Abuja for peace talks which were in large part a failure. After his refusal to endorse the legitimacy of the Olusegun Obasanjo government and due to his public support for self determination of his native Ijaw people and independence for the Niger Delta, Asari was arrested and charged with treason by the Nigerian federal government. On 14 June 2007, Asari was released on bail as part of new President Umaru Yar’Adua’s pledge to try and bring peace to the Niger Delta region.^[1]

Donald Duke (born 30 September 1961 in Calabar) was the Governor of Cross River State, Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He has been at the helm of affairs of the State since the commencement of the present democratic dispensation in Nigeria. He received LLB degree in 1982 from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria – Nigeria, the B.L in 1983 from the Nigerian Law School and the L.L.M. in Business Law and Admiralty in 1984 from University of Pennsylvania.

Spearheading the incumbent debt of Nigeria, Duke pushed for democracy and against military control. He stated; “What got the military out of power was not democracy but the dreadful state of the economy. If we, the democratic government, cannot deliver food for the mass of people we can forget about democracy.”^[1]

Duke has been praised for his contributions to the fields of agriculture, urban development, government, environment, information and communication, investment drive, and tourism. Through his work Calabar is us even the “cleanest city in Nigeria.”

The BBC reported in September 2006 that Governor Duke was the only governor specifically mentioned as not being under investigation by the federal Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Four other governors were also reported as not under investigation but their names were not released.)^[2]

Donald Duke announced that he would run for president in the 2007 election, but stepped aside in favour of the eventual winner, Umaru Yar’Adua

Joseph Chike Edozien (born 1921 in Asaba) is the provincial ruler (also known as an Asagba) of Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria. The African Mathematics Union suggests that he is the first sub-Saharan African to hold a doctorate in mathematics.

His father was Nathaniel Okafor Edozien, a direct descendant of Nnebisi (the founder of Asaba) and one of the most senior indigenous officials of the Nigerian Coal Corporation in Enugu. His mother, Nwakuso Edozien (née Odogwu), was the daughter of a prominent Asaba chief, and a notable trader

Sam Ominyi Egwu (born 20 June 1954) was Governor of Ebonyi State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Egwu was former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s choice to become National Chairman of the PDP at its 2008 National Convention. However, at the Convention on March 8, 2008, he withdrew in favor of the compromise candidate Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, who was chosen as an alternative to Egwu and his main rival for the position, Anyim Pius Anyim.^[1

Philip Effiong (also spelled Efiong, November 18, 1925 – November 6, 2003) was the first Vice President and the second and last President of the now defunct Republic of Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970.

Born Obong Philip Effiong in Ikot Ekpene in Annang land of old Calabar Kingdom of Nigeria, Effiong joined the Nigerian Armed Services on July 28, 1945. He quickly rose through the service ranks until January 11, 1956 when he received the Queen's Commission after his officer cadet training at Eaton Hall in Chester. England later commissioned him for duty in the Rhine in West Germany. Effiong was then transferred to the Nigerian Army Ordnance Corps and then to England for further training after a peace keeping stint in the Republic of Congo in 1961.

Effiong became Vice-President of Biafra under President Odumegwu Ojukwu during the Nigeria-Biafra war.

The tactics of the Nigerian military during the war included economic blockade and deliberate destruction of agricultural land. Even before the war, the area was net importer of food, depending on income from its oil fields to feed its populace.

With the blockade cutting off oil revenue and agricultural destruction reducing food production, the result was mass dislocation and starvation of the populace. Two to three million people are thought to have died in the conflict, mostly through starvation and illness.

When Biafra's military resistance collapsed, Ojukwu fled to Côte d'Ivoire.

Effiong assumed leadership in this situation of turmoil, starvation, and collapse. He became president of Biafra on 8 January 1970 and on January 12 announced surrender.[1]

At the time of the surrender, Effiong believed that the situation was hopeless and that prolonging the conflict would have led only to the further destruction and starvation of the people of Biafra. At that time Effiong said, “I am convinced now that a stop must be put to the bloodshed which is going on as a result of the war. I am also convinced that the suffering of our people must be brought to an immediate end.”^[1]

Nnaemeka L. Aneke wrote, “General Efiong’s handling of Biafra’s surrender is one of the most tactical and devoted maneuvers ever seen on the Nigerian scene. Those who do not appreciate the depth of it may not have appreciated what was at stake as Biafra capitulated.”^[2] Many observers had expected wholesale retribution at war’s end.

In a 1996 interview, Effiong reflected on those events:

I have no regrets whatsoever of my involvement in Biafra or the role I played. The war deprived me of my property, dignity, my name. Yet, I saved so many souls on both sides and by this, I mean Biafra and Nigeria. . . .

I felt that I played a role which has kept this country united till today. . . .

At the end of it all when I saw they (Biafran soldiers) could no longer continue and Ojukwu had fled, I did what was ideal after wide consultation . . . [2]

Effiong died November 6, 2003, at the age of 78.

Margaret Ekpo (1914-2006) was a Nigerian women’s rights activist and social mobilizer who was a pioneering female politician in the country’s First Republic and was a leading member of a class of traditional Nigerian women activists, many of whom rallied women beyond notions of ethnic solidarity.^[1] She played major roles as a grassroot and nationalist politician in the Eastern Nigerian city of Aba, in the era of an hierarchical and male dominated movement towards independence, with her rise not the least helped by the socialization of women’s role into that of helpmates or appendages to the careers of males. ^[2

Margaret Ekpo was born in Creek Town, Cross River State to the family of Okoroafor Obiasulor and Inyang Eyo Aniemewue. She reached standard six of the school leaving certificate in 1934. However, tragedy struck at home with the death of her father in 1934, her goals of further education in teachers training was as a result put on hold. She then started working as a pupil teacher in elementary schools. She married a doctor, John Udo Ekpo, in 1938. He was from the Ibibio ethnic group who are predominant in Akwa Ibom State, while she was of Efik and Igbo heritage. She later moved with her husband to Aba.

In 1946, she had the opportunity to study abroad at Rathmines School of Domestic Economics (now DIT Aungier Street), Dublin. She got a diploma in domestic science and on her return to Nigeria, she established a Domestic Science and Sewing Institute in Aba.

Margaret Ekpo's first direct participation in political ideas and association was in 1945. Her husband was indignant with the colonial administrators treatment of indigenous Nigerian doctors but as a civil servant, he could not attend meetings to discuss the matter. Margaret Ekpo then attended meetings in place of her husband, the meetings were organized to discuss the discriminatory practices of the colonial administration in the city and to fight cultural and racial imbalance in administrative promotions. She later attended a political rally and was the only woman at the rally, which saw fiery speeches from Mbonu Ojike, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Herbert Macaulay. By the end of the decade she had organized a Market Women Association in Aba to unionize market women in the city.^[3] She used the association to promote women solidarity as a platform to fight for the economic rights of women, economic protections and expansionary political rights of women.

Margaret Ekpo’s awareness of growing movements for civil rights for women around the world prodded her into demanding the same for the women in her country and to fight the discriminatory and oppressive political and civil role colonialism played in the subjugation of women. She felt that women abroad including those in Britain, were already fighting for civil rights and had more voice in political and civil matters than their counterparts in Nigeria. She later joined the decolonization leading National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, as a platform to represent a marginalized group. In the 1950s, she also teamed up with Funmilayo Ransome Kuti to protest killings at an Enugu coal mine, the victims were leaders protesting colonial practices at the mine. In 1953, she was nominated by the N.C.N.C. to the regional House of Chiefs and in 1954, she established the Aba Township Women’s Association. As leader of the new market group, she was able to garner the trust of a large amount of women in the township and turn it into a political pressure group. By 1955, women in Aba had outnumbered men voters in a city wide election.^[4]

She won a seat into the Eastern Regional House of Assembly in 1961. A position that allowed her to fight for issues affecting women at the time. In particular, were issues on the progress of women in economic and political matters, especially in the areas of transportation around major roads leading to markets and rural transportation in general. ^[5]

After a military coup ended the First Republic, she took a less prominent approach to politics. In 2001, the Calabar Airport was named after her.

 

Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme (born October 21, 1932) From Oko, Anambra State, Nigeria was the second Vice-President of Nigeria, serving 1979 – 1983. He started primary school at the St John’s Anglican Central School, at Ekwulobia, then he proceeded to King’s College, Lagos. He was also a former student of the University of Washington, where he earned his bachelors degree in Architecture. He is a distinguished architect, and was the former president of the Institute of Architects, Nigeria

 

Nasir Ahmad EL-Rufai (name often seen prefaced with the honorific Mallam) (Born in February 16th 1960) was Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja from 16th July 2004 to 29th May 2007. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

He was born in Daudawa, a village in Katsina.Despite his northern upbringing, Nasir EL-Rufai is has always said he is “Nigerian” before “Hausa” His father who lived on a pension died while the young Nasir was 8. He was sponsored throughout his schooling days by an uncle in Kaduna, and as a result grew up in the influential Northern state. He went to secondary school in the prestigious Barewa College, where he graduated as the top of the class. He went off to Ahmadu Bello University, where the present President Umaru Yar’adua was their dorm monitor and coordinator. He received secondary education at the elite Barewa College, Zaria and earned his millions while he was still in his twenties. He went on to earn a Bachelor in Quantity Survey at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria – Nigeria. He also attended post-graduate programs at Harvard Business School and Georgetown University.

From November 1999 to July 2003, he was the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the Secretary of the National Council of Privatization where he spearheaded the privatization of many government owned companies alongside the controversial former Vice-President. El-Rufai is a known crusader against corruption, having previously successfully exposed legislators that demanded bribe from him for ministerial confirmation. He presided over a real estate boom backed by radical transformation of infrastructure and land use practices of the federal capital earlier riddled with corrupt and vast deviation from the original masterplan. Along with the President and members of the Economic Management Team, he led the reform of the Nigerian public service which had become dysfunctional during years of military dictatorship.

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During the last days of the Obasanjo administration, the former EFCC Chairman described EL-Rufai as the “No 2″, tagging him with the role of a Vice-President, especially after the fall out between the former President and his Vice-President. It is believed that Obasanjo’s trust towards EL-Rufai angered a vast number of the political elite within the country. EL-Rufai in turn has paid back his loyalty towards the former President by continuing to stand by him, even during this era of blame Obasanjo for everything. Unlike his close friend Oby Ezekwesili and Okonjo-Iweala, EL-Rufai continues to stand behind the former President. As a result, it was widely believed that the former President was considering blessing EL-Rufai as his successor. However, it was believed the vast political powers against him were too much, probably as a result of the fear of what may happen to them once he was in power. It is widely believed that due to power or ability to get things done, a number of Presidential aspirants namely, Orji Kalu, Dr. Peter Odilli and Pat Utomi all approached EL-Rufai with the running mate tag. His former Permanent Secretary, Babangida Aliyu while he was Minister, is the current Governor of a Northern State called Niger State.

Many view EL-Rufai as incorruptible public servant who can get the job done, especially after he ordered the demolition of the house of the Chairman of the ruling party in Nigeria. However, since the end of the Obasanjo administration, EL-Rufai has kept a very low profile, but still remains an Obasanjo loyalist having frequently defended the former President’s policies. The administration of the current President, Umaru Yar’adua elected EL-Rufai to the Energy council due to the belief that he could contribute positively to the underachieving power sector of the country.on 30th April and 7th may 2008, el-rufai appeared before the Nigerian’s national assembly committee on fct to explain some actions of his administrattion. He very well defended his actions and stoutly rejected cynics views on the allegation that he allocated plots of land to his friends, brother and chronies, even though it was clear the Senate were just out to get him. To a vast amount of Nigerians, EL-Rufai is simply being witched-hunt for stepping on the toes of the political elite within the country. This is largely because, unlike a number of aides to the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nasir EL-Rufai has still not been accused of money laundering or any bribery scandal.

He currently lives in Nigeria with this two wives, Hadiza and Asia. Hadiza EL-Rufai, an architect and EL-Rufai’s best friend served as the First Lady of the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) during EL-Rufai’s four year tenure as Minister. He has 5 children with his first wife, a 22 year old named Yasmin and his 20 year old first son Mohammed Bello, the other younger ones are Hamza, Bashir and Ibrahim. While his second wife Asia has three children, Ahmed, Bilkisu and Mustapha.

He is currently attending a one-year programme in the Harvard, Kennedy School Of Government in Massachusetts, Cambridge

Martin Elechi is the Governor of Ebonyi State in southeast Nigeria.^[1] He ran in the April general elections on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ticket and assumed the position on May 29, 2007, succeeding Sam Egwu

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