Evan Enwerem (October 29, 1935 – August 2, 2007) was a Nigerian politician who served as President of the Nigerian Senate in 1999.[1] He was a member of the People’s Democratic Party.
Evan Enwerem was born in Ikeduru, Imo State, Nigeria, on October 29, 1935. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.[1]
Evan Enwerem served as chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority between 1980 and 1983.[1] He was elected governor of Imo State in 1991 during the failed Third Republic era of Nigerian government.[1]
Evan Enwerem was elected to the Nigerian Senate in 1999 to represent the Imo-East Senatorial Zone[1] He became the first President of the Nigerian Senate during Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. Enwerem beat his chief rival, Senator Chuba Okadigbo, for the Senate presidency on June 3, 1999.[1] Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo backed Enwerem for President of the Senate against Okadigbo. With the support of the Obasanjo’s allies in the governing parties, plus support from two Nigerian opposition parties, Enwerem easily defeated Okadigbo with 66 votes to Okadigbo’s 43 votes.[1]
Enwerem did not hold the post of President of the Nigerian Senate for very long. A Nigerian Senate committee began investigating Enwerem for allegations of corruption in 1999. The allegations against Enwerem alleged that he falsified his name, and caused a controversy as to whether Enwerem’s actual real name was Evan or Evans.[1] Enwerem was removed from office on November 18, 1999, in an ouster spearheaded by allies of Chuba Okadigbo.[1] However, though removed as President of the Senate, Enwerem remained a member of the Senate until 2003.[1]
Okadigbo, Enwerem’s rival and successor as President of the Senate, was in turn removed from office on August 8, 2000.[1] Following Okadigbo’s 2000 ouster, Enwerem briefly expressed interest in again assuming the presidency of the Senate. However, Enwerem withdrew from the race in favor of Senator Adolphus Wabara at the shadow election conducted by PDP Senators in Senate Hearing Room One.[1]
Enwerem ultimately served as a Nigerian Senator from 1999 until 2003 before leaving office.[1] According to news reports, Enwerem expressed an interest in “good laws” whose “ripple effects on the populace would be wide, sweeping and enduring.”[1]
Enwerem had been in poor health before his death in 2007. He had been hospitalized at National Hospital in Abuja, Nigeria for some time. According to reports, Enwerem’s family tried to make arrangements to transfer him to a hospital in Germany for medical treatment. The National Hospital initially refused his family’s request, citing Enwerem’s poor health.[1]
The National Hospital finally relented and released Enwerem to his family for transfer to Germany on August 1. However, Lufthansa Airlines, the only airline to fly from Abuja to Germany, refused to allow Enwerem to board the aircraft due to his “very critical” condition.[1] Enwerem was readmitted to National Hospital the same day.
Evan Enwerem died the next morning on August 2, 2007, at the National Hospital in Abuja at the age of 71.[1] He is survived by his wife and seven children.
Current President of the Senate, David Mark, learned of the news of Enwerem’s death. Mark declined to formally announce the news to the Senate because most of Enwerem’s family were out of the country at the time.[1] The current Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, issued a statement through her adviser, Funke Egbemode, saying that Enwerem’s death “would leave a gaping hole in the nation’s legislative history.”[1]
Dame Virginia Ngozi Etiaba was the Governor of Anambra State, a state in south-central Nigeria, from November 2006 to February 2007. She is the first female governor in Nigeria’s history. Her instatement came as the previous governor, Peter Obi, was impeached by the state legislature for alleged gross misconduct. She transferred her powers back to Obi 3 months later when an appeal court nullified the impeachment.
Etiaba is a native of Umudim Nnewi, in the Nnewi North Local Council of Anambra State.
For 35 years she worked as a teacher and headed several schools in Kafanchan, Aba, Port Harcourt, and Nnewi. She retired from the services of the Anambra State Government in 1991 and founded the Bennet Etiaba Memorial Schools, Nnewi, of which she was the Proprietress. In March 2006 she resigned to assume the position of the Deputy Governor of Anambra State.
She was a member of the Association of women Entrepreneurs, International Literacy Programme for the Nnewi North Local Council, the Environmental International Vanguard and the World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP). She was also a Synod members of the Church of Nigerian (Anglican Communion), a member of the Christian Association of Nigerian Schools, a member of the Board of Governors of the Okongwu Memorial Grammar School Nnewi, member of the Board of Governors Holy Child Convent School, Amichi and a Juvenile Court Assessor for the Nnewi Magisterial District.
She is the widow of the late B. M. C Etiaba, a legal practitioner, and mother of six adult children.[1
Samuel Oluyemisi Falae (born September 21, 1938)[1] simply known as Olu Falae is a Nigerian politician from Akure, Ondo State.[2] A banker by profession, he served as the Minister of Finance[3] in the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida[4] in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He unsuccessfully contested the 1999 Nigerian presidential elections on the joint platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All People’s Party (APP) against Olusegun Obasanjo, the presidential candidate for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).[5] A Yoruba Christian, he swept the southwest, the Yoruba heartland, but proved unable to attract significant support elsewhere. He is an alumnus of Yale University. Falae is presently is a large scale farmer in Ago Abo, Akure, Ondo State.
He is currently the protem Chairman of the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA), a progressive party allied with the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA
Dr. Frederick Fasehun (born 1938) is a Nigerian medical doctor, hotel owner and leader of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC). The OPC is Yoruba-based organization formed to actualize the annulled mandate of Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, a Yoruba who won the presidential election of June 12, 1993 but was barred from office. Fasehun was imprisoned for 19 months from December 1996 to June 1998 during the military rule of Sani Abacha, only ending 18 days after Abacha’s death.
Kayode Fayemi, (born February 9, 1965) is a native of Isan-Ekiti in Oye Local Government of Ekiti State, Nigeria. He attended Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti and received degrees in History, Politics and International Relations from the Universities of Lagos and Ife in Nigeria and his Doctorate in War Studies from the prestigious King’s College, University of London, England, specializing in civil-military relations. His research and policy interests include: Democratisation, Constitutionalism, Security Sector Governance, and Regionalism in the Global Context
Kayode Fayemi is the immediate past Director of the Centre for Democracy & Development, a research and training institution dedicated to the study and promotion of democratic development, peace-building and human security in Africa. Prior to his establishment of the Centre, he worked as a lecturer, journalist, researcher and Strategy Development adviser in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. He was Strategy Development Adviser at London’s City Challenge; research fellow at the African Research & Information Bureau in London, UK, reporter with the newspapers, The Guardian and City Tempo, editor of the political monthly, Nigeria-Now, management consultant at Development and Management Consultants and lecturer at the Police College in Sokoto, Nigeria. As a prominent leader of the Nigerian opposition to military rule in exile, he was responsible for the founding and management of the opposition radios – Radio Freedom, Radio Democracy International & Radio Kudirat and played a central role in the opposition’s diplomatic engagements in exile. An account of the process and roles played in the setting up of Radio Kudirat may be found in Fayemi’s book Out Of The Shadows.
Amongst his numerous academic and public policy engagements at home and abroad, Kayode Fayemi has lectured in Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia. He has also served as an adviser on transitional justice, regional integration, constitutionalism, security sector reform and civil-military relations issues to various governments, inter-governmental institutions and development agencies. He was the main technical adviser to Nigeria’s Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission (Oputa Panel), which investigated past abuses and currently serves on the Presidential Implementation Committees on Security Sector Reform, NEPAD and the Millennium Development Goals. He was technical expert to ECOWAS on small arms and light weapons and United Nations Economic Commission of Africa on governance issues. He is also a member, Africa Policy Advisory Panel of the British Government. At other times he has served as a consultant to the OECD on Security Sector Reform and chaired the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative’s Committee of Experts on developing guiding principles and mechanisms of constitution making in Commonwealth Africa.
Kayode Fayemi is a Fellow of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Ibadan, Adjunct Professor of Security Studies at the African Centre for Strategic Studies, National Defense University, Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., USA. He was also a Visiting Professor in the African Studies Programme at Northwestern University, Evanston, USA in 2004. Dr Fayemi serves on numerous Boards including the Governing Board of the Open Society Justice Institute, Baobab for Women’s Human Rights, African Security Sector Network, and on the Advisory Board of the Global Facilitation Network on Security Sector Reform and on the Management Culture Board of the ECOWAS Secretariat. He has written extensively on governance and democratisation, civil-military relations and security sector issues in Africa. Among his recent books are: Mercenaries: The African Security Dilemma – edited with Abdel-Fatau Musah (Pluto Press, 2000); Deepening the Culture of Constitutionalism: The Role of Regional Institutions in Constitutional Development in Africa (CDD, 2003), Security Sector Governance in Africa: A Handbook (edited with Nicole Ball, CDD, 2004) and Out of the Shadows: Exile and the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in Nigeria (CDD, 2005).
Kayode Fayemi is running for the Ekiti state governorship in the 2007 elections on the platform of the Action Congress party
The [Action Congress] party formed as an amalgamation of the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) by the loyalists of the vice president Abubakar Atiku, the faction of the AD being led by Chief Bisi Akande and believed to be loyal to Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu, the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), as well as some smaller political parties ([1])
In an interview last year with the Daily Independent, Mr Fayemi made poverty, education and healthcare central to his manifesto. The implementation of which he asserts will be consultative, including being open to ideas from the diaspora.
His current campaign for governorship of Ekiti State was the subject of an article in the New York Times. While complimentary, the article highlighted the difficulty in navigating the moral high ground within an electoral process long steeped in corruption.
Ganiyu Olawale Dawodu (1935-2006) popularly known as G.O.D. in Lagos, was a Nigerian politician and democracy activist. He was a leading member of the National Democratic Coalition popularly known as NADECO in Nigeria during the reign of Sani Abacha. The coalition then was a puissant movement to free jailed politician M.K.O Abiola from prison, in the process, he was jailed for his pro Abiola stance. [1]
In 2000, he was in a battle of supremacy for the Lagos branch of the old Alliance for Democracy political party. He had opposed the emergence of Governor Tinubu in 1998-1999 and had supported the late Funsho Williams, Tinubu’s opposition. Their differences spilled over into 2000, and by 2003, he left the party to the Progressives Action Coalition and was the Lagos gubernatorial candidate of the party. [2]
Dawodu was born in Lagos and attended Ansar Ud Deen, Elementary School, Okepopo, Lagos. He then proceeded to Ahmadiya High School before going to St Gregory’s College, Lagos.
During the Nigerian First Republic, he was a member of the Lagos city council and later became the chairman of the Lagos Town Council
Peter Ayodele Fayose (born 13 November 1960) was governor of Ekiti State in Nigeria from 29 May 2003 to 16 October 2006, when he was impeached. His administration was embroiled in a corruption scandal involving an agricultural development firm owned by his childhood friend, Gbenga James. He currently stands accused of mismanaging more than $11.5 million in his state. He was a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) until his impeachment
Major General Joseph Nanven Garba (July 17, 1943 – June 1, 2002) was a Nigerian general, diplomat, and politician who served as president of the United Nations General Assembly from 1989 to 1990.
Born in Langtang, Nigeria, Garba was educated at Sacred Heart School, Shendam from 1952 to 1957. His early military career began at the Nigerian Military School in Zaria in 1957, where he studied until 1961. In 1961 he enlisted in the Nigerian Army and was sent to the Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England, before being commissioned as an infantry officer in 1962. Garba rose through the ranks quickly: amongst his many military command posts[1] were platoon commander of 44th Battalion in 1963, company commander from 1963 to 64, and mortal platoon commander in 1964. He participated in the United Nations Military Observer Mission in India/Pakistan (UNIPOM) from 1965 to 1966[2] before being made commander of the Brigade of Guards in 1968. He studied at Staff College, Camberley, England, in 1973.
Garba first came to national attention in Nigeria when, on July 29, 1975, he announced the coup d’état against the leader of the country, General Yakubu Gowon[1]. Garba’s speech, broadcast from Radio Nigeria, began with the following statement:
Garba was known as a loyalist and close ally of Gowon. The coup was led by junior military officers unhappy at the lack of progress General Gowon had made in moving the country towards democratic rule, and Garba’s role as an insider is credited with ensuring that the coup was bloodless.[3] Garba and Gowon later reconciled to the extent that Gowon attended Garba’s funeral in Langtang in 2002.[4]
Following the coup, Garba made a shift from the military to politics and diplomacy. In 1975 he was appointed Nigeria’s foreign minister (Federal Commissioner for External Affairs) by Murtala Mohammed, and continued in this role under Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ after the former was assassinated in 1976. Garba was the head of the Nigerian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly from 1975, culminating in his appointment as President of the United Nations Security Council in January 1978.[5]
In 1978, as Ọbasanjọ was preparing to hand rule of Nigeria over to civilians, Garba was reassigned to the role of Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy. He held this position until 1980, when he left to study at the National Defence College in New Delhi, India. Following this, Garba studied as a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University, where he obtained a Master’s degree in Public Administration.[5]
Returning to diplomatic life, Garba was appointed a Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 1984, a role he continued in until 1989. In 1989, he was elected President of the United Nations General Assembly for its forty-fourth session. During his tenure, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted into international law. In the post of president, Garba was also an outspoken opponent of apartheid in South Africa.[6] Garba remained president for the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth special sessions of the assembly, on Apartheid, drug abuse, and international economic co-operation respectively.
In 1979, Garba was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic, and made a Grand Officer of the Ordre National Du Bénin (“National Order of Benin“). He wrote a number of books, including Revolution in Nigeria: Another View (1982), Diplomatic Soldiering (1987), and Fractured History: Elite Shifts and Policy Changes in Nigeria (1995), and was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the State University of New York in 1991.[1]
In his later years Garba was reported as holding a desire to lead Nigeria, and said so publicly in 1995.[4] He joined the All Nigeria People’s Party, although he was never elected to public office. From 1999 he was Director General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Nigeria, and while carrying out the duties of this office in Abuja he died on June 1, 2002. Garba was survived by his wife and six children. Following his death the president of the Nigerian Senate, Anyim Pius, described Garba as “one of [Nigeria's] finest diplomats, patriots and staunch advocates of an indivisible and indissolable African continent”,[7] referring to Garba’s strong belief in and advocacy of Pan-Africanism
Mohammed Danjuma Goje (born October 10, 1952 in Kashere, Akko/Gombe State)[1] has been governor of Gombe State in Nigeria since 29 May 2003. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Boni Haruna (born 12 June 1957) was governor of Adamawa State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Akanu Ibiam (1906-1995) was an accomplished Nigerian doctor and statesman. He was the governor of the Eastern region of Nigeria during the first republic and later an adviser to Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu during the Nigerian civil war. He was also a distinguished church leader.
He attended Hope Waddell Training School and King’s College, Lagos before proceeding to the St Andrews University, Scotland. In 1935, he passed his medical exams and was qualified to practice medicine. Akanu Ibiam is known as one of the most astounding graduates of the Hope Waddell Training School, Calabar, a missionary school, which became known for a while for its presbyterian pedagogic leanings. Akanu Ibiam himself, was involved in the Nigerian and international Christian community as a leader of the World Council of Churches
James Onanefe Ibori (born 4 August 1958) was the Governor of Delta State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Ibori was a key financial contributor to PDP candidate Umaru Yar’Adua’s campaign for the April 2007 presidential electionDue to corruption allegations, a court in the United Kingdom froze his assets there, valued at about 17 million pounds ($35 million), in early August 2007.[1] Ibori is facing trial initiated by the Metropolitan Police over his $35m assets in London.
His wife, Nkoyo, was arrested at Heathrow Airport in London on November 1, 2007, in connection with the probe of the assets of her husband, particularly in the United Kingdom.[2] She was released after being questioned.
On December 12, 2007, Ibori was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Kwara State Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja.[3] The charges he faces include theft of public funds, abuse of office, and money laundering;[4] there a total of 103 counts in all.[3]
Alhaji Bukar Abba Ibrahim (born October 1950) was governor of Yobe 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 All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP).
Born in October 1950, Ibrahim began attending primary school in 1957. In 1965, he proceeded to Government College in Maiduguri. After taking the West African School Certificate Examination in 1970, he was admitted to Ahmadu Bello University in 1972 where he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Quantity Surveying in 1975. Thereafter, he undertook post-graduate professional training in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1982, which led to his qualification as an associate member of the Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors.
From 1985 to 1988, he worked as a civil servant in Borno State eventually becoming Commissioner of Works.
In December 1991, only months after Yobe State was created, Ibrahim contested and won the gubernatorial election under the banner of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He held that position until November 1993, when the military took control of government.
Nigeria transitioned from military to civilian rule beginning in late 1998. Gubernatorial elections were held in January 1999 and Ibrahim was again elected governor, this time under the banner of the All People’s Party (APP), and took office on 29 May 1999. The APP was later renamed All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) due to a factional split. He was re-elected in 2003 for a second four-year term and was one of only four incumbent ANPP governors to maintain their positions.
Ibrahim, a Muslim, is married to three wives: Hajiya (Dr) Maryam Abba Ibrahim, Hajiya Aishatu Ibrahim and Hajiya Khadijat Ibrahim
Waziri Ibrahim was a wealthy businessman and politician from Borno State. He was one of the original founders and financiers of the Nigerian People’s Party but later left the party to form the Greater Nigerian People’s Party in 1978.
He was a politician who eschewed what was then termed the destructive ethnic politics of the Nigerian First Republic, however, this actually fueled his ambiguous nature. A first republic minister for Economic Development, he later made large sums of money as a defense contractor. To placate any animosities that may arise after the war, he spent most of his wealth beyond his primary ethnic group, the Kanuris
Lucky Igbinedion (born 13 May 1957) was governor of Edo State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).He was declared wanted by the economic and financial crime commission on a 142 count of financial fraud.[1] He recently handed himself over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and is charged with 142 counts of corruption. This concerns claims that he embezzled $24 million (£12m) using front companies.[2][3] The Benin Youth Council asked for an apology for statements implying he ran away from justice
James Ajibola Idowu Ige (September 13, 1930 – December 23, 2001) simply known as Bola Ige was a Nigerian and prominent Yoruba politician. He was born in Esa-Oke village, now in Osun State.
He became a prominent attorney in Nigeria and achieved fame as a civil rights and democracy activist. Ige served as governor of Oyo State from October 1979 to October 1983, shortly before the 1983 coup. Following the restoration of democracy in 1999, Ige continued to be politically prominent, and was appointed justice minister and attorney-general of Nigeria in 2000. He served in the latter position until his death: he was gunned down in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. He wrote several books. After his death, an anthology of articles and tributes about him was published
Tom Omoghegbe Ikimi (born April 10, 1944 in Igueben, Edo State, Nigeria) is a Nigerian diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister from 1995 to 1998 in the military government of Sani Abacha. He was replaced soon after Abacha’s death
Ernest Ikoli (1893 – 1960) was a Nigerian politician, nationalist and pioneering journalist. He was the president of the Nigerian Youth Movement and in 1942, represented Lagos in the legislative council.[1]
He was Born at Nembe in present day Bayelsa State and educated at Bonny Government School, Rivers State and King’s College, Lagos. After completing his studies at King’s College, he became a tutor at the school – a post which he left to pursue a career in Journalism. Ikoli is remembered today as one of the pacesetters of Nigerian journalism and the independence struggle. He was the first editor of the Daily Times of Nigeria and the publisher of the now defunct African Messenger. Prior to joining the Daily Times and publishing, he worked at the Lagos Weekly Record (another paper which has since disappeared). In 1942 he was elected onto the Legislative Council and was re-elected in 1946. In the 1930s he was one of the founders of the Nigerian Youth Movement and was once the movement’s president. During this period, the movement was engaged in an intense power struggle with Herbert Macaulay’s NNDP.[2]
Ernest Ikoli started the Nigerian Youth Movement with other prominent Nigerians like H.O Davis, J.C. Vaughn and Oba Samuel Akinsaya (aka General Saki). The movement originally started as the Lagos youth movement, it was partly formed to voice concerns about the lackluster colonial higher education policy. The movement was largely Lagos based but as varied members entered the organization, it metamorphosed to become the Nigerian Youth Movement; a political action group with a nationalistic flavor and outlook. Nnamdi Azikiwe, an important political personality joined the group in 1936 and brought in a large followership.
In 1941, when Sir Kofo Abayomi, a Lagos leader of the movement, resigned his position at the legislative council, an election was held among NYM members to select a candidate to contest the seat. In the primary election, Samuel Akinsanya collated the most votes, second was Ernest Ikoli, but with the support of H.O Davis, Awolowo, Akintola and a few others, the central committee of the organization which had the right to review the results presented Ernest Ikoli as the movement’s candidates. Though, Oba Akinsanya immediately congratulated Mr Ikoli, he later reneged and contested but lost the seat as an independent candidate with the support of his primary backer, Nnamdi Azikiwe.[3] The loss of Akinsanya in the election led to his exit from the movement, Azikiwe also left the movement, both took away most of their supporters. The resulting feud is seen by some analysts as a contributing catalyst to the enmity that exist between some ethnic groups in the country and also as a major focal point of electoral disputes and the ominous role they played in destabilizing the country. [
Lynda Chuba-Ikpeazu is an ex-beauty queen, ex-model, buisnesswoman and now politician.
The daughter of a judge, Chuba-Ikpeazu was educated in Nigeria, England, and America, where she worked as a model. She now holds degrees in Law.
In 1986, Chuba-Ikeazu was won the very first Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant, and thus started the trend for the domination of Igbo women in the pageant. Apart from representing Nigeria in the Miss Africa Intercontinental pageant and Miss Universe 1987, she also took part in Miss Africa 1987, which she won. This led to more modelling offers, and she spent three months in London promoting an airline in Gambia.
After her reign as Miss Africa, Chuba-Ikpeazu became a business woman, specialising in oil servicing. Today Chuba-Ikpeazu rescides in Abuja, and is a member of the National House of Representatives.
Abubakar Imam (1911-1981) was a Nigerian writer, journalist and politician from Kagara. For most of his life, he lived in Zaria, where he was the first Hausa editor of Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo, the pioneer Newspaper in Northern Nigeria. He attended Katsina College and the University of London's Institute of Education. He first came to repute when he submitted a play for a literary competition in 1933. The judge in the competition was Rupert East, the head of a translation committee, he liked his writing, usually accentuated by the vivid knowledge of native norms and vegetation and mixed with his literary style of wit and imaginative prose. In 1939, together with Robert East and a few others, they started the Gaskiya corporation, a publishing house, which became a successful venture and created a platform for many northern intellectuals to draw forth their voice. The exposure of many premier writers in Northern Nigeria to the political process influenced Imam to join politics. In 1952, with the formation of the Northern People's Congress, together with Umaru Agaie, and Nuhu Bamalli, they formed the major administrative nucleus of the party.
Chief Dr. Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu (b. September 4, 1942) is a Nigerian politician, statesman and renowned businessman. He was born September 4th 1942 in Atta, Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State of Nigeria. He studied Civil Engineering at the University of Nigeria and thereafter set up the Hardel and Enic Construction Company. His business later grew into a conglomerate of over 20 companies.
As a politician, he is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and coordinated the party's campaign for the South-East zone during the 2003 Presidential election.
He founded the Iwuanyanwu Nationale Football Club which won several national and international championships.
He is married to Eudorah and they have three sons and five daughters
Joseph Modupe Johnson (born 1911) was a Nigerian politician and former minister for Internal Affairs. He was born in Lagos and was educated at the William Wilberforce Academy.
He had a brief stint in the Nigerian Army during the second world war, however, he returned to civil life after the war's end and was a bank clerk for a few years. In 1948, he tried his hands in the political environment, he was elected into the Ibadan District Council the same year, and in 1957 he was made minister for Internal Affairs and Labour
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (born November 20, 1957[1]) is a Nigerian politician and current Vice President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP
Jonathan was born in Otueke in Ogbia Local Government Area of the then Rivers, now Bayelsa State.[1] He holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) Honours in Zoology with a second class (HONS) upper division, an M.Sc. in Hydrobiology/Fisheries biology, and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Zoology from the University of Port Harcourt.
He is married, and his wife’s name is Patience.[2]
Jonathan, previously the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, replaced Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who was impeached by the Bayelsa State Assembly after being charged with money laundering in the United Kingdom. In September 2006, his wife was indicted by the nation’s anti-crime agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for money laundering related offences.
In December 2006, Jonathan was selected as running mate to Umaru Yar’Adua for the ruling PDP presidential ticket in the April 2007 election.[3] On April 20, 2007, shortly before the presidential election, a militant attack in Bayelsa State occurred that was described by police as an assassination attempt against Jonathan.[4]
Following the PDP’s disputed electoral victory, militants blew up Jonathan’s country house in Otu-Eke, Bayelsa State on May 16, and two policemen were killed in the attack. Jonathan was not present at the time.[5]
After taking office, Yar’Adua publicly declared his assets, and on August 8, 2007, Jonathan also did so.[6][7] According to Jonathan, as of May 30, 2007 he has a total of 295,304,420 naira in assets.[7]
Kingsley Ozuomba Mbadiwe (born 1915) was a Nigerian politician, statesman and former minister for Commerce and Industry. He was born in the Orlu division of present day Imo State and attended the Hope Waddell Training Institute, Calabar for primary education. He then proceeded to the Aggrey Memorial College, Arochukwu, of present day Abia State Igbobi College, Lagos and the Baptist Academy Lagos for further studies. He left the Nigerian shores and went to study at Columbia and the New York University for collegiate education. After returning from the U.S., he started his own business and also established a research institute on African Arts. He soon entered the Nigerian political scene and joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons. In 1951, he was elected into the Eastern Region House of Assembly, he was re-elected in 1954, and made minister for Lands and National Resources. In 1957, he was made the minister for Commerce. However, his political success was to undergo a great challenge when he and Kola Balogun attempted to remove Nnamdi Azikiwe as the leader of N.C.N.C.. Both of them failed and were removed from the party. However, he re-joined the party in 1961 and was appointed as a special adviser to the prime minister.
He had six children, the oldest Greg Mbadiwe who has six children of his own: Identical twins, Oc and Oz, closely followed by Og, OD Ot and the only girl Yazmin
Mala Kachalla (November 1941–18 April 2007) was governor of Borno State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2003.
He was a member of the All People’s Party (APP), which was renamed All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) due to a factional split. Prior to the 2003 elections, Kachalla left the ANPP and joined the Alliance for Democracy (AD). He was defeated by Ali Modu Sheriff of the ANPP.
Kachalla was found dead at his home in Maiduguri on 18 April 2007. He was 66 years old.[1]
Orji Uzor Kalu (born 21 April 1960) was the governor of Abia State, Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. Prior to his election as governor he was Chairman of the Borno Water Board and of the Cooperative and Commerce Bank Limited. Kalu is a member of the Progressive Peoples Alliance party (PPA) and was a candidate for President in the April 2007 general election.[1]
He is married with two daughters
Baba Gana Kingibe (born 1945) is a Nigerian politician and political appointee havening held many high-level nigerian governmental posts. He hails from Borno State in the northeastern part of Nigeria, and is of Kanuri extraction.
Amb. Baba Gana Kingibe also served from October 2002 to September 2006 as AU Special Envoy to Sudan and subsequently Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and head of the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and Darfur.[1]
Baba entered the Nigerian political scene by initially campaigning for the presidency for the elections scheduled for 1993. He later backed fellow contender MKO Abiola as Vice-presidential running mate in the same election. The pair won the electoral majority although the result was annulled by abdicating president General Ibrahim Babangida.Baba served as the Foreign Minister of Nigeria from 1993 to 1995.
Baba also served as Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Power and Steel, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Greece and Pakistan.[1]
In June 2007, he was appointed Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria. He was unceremoniously removed from office on September 8 2008 by the President, Umaru Yar’Adua after spreading rumors about the President’s ill-health while belived to be contending for the presidency. [1
Abdulkadir Kure was governor of Niger State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).
In May 2000, he introduced sharia law in Niger State.
Kure is married to Zainab Abdulkadir Kure, a former civil servant and, since 2007, a member of the Nigerian Senate. They have two daughters and four sons
Rabiu Kwankwaso is a prominent Nigerian politician.
Dr. Rabiu'u Musa Kwankwaso was the former Deputy Speaker in the Third Republic which was terminated by Sani Abachas takeover in 1994. He was elected as the Executive Governor of the northern Nigerian state of Kano between 1999 and 2003, under the flag of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
His 2003 bid to serve for a second term was unsuccessful. He was then appointed as the Minister of Defence in President Olusegun Obasanjo's cabinet in 2003. In 2007, he was appointed as the Presidential Special Envoy to Somalia and Darfur by the Obasanjo administration after losing the bid from his party to contest the 2007 general governorship election.
Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is now the party leader in Kano and is currently nominated into the party's most powerful political circle in PDP, the Board of Trustee. Recently, he has also been shortlisted for ambassadorial appointment by the Yar'adua administration.
Rasheed Adewolu Ladoja (born 25 September 1944) became governor of Oyo State in Nigeria on 29 May 2003. He is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).
On 12 January 2006, Ladoja was impeached by Oyo State legislators and forced to leave office, but eventually challenged his impeachment successfully. His deputy, Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, was immediately sworn in as the new governor by the acting chief judge of the State; who himself was purportedly removed from office thirty minutes earlier by Ladoja. The political power play was apparently as a result of Ladoja's fight with Chief Lamidi Adedibu; often called the strongman of Ibadan politics, and a chieftain of the PDP.
On 1 November 2006, the Appeal Court in the state capital, Ibadan, declared the impeachment null and illegal. A fixed date on return to office was not immediately confirmed. But according to the Appeal Court, Ladoja still remains governor of Oyo State.
On 4 November 2006, The attorney general of Nigeria advised Ladoja to wait for the Supreme Court decision, before he started to parade himself as the governor of the state. His security details were restored, however. On December 12, 2006, Ladoja officially took office, several days after his reinstatement was upheld by the Supreme Court.
Ladoja, who has shown a great deal of leadership trait, confirmed his interest in running for second team as the Oyo State Governor. So far, Ladoja seems to be qualified candidate for the PDP ticket which is currently being held by Alao-Akala. All luck may fall on Ladoja as his deputy is currently under investigation by the EFCC for mishandling funds during Ladoja's absence from office.
Sule Lamido (born 1948) served as foreign minister of Nigeria from 1999 to 2003. He is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).
In April 2007, Lamido contested and won the governorship election in Jigawa State. He took office on 29 May 2007.
Herbert Samuel Heelas Macaulay (November 14, 1864—May 7, 1946) was a Nigerian nationalist, politician, engineer, journalist, and musician and considered by many Nigerians as the founder of Nigerian nationalism.
Macaulay was born in Lagos on November 14, 1864. He was the grandson of bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther and the son of the founder of the first secondary school in Nigeria.[1]. After going to a Christian missionary school, he took a job as a clerk at the Lagos Department of Public Works. From 1891 to 1894 he studied civil engineering in Plymouth, England. On his return, he worked for the Crown as a land inspector. He left his position in 1898 due to growing distaste for Nigeria’s position as a British colony.
Herbert Macaulay was an unlikely champion of the masses. A grandson of Ajayi Crowther, the first African bishop of the Niger Territory, he was born into a Lagos that was divided politically into groups arranged in a convenient pecking order – the British rulers who lived in the posh Marina district, the Saros and other slave descendants who lived to the west, and the Brazilians who lived behind the whites in the Portuguese Town. Behind all three lived the real Lagosians, the masses of indigenous Yoruba people, disliked and generally ignored by their privileged neighbours. It was not until Macaulay’s generation that the Saros and Brazilians even began to contemplate making common cause with the masses.
Macaulay was one of the first Nigerian nationalists and for most of his life a strong opponent of British rule in Nigeria. As a reaction to claims by the British that they were governing with “the true interests of the natives at heart”, Macaulay wrote: “The dimensions of “the true interests of the natives at heart” are algebraically equal to the length, breadth and depth of the whiteman’s pocket.”[2] In 1908 he exposed European corruption in the handling of railway finances and in 1919 he argued successfully for the Chiefs whose land had been taken by the British in front of the Privy Council in London. As a result, the colonial government was forced to pay compensation to the chiefs. In retaliation for this and other activities of his, Macauley got jailed twice by the British.[3]
Macaulay became very popular and on June 24, 1923, he founded the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), the first Nigerian political party. The party won all the seats in the elections of 1923, 1928 and 1933.[4]
In 1931 relations between Macaulay and the British began to improve up to the point that the governor even held conferences with Macaulay.[5] Macauley had lost his desire for reform and became a conservative supporter of the British.
In 1944 Macaulay founded the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) together with Nnamdi Azikiwe [6] and became its secretary general. The NCNC was a patriotic organization designed to bring together Nigerians of all stripes to demand independence.[7] In 1946 Macaulay fell ill in Kano and later died in Lagos. The leadership of the NCNC went to Azikiwe, who was later to become the first president of Nigeria.
Badamasi Maccido, was a federal senator in Nigeria and the son of the then Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido. He was killed in a plane crash with his father and his son, Umaru, on October 29th, 2006.
He went to school at Federal Government College Sokoto
Ibrahim Muhammadu Maccido dan Abu Bakar (1928 – October 29, 2006) was the 19th Sultan of Sokoto (from April 20, 1996, until his death in 2006), the titular ruler of Sokoto in northern Nigeria, and the head of the Nigerian National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. As Sultan of Sokoto, he was considered the spiritual leader of Nigeria’s 70 million Muslims, roughly 50 percent of the nation’s population[1].
On October 29, 2006, Maccido was killed in the crash of ADC Airlines Flight 53[2], from Abuja to Sokoto [3] along with several top Sokoto State officials and his son, Badamasi Maccido, a federal senator.
Maccido was the eldest son of the 17th Sultan, Siddiq Abu Bakar dan Usuman, who held the Sultanate for over fifty years.[4] Maccido did not succeed his father as Sultan directly. After Ibrahim Dasuki, the 18th Sultan, was arrested and banished by Nigerian military leader Sani Abacha, Maccido was appointed Sultan.[5]
Chief Ojo Maduekwe is the current Foreign Minister of Nigeria. He was sworn into that position on July 26, 2007 under President Umaru Yar’Adua.[1] He is National Secretary of the ruling political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Ojo previously served as the Minister of Transport in the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Maduekwe and former NDDC Chairman, Onyema Ugochukwu were said to be fraternity brothers at the University of Nigeria
Yusuf Maitama Sule is a Nigerian politician, intellectual, acclaimed orator and diplomat. In 1976, he became the Federal Commissioner of public complaints, a position that made him the nation’s pioneer ombudsman. In early 1979, he was a presidential candidate of the National Party of Nigeria but lost to Shehu Shagari. He was appointed Nigeria’s representative to the United Nations after the coming of civilian rule in September 1979. While at the U.N., he was chairman of the United Nations Committee against Apartheid. [1]
After, the re-election of President Shagari in 1983, Maitama Sule was made the Minister for National Guidance, a portfolio designed to assist the president in tackling corruption
The rise of economic nationalism during the 1970s led to the enactment of a decree stipulating minimum requirements for local content in many companies doing business in Nigeria. To capitalize on the benefits of indigenous control of the economy, many permanent secretaries, federal commissioners, state governors and their cronies established firms to conduct business with the government. [3] It was with the intent of patching the revolving door and to stem small time corruption that the public complaints commission was created in 1975. It was meant to hear and tackle complaints fielded by the common man in a simple and efficient manner. Maitama Sule, as head of the commission was known to have taken his job seriously, partly because he was a potent political commodity and had a lot to gain from the good will of the people when a transition to civilian rule was in place.[4] As a result of the commission’s effort, corruption during the period was temporarily curtailed.
In 1983, he returned to a familiar role, this time under a democratic government as the head of a ministry to tackle corruption. The new but short-lived ministry was created solely to invest time in an ethical re-orientation of Nigerians. Maitama, who had acquired a solid reputation as a tough U.N representative, when he was chairman of a U.N. special committee on apartheid was asked to lead the ministry. However, his appointment was not satisfactory to critics. Shagari’s administration was removed by a coup, with the coupists citing corruption as a major reason for the incursion.
Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi (born 8 August 1956) is a Nigerian politician. He was governor of Kaduna State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007, and is current a Senator for Kaduna North. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Makarfi, a Muslim, is married and the father of four children.
Born in Makarfi, Makarfi Local Government Area of Kaduna State (then part of the Northern Region), he attended primary school from 1965 to 1973. He then attended the Federal Government College in Enugu from 1973 to 1978. In 1979, Makarfi was admitted to the School of Basic Studies at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria where he obtained a Bachelors of Science degree in Accounting. He returned to the Institute of Administration from 1985 to 1987, as a Lecturer in the Department of Business Administration. During this time, he received a Master of Science degree in Accounting and Finance.
Makarfi started his working career at the Nigeria Universal Bank, where he rose to the rank of Assistant General Manager. He held many ad-hoc responsibilities during this period. In1994, he was appointed to the Kaduna State Executive Council as Honorable Commissioner of Finance and Economic Planning before returning to the private sector.
He became a member of the Board of Trustees at the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution in Abuja as well as its Director of Finance and Administration.
Makarfi was elected governor of Kaduna State in 1999 and won a second four-year term in 2003. He is currently a Senator in the Nigerian Senate representing Kaduna North Senatorial District (which includes Makarfi, Kudan, Sabon-Gari, Zaria, Ikara, Soba, Lere and Kubau Local Government Areas).
David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark (born April 1948) is the President of the Senate of Nigeria[2] and Senator for the Benue South constituency of Benue State.[3] He is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).[4]
Mark was elected to the position on June 6, 2007.[5] Prior to his senatorial career, Mark was a military governor of Niger State.[3] He is an Idoma[4] Christian.[2]
Chinwoke Mbadinuju (born 14 June 1945) was Governor of Anambra State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2003. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
In December 2005, Mbadinuju was charged with the 2002 murder of Barnabas Igwe—a lawyer who had been critical of Mbadinuju because of his corrupt Government and disregard for law and order—and Igwe’s wife, Abigail; at the time of the killings, Mbadinuju was still Governor and therefore enjoyed immunity. At his trial, Mbadinuju pleaded not guilty, and on March 10, 2008, he was acquitted by a High Court in Onitsha.[1]
He is married to Nnebuogo Mbadinuju, and they have five children: Ada Mbadinuju (a medical doctor), Chetachi Mbadinuju (an entrepreneur), Nwachukwu Mbadinuju (an operations manager), Uche Mbadinuju (a student) and Chima Mbadinuju (a student).
Samuel “Sam” Onunaka Mbakwe (died January 5, 2004)[1] was an Igbo politician and governor of Imo State, southern Nigeria from October 1, 1979[1] until December 31, 1983.[2] The Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, which is located in Owerri, the state capital, was renamed after him.[3]
Mbakwe began his education in 1937 at Avutu Primary School;his contemporaries include The Reverend Canon Jerimiah Anyanwu, the first Anglican priest in the old Etiti Local Government Area of Imo State, who was born at about the same time with him in Avutu. He studied at the Teachers Training College, Oleh, Isoko, from 1946 to 1947, and at Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone in 1952.[1] He moved on to the University of Manchester (1953-1956), the University of Hull (1956-1958), and finally the school run by the Inns of Court (1958-1959), all in England, before returning to Nigeria to practice law in Port Harcourt, Eastern Region.[1] Mbakwe served in the army of the Republic of Biafra,[2] an Igbo secessionist state in southeastern Nigeria, during the 1967-1970 Civil War.
Mbakwe joined the Constituent Assembly in 1978 and became governor on October 1 of the next year. One of the main priorities of his administration was to improve Imo State’s roads.[1] He was reelected, but his second term was interrupted by General Muhammadu Buhari’s military coup of December 31, 1983, which brought about the end of the Second Republic. Described as “controversial,”[1] he said the following about politicians September 1995: “If you have not been in prison before, that will be your baptism and qualification. You will learn from the prison yard that not all those in detention are criminals.”[1]
Mbakwe earned the nickname “the weeping governor” for crying while trying to convince the federal government to pay more attention to his state; the first occasion of his famed tears was the Ndiegoro flood in Aba, which was then a part of Imo State[2]. He had invited President Shehu Shagari to witness the destruction done by the floods, and it was said that he was moved to tears while conducting the president around the disaster area. His January 6, 2004 death in Avutu, Obowo Local Government Area, came after sickness which had set on in February 2002 and occurred shortly after a state-sponsored trip to Germany for treatment.[1]
Matthew Tawo Mbu (born November 20, 1929) is a Nigerian politician who served as his country’s Foreign Minister from January to November 1993. He was Minister of Defence for Naval Affairs from 1960 until 1966. He also served as the High Commissioner to the UK – Government of Nigeria (1955 – 1959). The Mbu family is a reccuring name in Nigerian politics and it has played an instrumental role. He is recorded to be have been the youngest Nigerian to have ever held a ministerial position to date. His legacy has been continued by his son, Senator Matthew Tawo Mbu (Jr.), who is also a prominent politician
Abubakar Saleh Michika (b.1944) was governor of Adamawa State in Nigeria from 2 January 1992 to 17 November 1993. He is a member of the then ruling NRC (NRC).He was among the people that made name for the area
Aliyu Modibo is a Nigerian politician who was the Nigerian minister of commerce for the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Commerce 1999-2007.
Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu (b. 11 June 1955) was governor of Bauchi State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Born in Boto, Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State (then part of the Northern Region), Mu’azu attended primary school from 1962 to 1968. Between 1971 and 1975, he attended the Gindiri Boy’s Secondary School in the then Benue-Plateau State where he obtained Division one (Distinction) in the West African School Certificate Examination.
He then attended the School of Basic Studies at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria and later received a Bachelors of Science degree in Quantity Surveying. From 1980 to 1983, Mu’azu worked as a Quantity Surveyor/Project Manager in the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Social Welfare, Youth, Sports and Culture in Kano State. He returned to his alma mater in 1983 and received a Masters of Science degree in Construction Management. He served as property manager of the Bauchi State Investment and Property Development Company before attending Birmingham University in the United Kingdom and receiving a second Masters degree, this time in the area of Construction Economics.
From 1984 until his election as state governor in 1999, Mu’azu worked as a businessman in the private sector. Between 1984 and 1987, he was chairman of the Federal Polytechnic in Idah and chairman of the Benue-Plateau Construction Company in Jos from 1986 to 1990. He was also a member of the Bauchi State Scholarship Board during this period. Between 1987 and 1997, he served in a number of capacities including director of the Nigeria Ports Authority and a member of the Bauchi State Rural Development Council.
He won 56 percent of the vote in the 1999 gubernatorial election and took office on 29 May 1999. He was re-elected for a second four-year term in 2003. He ran for a Senate seat in the 2007 general election, but was defeated.
Sharia law was adopted in Bauchi State during Mu’azu’s tenure (in June 2001), but he denied approval of sentences of death by stoning and of amputation passed by sharia law courts.[1]
Mu’azu, a Muslim, is married and the father of seven children.
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
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]
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
Musiliu Olatunde Obanikoro (popularly known as Koro) is a Nigerian Senator and prominent politician. He lost the April 14, 2007 Lagos State gubernatorial elections, which he took part in under the banner of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Musiliu Olatunde Obanikoro was born in Lagos. He is from Bakare family of Ita-Ado in Lagos Island, Ikare and Ilashe in Amuwo Odofin Local Government of Lagos State, the Obanikoro (Ajayi-Bembe) family of Lagos and Idoluwole (Ojo Local Government of Lagos), and the Eletu-Odibo (Oshobile) family of Isale-Eko, Lagos.
He attended Saint Patrick Catholic School, Idumagbo, Lagos and Ahmadiyya College (Anwar-ul/Islam College) Agege. He worked briefly as a Clerical Officer at LSHMBS, and at Union Bank as a Clerk before traveling overseas for further studies. While in the US, he attended Texas Southern University where he earned his B.Sc degree in Public Affairs and Master’s Degree in Public Administration (M. P. A).
He served as an intern with Houston adult Probation Department, Houston, Texas. He worked as a social worker and later as the Head of the adolescent unit with Little Flower Children Service (an agency affiliated with New York City Department of Social Service).
He returned to Nigeria in 1989 and started his political career immediately. He was appointed as Caretaker Committee Chairman of Surulere Local Government (National Republican Convention); he was elected as the State Deputy Chairman (NRC); appointed by Governor Otedola’s administration as Director, LASBULK (Lagos State Bulk Purchasing Corporation); and member, Lagos State Football Association. He has served as Delegate to Local Government Congress, State Congress, and National Convention. He has also served as Elected State Secretary, Justice Forum. He was also the Chairman, Lagos Island Local Government; and as national Executive member, Grassroots Democratic Movement (G.D.M.).
He was appointed State Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture in 1999 and served meritoriously for four years before he was elected Senator of the Federal republic of Nigeria. At the National Assembly, he was reputed to be the most vocal and most passionate about issues regarding Lagos State.
He was appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo as a member of the 2004 Amirul-Hajj Committee. He is an honorary citizen of Glenarden, Maryland and Little Rock, Arkansas, and he is an Ambassador to the State.
He was the only senator from Lagos State who organizes regular town meetings and submits a yearly performance report to his constituents. He was appointed as Nigeria High commissioner to Ghana By president Alhaji Omar Yar’Adua in 2008
kenneth uwadi