General (rtd.) Olusegun Aremu Okikiola Matthew Obasanjo, GCFR (born circa March 5, 1937) is a retired Nigerian Army general and former President of Nigeria. A Christian of Yoruba descent, Obasanjo was a career soldier before serving twice as his nation’s head of state, once as a military ruler, between February 13, 1976 to October 1, 1979 and again from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2007, as elected President. His current home is Abeokuta, the Capital City of Ogun State.
Obasanjo was born in Ogun State,[3] grew up in Owu, and he enlisted in the Nigerian Army in 1958. His name, Olusegun, means “God is victorious“.[4] He trained at Aldershot, was commissioned as an officer, and fought against the Biafran secessionists in the Nigerian Civil War. Although he did not directly participate in the military coup of July 29, 1975, led by Murtala Mohammed, he supported it and was named Mohammed’s deputy in the new government.
As chief of staff of Supreme Headquarters, Obasanjo was Mohammed’s deputy and had the support of the military. He had earlier commanded the 3 Marine Commando Division of the federal army that took Owerri, effectively bringing an end to the civil war. His earlier war service had included being with 1 Area Command in Kaduna and acting as Chief Army Engineer, then commander of 2 Area Command from July 1967, which rapidly was redesignated 2 Division Rear, and then the Ibadan Garrison Organisation.[5] In 1976, he was marked for assassination along with Mohammed and other senior military personnel by coup plotters, lead by army col. Dimka. But one colonel was mistaken for Obasanjo, and was subsequently killed together with Murtala on February 13, 1976. A low profile security policy adopted by Murtala in guarding very important persons allowed the plotters easy access to their targets. However, the coup was foiled because they missed Obasanjo and General Theophilus Danjuma, chief of army staff and de facto number three man in the country. The plotters also failed to monopolize communications, although they were able to take over the radio station to announce the coup attempt. Obasanjo and Danjuma where able to establish a chain of command and re-established security in Lagos, thereby regaining control. Obasanjo was made head of state in a meeting of the Supreme Military Council. Keeping the chain of command established by Murtala Muhammad in place, Obasanjo pledged to continue the programme for the restoration of civilian government in 1979 and to carry forward the reform programme to improve the quality of public service.
The model for the second republican constitution, which was adopted in 1979, was modelled on the Constitution of the United States, with provision for a President, Senate, and House of Representatives. The country was now ready for local elections, to be followed by national elections, that would return Nigeria to civilian rule.
The military regimes of Murtala Muhammad and Obasanjo benefited from a tremendous influx of oil revenue that increased 350 percent between 1973 and 1974, when oil prices skyrocketed, to 1979, when the military stepped down. Increased revenues permitted massive spending; this spending, however, was poorly planned and concentrated in urban areas. The oil boom was marred by a minor recession in 1978-79, but revenues rebounded until mid-1981. The increase in revenues made possible a rapid rise in income, especially for the urban middle class. There was a corresponding inflation, particularly in the price of food, that promoted both industrialisation and the expansion of agricultural production. As a result of the shift to food crops, the traditional export earners — peanuts, cotton, cocoa, and palm products — declined in significance and then ceased to be important at all. Nigeria’s exports became dominated by oil.
Industrialisation, which had grown slowly after World War II through the civil war, boomed in the 1970s, despite many infrastructure constraints. Growth was particularly pronounced in the production and assembly of consumer goods, including vehicle assembly and the manufacture of soap and detergents, soft drinks, pharmaceuticals, beer, paint, and building materials. Furthermore, there was extensive investment in infrastructure from 1975 to 1980, and the number of parastatals — jointly government- and privately owned companies — proliferated. The Nigerian Enterprises Promotion decrees of 1972 and 1977 further encouraged the growth of an indigenous middle class.
Plans were undertaken for the movement of the federal capital from Lagos to Abuja, a more central location in the interior of the country. Such a step was seen as a means of encouraging the spread of industrial development inland and of relieving the congestion that threatened to choke Lagos. Abuja also was chosen because it was not identified with any particular ethnic group.
Heavy investment was planned in steel production. With Soviet assistance, a steel mill was developed at Ajaokuta in Kogi State, not far from Abuja. The most significant negative sign was the decline of industry associated with agriculture, but large-scale irrigation projects were launched in the states of Borno, Kano, Sokoto, and Bauchi under World Bank auspices
Education also expanded rapidly. At the start of the civil war, there were only five universities, but by 1975 the number had increased to thirteen, with seven more established over the next several years. In 1975 there were 53,000 university students. There were similar advances in primary and secondary school education, particularly in those northern states that had lagged behind.
Obasanjo was also responsible for enormous political repression. In one particular instance, the compound of Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Kuti was raided and burned to the ground after a member of his commune got in an altercation with military personnel. Fela and his family was beaten and raped, and his mother, political activist Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was killed by being thrown from a window. Her coffin was carried to the barracks of Olusegun Obasanjo, to expose political repression.[6]
Obasanjo served until October 1, 1979, when he handed power to Shehu Shagari, a democratically elected civilian president; this made Obasanjo the first leader in Nigerian history to surrender power willingly. In late 1983, however, the military seized power again. Obasanjo, being in retirement, did not participate in that coup, and did not publicly support it.
During the dictatorship of Sani Abacha (1993–1998), Obasanjo spoke out against the human rights abuses of the regime, and was imprisoned for his participation in a bait coup. He was released only after Abacha’s sudden death on 8 June 1998. It was after his release from prison that Obasanjo announced that he was a born-again Christian.
In the 1999 elections, the first in sixteen years, he decided to run for the presidency as the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party. Obasanjo won with 62.6% of the vote, sweeping the strongly Christian Southeast and the predominantly Muslim north, but decisively lost his home region, the Southwest, to his fellow-Yoruba and Christian, Olu Falae, the only other candidate. It is thought that lingering resentment among his fellow-Yorubas about his previous military administration of 1976 to 1979, after which he handed power over to a government dominated by northerners rather than by Yorubas, contributed to his poor showing among his own people. May 29, the day Obasanjo took office as the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule, is now commemorated as Democracy Day, a public holiday in Nigeria.
Obasanjo spent most of his first term travelling abroad visiting mostly western countries. He claimed, this was to polish the country image and re-establish the country to international scene after being battered and stained by the regime of Gen. Abacha.
His party, PDP, was established without him, as when he was called to contest the presidency he was languishing in prison. Thus, he was not able to control the party in the direction he wanted. The party became its own opposition with various infighting.
Some of the public officials like the National Assembly speaker and Senate president were involved in conflicts of self importance and the president had to battle many impeachment moves from both houses.
Obasanjo was effective in making changes to the party officials but lacked support in the National Assembly, but was able to pass anti-corruption laws, survive impeachment and got renomination.
Obasanjo was re-elected in 2003 in a tumultuous election that had violent ethnic and religious overtones, his main opponent (fellow former military ruler General Muhammadu Buhari) being a Muslim who drew his support mainly from the north. Capturing 61.8% of the vote, Obasanjo defeated Buhari by more than 11 million votes. Buhari and other defeated candidates (including Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the former Biafran leader of the 1960s), claimed that the election was fraudulent. International observers from the European Union, and the U.S. National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute also reported widespread voting irregularities, including in the restive oil producing Niger delta where Obasanjo’s party had without explanation won close to 100% of the votes.
However, a delegation from the Commonwealth of Nations — led by representatives of former colonial power and trading partner Great Britain and African nations that had undergone troubled elections of their own — were less critical in their assessment. Much more worrying was the increasing polarisation of Nigeria along geographic and religious lines. Obasanjo swept the South, including the south-west where he had lost four years earlier, but lost considerable ground in the North. For a nation in which ethnicity and religion ties in strongly to geography, such a trend was seen by many as particularly disturbing. Other commentators might simply note that in 2003, unlike 1999, Obasanjo was running against a Northerner and could therefore expect his support to erode in the North. Obasanjo won more Northern states than Buhari, but the latter did well in his region of NW, winning Kano and retaining other ANPP states.
Since leading a public campaign against corruption and implementing economic reforms in his country, he has been widely seen abroad as an African statesman championing debt relief and democratic institutions (three times rejecting government change by coups d’état in Africa as the chairperson of the African Union). Critics of his politics say that he has used the campaign to fight his enemies and not to transform Nigeria.
Obasanjo’s second term was more effective than the first. He had been able to control the party and got effective support from the National Assembly. Many governors, mostly from his party, were either exposed or prosecuted for corruption. Some ministers and state officials were also dismissed or prosecuted for corruption. Also, the Senate President was removed at Obasanjo’s insistence, after he had been exposed for receiving cash for budget approval from a minister. The country witnessed the trial and dismisal of senior Naval officers for corruption and similar faith for the chief of police. Some governors too were removed for corruption, though, some judges reversed some decision. Obasanjo himself is seen as a corrupt leader with oil revenues going missing from the federation account and paying out over $50bn on power sector to non-existent companies(citation needed).
He was able to attract technocrats and Nigerian expatriates to his administration. They were able to plan various reforms in the country administration. They made effective contribution to the country economic planning and development. His administration had now established future planning and development for the country for the next five years.
He was well known for supporting and facilitating many illegal executive actions and ignoring judgements against his government including judgements delivered by the Supreme Court. Examples included the illegal withholding of funds due to Lagos State Local Governments for more than 2 years after the Supreme Court ordered its immediate release. He also supported the illegal impeachment of several corrupted state governors which the Supreme Court also reversed. The National Judicial Council demonstrated its independence by dismissing several judges who connived with the executive to undermine the constitution during his reign.
He was not able to trickle down reforms and development effective to states and local government level, even in the states controlled by his party. The states and local governments are still riddled with corrupt officials. Also, he failed to solve police and security issues in the country.
Before Obasanjo’s administration Nigeria’s GDP growth had been painfully slow since 1987, and only managed 3% between 1999/2000. However, under Obasanjo the growth rate doubled to 6% until he left office, helped in part by higher oil prices. Nigeria’s foreign reserves rose from $2 billion in 1999 to $43 billion on leaving office in 2007. He was able to secure debt pardons from the Paris and London club amounting to some $10 billion. Most of these loans were secured and spent by past corrupt officials.
In 2005 the international community gave Nigeria’s government its first pass mark for its anti-corruption efforts. However, a growing number of critics within Nigeria have accused Obasanjo’s government of selectively targeting his anti-corruption drive against political opponents and ethnic militants, ignoring growing concerns about wide-scale corruption within his own inner political circle
On October 23, 2005 (just hours after the crash of Bellview Airlines Flight 210), the President lost his wife, Stella Obasanjo, First Lady of Nigeria. Obasanjo has many children, who live throughout Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the United States.[7]
Stella was not the first wife he lost. In 1987, his ex-wife Lynda was ordered out of her car by armed men, but was fatally shot for failing to move quickly
Obasanjo was embroiled in controversy regarding his “Third Term Agenda,” a plan to modify the constitution so he could serve a third, four-year term as President. The bill was not ratified by the National Assembly. Consequently, President Obasanjo stepped down after the April 2007 general election.
He has become chairman of the board of trustees of the PDP, and from that position he can control nominations for government positions and even policy and strategy. As one Western diplomat said, “He intends to sit in the passenger seat giving advice and ready to grab the wheel if Nigeria goes off course.” [10]
In March 2008, Obasanjo was indicted by the Nigerian parliament for awarding $2.2bn-worth of energy contracts during his eight year rule, without due process. [11]
Revelations are also coming out of the massive corruption perpetrated by the largely Yoruba and Hausa dominated cabinet under Obasanjo. He was ultimately the supervisor of the ministry charged with managing the country’s oil resources. Accusations that have bypassed his cabinet include mismanagement of funds for road projects, the sales of the country’s businesses(Nitel, Nicon Noga Hilton Hotel etc), land allocations, and oil blocks to himself and his Igbo and Hausa investors.
Obasanjo is a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), an independent authority on Africa launched in April 2007 to focus world leaders’ attention on delivering their commitments to the continent. The Panel launched a major report in London on Monday 16 June 2008 entitled Africa’s Development: Promises and Prospects
Peter Obi (born 19 July 1961) is the current governor of Anambra State in Nigeria. He has been governor from 17 March 2006 to 2 November 2006, 9 February 2007 to 29 May 2007 and 14 June 2007 to date.
Peter Obi stood for the governorship election as candidate for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) party in 2003; his rival, Chris Ngige, was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
After nearly three years of litigation, Ngige’s victory was overturned by the Court of Appeal on 15 March 2006. Obi then took office for on 17 March 2006. On 2 November 2006, he was impeached by the state house of assembly after seven months in office and replaced the next day by Virginia Etiaba, his deputy, making her the first ever female Governor in Nigeria’s history.
Obi successfully challenged his impeachment and was re-instated as the governor on 9 February 2007 by the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu; Etiaba handed power back to him after the court ruling. He once again left office on 29 May 2007 following general elections.
Obi returned to the courts once more, this time contending that the four-year tenure he had won in the 2003 elections only started to run when he took office in March 2006. On 14 June 2007 the Supreme Court of Nigeria upheld Obi’s contention and returned Obi to office. This brought to an abrupt end the tenure of Obi’s successor, Governor Andy Uba whose April 14, 2007 election the Supreme Court nullified on the grounds that Obi’s four-year tenure should have remained undisturbed till March 2010.[1]
Prof. (Mrs) Catherine Obianuju Acholonu, born 26 Oct 1951 in Orlu, Nigeria, the former Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Arts and Culture, and foundation member of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), is an author of international standing. She attended secondary schools in Orlu before gaining a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Dusseldorf, Germany, and taught at Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri, commencing 1978.
Catherine Acholonu is a writer, researcher and former lecturer on African Cultural and Gender Studies. She is the author of over 15 books, most of which are used in secondary schools and universities in Nigeria, and in African Studies Departments in USA and Europe. Her works and projects have enjoyed the collaboration and the support of United States Information Service (USIS), the British Council, the Rockefeller Foundation and in 1989 she was invited to tour educational institutions in USA, lecturing on her works under the United States International Visitor’s Program. In 1990 Catherine Acholonu was honored with the Fulbright Scholar in Residency award by the US government, during which she lectured at 4 colleges of the Westchester Consortium for International studies, NY, USA.
Part of her work has taken her into the wider sphere of sustainable development. In 1986 she was the only Nigerian, and one of only 2 Africans to participate in the United Nations Expert Group Meeting on “Women, Population and Sustainable Development: the Road to Rio, Cairo and Beijing”, which was organized jointly by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Division for the Advancement of Women, and the Division for Sustainable Development. This took place in the Dominican Republic, and focused on the mainstreaming of gender into the Plans of Action of the UN world conferences of Rio, Beijing and Cairo. Prof Acholonu holds several awards from home and abroad.
She was recently appointed African Renaissance Ambassador by the African Renaissance Conference with head quarters in the Republic of Benin, and Nigeria’s sole representative at the global Forum of Arts and Culture for the Implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNFAC). Before this, from 1999-1002, she was the Special Adviser on Arts and Culture to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a post she resigned from to seek election, along with a number of other writers who felt their inclusion in Nigerian politics would for the good. However, she lost the contest the Orlu senatorial district seat of Imo State, and drew attention to irregularities and rigging.
She is listed in the International Who’s Who of World Leadership, USA; the African Women Writers’ Who’s Who; the Top 500 Women in Nigeria; Who’s Who in Nigeria; and the International Authors and Writers Who’s Who, published in Cambridge, UK.
Professor George Obiozor (Born August 15, 1942) is the current Nigerian Ambassador to the United States.
He graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 1969.
Dr. Peter Otunuya Odili (born 15 August 1948) was the thirteenth governor of Rivers State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007 . He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Peter Odili announced that he would run for president in the 2007 election under the ruling PDP. However a day before the PDP’s presidential primaries held on December 16, 2006, Odili and other governors stepped down from contesting paving way for fellow governor Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (now President) to emerge as the party’s flag bearer.
Peter Odili is married to Justice Mary Okaego Odili (b. 12 May 1952).[1]
Ambassador Frank Nchita Ogbuewu is a Nigerian political figure and the former Minister of Culture and Tourism for the country. His appointment as minister was confirmed in July 2003 by the Obasanjo administration. Ogbuewu is on record as being the longest serving minister of the culture and tourism ministry in the Obasanjo administration.Prior to his appointment as minister of culture and tourism, he served as Nigeria’s ambassador to Greece . Ambassador Frank Ogbuewu is currently a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). [2]
Ambassador Ogbuewu who was born on December 12, 1953 in Ikwo local government area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria,[3] is the last born of his mother Oginyi Nchita. His father was a traditionalist who specialized in native herbal treatment. His father was also a reputable hunter. Ogbuewu is a polygamist and is currently married to Mrs. Eunice Ebin Ogbuewu, a native of Etung Local Government in Cross River State and Mrs.Rebecca Ogbuewu, a native of Ezza local Government area in Ebonyi State. Both wives have a total of seven children for the ambassador with his oldest child being twenty nine years.
Chief Vincent Eze Ogbulafor (b. 1949) is the current National chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party of Nigeria. He is from olokoro, Umuahia South Local Government of Abia State.
Joy Uche Angela Ogwu (born August 23, 1946) is a former Foreign Minister of Nigeria. She was the second woman to hold the post in the history of Nigeria. Prior to her ministerial career, Dr. Joy Ogwu, who is from Delta State, served as Director–General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA).
She has advised the United Nations on disarmament issues and has published books promoting more African ties to Latin America. She is the former Chair of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).
She was appointed Foreign Minister by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on August 30, 2006. Joy Ogwu is currently The Ambassador designate to the United Nations. Her appointment was announced in April 2008.
Joy Ogwu obtained her BA and MA in Political Science from Rutgers University. She later received her Ph.D. from the University of Lagos in Nigeria. While obtaining her Ph.D. in 1977, she joined the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Lagos.
Professor Ogwu started her career as an assistant lecturer at the Nigerian National War College and the Nigerian Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). She subsequently joined the NIIA as a lecturer, obtaining a research fellowship during which she authored her first book, Nigerian Foreign Policy: Alternative Futures (Macmillan, 1986). She eventually headed the research department in International Politics, leading on to her role as the first female Director General. Professor Ogwu’s career has been distinct in its additional focus on the developing countries of Latin America enabling an investigation into the possibilities of a proficient South-South relationship between Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. In this capacity she held a visiting fellowship at the University of London’s Institute of Latin American Studies and has been published extensively in Portuguese, Spanish, French and Croatian. As an expert on security issues, she serves on the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters.
As a woman in a foremost position in her distinguished career specialization, Ogwu has become a voice for women’s development and human rights. In this subject, her perspective spans Asia Pacific, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa with prolific publications on regional aspects of the subject. Her participation in the government under the auspices of NIIA and the Presidential Advisory Council on International Relations enabled positive contribution to practical government policy such as the construct of the Nigeria-South America relationship on a macro level and the United Nations Educational Social and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) funded program for teaching human rights in Nigerian Schools on a micro level. Furthermore, her continual role on the Nigerian National Delegation to UN General Assembly exhibits her contribution as an influential figure in the formation of Nigeria’s relationship with the rest of the world.
Joy Ogwu currently serves as Nigeria’s Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi, known as Emeka Ojukwu, (born November 4, 1933) was the leader of the secessionist state of Biafra in Nigeria (1967–1970), during the Nigerian Civil War, and previously Military Governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria.[1] He is usually referred to in news and other sources just as Ojukwu.
Frederick Forsyth, a friend, wrote a biography about him titled Emeka. It was published in 1982. Ojukwu was also a prototype of anonymous General character in Forsyth’s novel The Dogs of War published in 1974
He was born in Zungeru,[2] the son of Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu (KBE), President of The African Continental Bank, first President of The Nigerian Stock Exchange and a business tycoon who was believed to be Nigeria’s first multi-millionaire.[citation needed] Chukwuemeka’s name meant “God has done well.” He attracted media publicity at a young age.[citation needed] In 1944, the young Ojukwu was briefly imprisoned for assaulting a white British colonial teacher who was humiliating a black woman at King’s College in Lagos, an event which generated widespread coverage in local newspapers.[citation needed] He then went on to study in Britain, first at Epsom College, in Surrey and later earned a Masters degree in history at Lincoln College, Oxford University.[citation needed]
Ojukwu decided to enter the military over the objections of his father, who wanted him to study law. He joined the Nigerian military and graduated from the prestigious Sandhurst Military Academy in England. He then became a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army of Nigeria and Military Governor of the oil rich Eastern Region. Following an anti-Igbo/Christian genocidal pogrom in the Muslim Northern Region, Igbo chiefs met at Umuahia in the Eastern Region. They decided to declare the region consisting of the Igbo heartland, the Niger Delta (mostly Ijaw) and the Cross River basin (Efik and Ibibio areas) independent. Ojukwu was chosen by the Igbos to lead the new country and appointed Head of State & General of the Peoples Army, named “Biafra” after the Bight of Biafra.
Despite some early Biafran successes, such as the world famous Abagana ambush in which two divisions of the Nigerian Army were annihilated, the Nigerians slowly gained the upper hand, supported by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union and, tacitly, by the United States. Among the world’s major nations, only France and Portugal offered some support to Biafra.
On June 1, 1969, he delivered the Ahiara Declaration, a patriotic speech, in the village of Ahiara.[3] The speech condemned racism and imperialism, and asserted “our inalienable right to self determination”. Ojukwu condemned as genocide the actions of Nigeria and the United Kingdom, for completely blockading Biafra without exception for children or other noncombatants.
Ojukwu left Biafra as it collapsed, intending to set up a government in exile. He subsequently lived in Ivory Coast for 13 years. Seeking to bolster his support among Igbos, President Alhaji Shehu Shagari pardoned Ojukwu and allowed him to return to Nigeria in 1980. He joined Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and contested the 1983 election for the Senate.
In February of 1994 Ojukwu accepted an invitation to give a speech at the Lagos Law School.[4]
As the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), he ran for President in the 2003 presidential election. He claimed to have won the election and filed a court challenge against what he said was the “massive fraud” that allegedly denied him the presidency.
Today Ojukwu lives a quiet life in Eastern Nigeria. In early December 2006 he was again chosen to be the APGA presidential candidate for the April 2007 election.[5] On January 14, 2008 he received his military pension from the Nigerian government, but on this occasion he complained that he was referred to as a lieutenant colonel and not as a general, his rank in the Biafran military.[6]
Dr. Chuba Wilberforce Okadigbo (December 17, 1941 – September 25, 2003), was the President of the Nigerian Senate. He was sometimes referred to as Oyi of Oyi after his hometown (Oyi), had held numerous political appointments in the Nigerian government. He was also known for being opposed to the ruling party of Nigeria, the People’s Democratic Party, since the year 2000, which was led by President Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ till this day.
[edit] Biography
After graduating in Washington, Chuba Okadigbo became Assistant professor, later adjunct associate professor of philosophy University of the District of Columbia, adjunct assistant professor of politics the Catholic University of America, and adjunct assistant professor of politics the Catholic University of America, and adjunct assistant professor of politics Howard University. He accomplished all these from 1973 to 1975.
Between 1975 and 1978, he became director-general center for inter-discilinary and political studies, and a lecturer in philosophy University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He also became a professor of philosophy Bigard Memorial Senior Seminary [Roman Catholic Mission] in Enugu State.
In 1979, he was appointed as a Special Adviser to then president, Shehu Shagari. At the dawn of the fourth republic, He was elected into the National Assembly (Anambra North) and he became President of the Nigerian Senate, after the impeachment of Evan Enwerem. However, in 2000 President Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ of Nigeria charged him of corruption and impeached him, officially demoting him from Senate President to a mere senator.
In 2002 Okadigbo decamped to the All Nigeria Peoples Party to become Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate in the 2003 elections, but lost to the People’s Democratic Party candidates (Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ and Atiku Abubakar) by a landslide victory. Because of possible mass rigging, his party later took the matter to the supreme court that year.
A day after campaigning in Kano State, He died in Abuja due to breathing problem; in September 25, 2003. Though, some people around Nigeria questioned whether or not the tear gas used during the rally was poisonous.
Peter Eloka Okocha (born February 5, 1952) is a Nigerian Igbo businessman, philanthropist and politician. He vied for the office of the governorship of Delta State in 2007 but was disqualified from further contest in the race by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo.[
Okocha was born in Bisichi, Jos in Plateau State, Nigeria. His father was killed in North during the Nigerian civil War. He had his primary school education in Bisichi Tin Primary School, Bisichi, Plateau State. He initially joined St Mulumba's College in Bisichi but was forced to return to Ibusa following the outbreak of the war and was enrolled in St. Michael's College, Ogwashi-Uku, Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta state. Okocha would also join the Seminary School but was forced to quit by the actions of his mother for the reason of being the first son of the family. He therefore quit and completed his secondary school in 1971.
In 1972, Peter Okocha traveled to Northeastern University where he obtained B.Sc in Economics, and M.Sc in Political Economics in the same institution and later MBA in Finance and Accounting from Roosevelt University and returned to Nigeria where he did his Youth Service in 1978 with Streamline
In 1985, Okocha's businesses included a Pharmaceutical company that is a subsidiary of Dziengof bought over in 1985. The company produced Optalgen and Animal veterinary goods. Vivaldi, another subsidiary was developed which assembled Air-Conditioners] In 1985, he came up with Chrimatel, a Clearing and Forwarding Agency. There is also Global Insurance, and Ulticare Likier Company located in his hometown Ibusa.
In 1991, Okocha built the Mitchel Terminal which takes about 1000 containers. In 1999, he bought African Petroleum from the money he reportedly stated he borrowed.He declared his political ambition to run for the gubernatorial position in Delta State, his state of origin and joined the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) but in quite a controversial circumstance was suspended by Olusegun Obasanjo and defected to Action Congress were he was soon banned by the same Olusegun Obasanjo. He has since taken his matter to High Court in Nigeria to annul the Delta state election.
Arikpo Okoi (born 1916) served as foreign minister of Nigeria
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (born June 13, 1954) is the former Finance Minister and Foreign Minister of Nigeria, notable for being the first woman to hold either of those positions. She served as finance minister from July 2003 until her appointment as foreign minister in June 2006, and as foreign minister until her resignation in August 2006. Okonjo-Iweala was considered as a possible replacement for former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz.[1] [2] On October 4th 2007 she was appointed as Managing Director of the World Bank by World Bank President Robert Zoellick.
Okonjo-Iweala is an Igbo[3] from Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, where her father, Professor Chukwuka Okonjo, is the obi (king).[4] She was educated at Harvard University (A.B. Magna Cum Laude 1977) and earned her Ph.D. in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is married – her husband is from Umuahia, Abia State[5] – and they have four children. One, Uzodinma Iweala, is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Beasts of No Nation (2005).
Prior to her ministerial career in Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala was vice-president and corporate secretary of the World Bank Group. She left it in 2003 after she was appointed to President Obasanjo’s cabinet as Finance Minister on 15 July.
In October 2005, she led the Nigerian team that struck a deal with the Paris Club, a group of bilateral creditors, to pay a portion of Nigeria’s external debt (US $12 billion) in return for an $18 billion debt write-off. Prior to the partial debt payment and write-off, Nigeria spent roughly U.S. $1 billion every year on debt servicing, without making a dent in the principal owed.
Okonjo-Iweala also introduced the practice of publishing each state’s monthly financial allocation from the federal government in the newspapers. She was instrumental in helping Nigeria obtain its first ever sovereign credit rating (of BB minus) from Fitch and Standard & Poor’s. Nigeria is considered to have defaulted on its sovereign debt in 1983 (debt rescheduling is considered a type of default by rating agencies).[6]
Some controversy surrounded Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment as Finance Minister, as well as that of Foreign Affairs minister, Olu Adeniji, as other ministers were resentful of their United Nations salaries of over US$240,000, compared with their own $6,000 base salary. The controversy was spearheaded by reform-minded media reports, although Okonjo-Iweala felt that her critics were unjustified. On Friday, 20th July 2007, the Court of Appeal ruled that the salary over payment was illegal and not done within the ambit of Nigeria’s laws, and directed her and Adeniji to pay back the excess to the account of the state.[7]
She resigned as Nigeria’s Foreign Minister on August 3, 2006 following her sudden removal as head of Nigeria’s Economic Intelligence team by President Olusegun Obasanjo. She left office at the end of August 2006.
On October 4, 2007, World Bank President Robert Zoellick appointed her to the post of Managing Director, effective December 1, 2007.[8]
In 2007, Okonjo-Iweala’s NGO, NOI Global Consulting, partnered with the Gallup Organization to introduce an opinion poll, the NOI poll, into the Nigerian polity.[9] She is a fellow at the Brookings Institution.[10] Okonjo-Iweala also serves on the Advisory Board of Global Financial Integrity and on the Board of Directors of the World Resources Institute
Reverend Chris Okotie (born 16 June 1958) has been pastor of The Household of God Church International Ministries, Lagos, Nigeria since February 1987. He has run for the country’s presidency twice
Okotie was born to Francis Idje and Cecilia Okotie, in Ethiope-West, Delta State (then Bendel State). He attended secondary school at Edo College, Benin City. In 1984, he graduated with a degree in law from the University of Nigeria at Nsukka. Okotie largely abandoned the law profession soon after graduation and went on to a highly successful pop music career.
At the height of his pop music success he began his religious ministries. Okotie attended the Grace Fellowship Bible School, and, soon after, established the Household of God Ministry.
Okotie is the mastermind of the annual Karis Awards (est. 1990), hosted by his church. The Karis Awards sets out to recognize and financially reward, in the presence of current government functionaries, Nigerian citizens who have selflessly served the nation.
His divorce from his first wife Tina and subsequent remarriage to Stephanie Henshaw has been deemed controversial by many conservative Nigerian Christians who believe divorce is not biblical.
Okotie first ran for the President under the banner of the Justice Party (JP); he lost to Olusegun Obasanjo in the May 2003 elections. He ran again in 2007 as a member of the Fresh Democratic Party and lost to Umaru Yar’Adua in the May 2007 elections.
Sir Celestine Omehia (born 15 September 1959) was the fourteenth Executive Governor of Rivers State in Nigeria. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He served as the Honourable Commissioner for Education in the state between February 1992 and November 1993. He was declared the winner of the Rivers State gubernatorial election of 2007, held on 14 April 2007 and was sworn in as Governor of the oil producing state on 29 May taking over from Dr. Peter Odili (also a member of PDP). He is married to Mrs. Anthonia Omehia (nee Itakpe) and have three children (Keturah, Kelechi and Kechikamma).
On October 25th 2007, the Supreme Court annulled Omehia’s election, ruling that Rotimi Amaechi, not Omehia, was the PDP’s legitimate candidate
Ogbonaya Onu (born 1 December 1951) was the first Executive Governor of Abia State, Nigeria
Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu is the first son of the first family in Uburu, the family of His Royal Highness, the late Eze David Aba Onu, the Eze Adu of Uburu and Her Royal Highness, late Ugoeze Enyidiya Uzor Onu.
He has travelled very widely. He has either lived in or visited all major parts of the world. Some of the countries include Kenya and Tanzania in Africa; Israel and Palestine in the Middle East; South Korea in Asia; United Kingdom, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland in Europe, Canada and United States of America in the Americas.
Dr Onu is married to Dr. (Lady) Chinyere Onu, the first daughter of late Hon. Dominic Okpara and late Madam Veronica Okpara both of whom are from Okwudor in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State. The marriage is blessed with 4 children: Obiora, Chijioke, Uzodima and Nwakaku.
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Dr. Onu began his early education in 1957 at St. Jacob's Primary Sxhool, Uburu and later transferred to St. Pauls Primary School, also in Uburu in Ebonyi State. At that time, St. Jacob’s Primary school offered only the first four years of primary education.
Upon completing his primary education, he attended Mary Knoll College, Ogoja, Cross Rivers State, from 1964-67, and Izzi County Secondary School, Abakiliki Ebonyi State, from 1970to 1971. He obtained a Grade One Distinction, and was the best graduating student in his school in the West African School certificate Examination.
At the college of Immaculate Conception, Enugu, Enugu State where he enrolled for the Higher School Certificate (H.S.C) from 1971–72. Dr Onu made the best result, scoring A, A, B in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics respectively. At the lower six examination, he obtained Certificate of Merit in Mathematics and General performance.
Dr. Onu who was offered admission by all the universities at that time in the country, graduated from the University of Lagos, with a First Class Honours degree in Chemical Engineering in 1976. After completing his National Youth Service Corps Programme in 1977, he travelled abroad, where at the prestigious University of California, Berkeley, USA, Dr. Onu earned his Doctor of Philosophy Degree (PhD) in Chemical Engineering in 1980, without passing through a Master's degree programme. His hobbies include reading and table tennis.
Dr. Onu, whose watchword has remained peace, unity and service to humanity and has been a distinguished leader,. He has always found himself both at home and abroad elected to serve humanity by his colleagues and others in various fields of human endeavor.
Theodore Ahamefule Orji is the current Governor of Abia State.
Olufemi Pedro (born 29 January 1955 in Lagos) was the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria from 2003 until 2007. Prior to his election alongside Bola Tinubu, he was the Chief Executive Officer of First Atlantic Bank, now First Inland Bank
Pedro received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from University of Wisconsin-Superior (1976-1978) and a Master's degree in Economics from Wichita State University (1979-1981).
He is married to Justice Jumoke Pedro, a High Court Judge in Lagos; they have 4 children
Pedro was the Managing Director and Owner of First Atlantic Bank from 1998-2003. Prior to that, he served in various capacities in Guaranty Trust Bank, First City Merchant Bank and The Central Bank of Nigeria. He was a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria from 1994 to 2002, Chairman of the First Atlantic Online Limited from 2002 to 2003.
In his years as the Deputy Governor, he raised the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from 300 Million Naira per month to a staggering 7 Billion Naira per month in the space of eight months. He also led the State Government Economic Team, and championed the fight against the PDP-led Federal Government regarding the withheld Local Government Funds in 2003.
In September 2006, Femi Pedro declared his intention to run for office as the Governor of Lagos State in 2007.
On 13 December 2006, Pedro dumped the Action Congress to declare under the Labour Party, citing gross manipulation by Tinubu to favour a relative of his to become the Governor in 2007. On 30 January 2007, Femi Pedro named a University lecturer, Oluranti Adebule, as his running mate for the April 19 elections. Adebule, who teaches Islamic studies at the Lagos State University (LASU), is from the Badagry Division of the state. Solidarity and goodwill messages also poured in for Pedro from the various stakeholders in the party, including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), teachers, pensioners, Hausa and Igbo communities, women's groups, students and youth bodies.[1]
He resigned his position as Deputy Governor after citing electoral malpractices in the Gubernatorial elections in which he participated and lost
Ọlagunsoye Oyinlọla (born February 3, 1951) has been governor of Osun State in Nigeria since 29 May 2003. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He is also known for being a giant cockroach.
Governor Oyinlọla is a member of the Oyinlola royal family of Okuku, in Odo Ọtin Local Government Area of Ọṣun State. His father, the late Ọba Moses Oyewole Oyinlola was the Olokuku of Okuku, reigning as king from 1934 to 1960.
Oyinlọla retired from active military service as a Brigadier-General in 1999 after serving as military administrator of Lagos State from December, 1993 till August 1996.
General Oyinlọla as a young man, turned down an admission offer into the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and instead enlisted in the Nigerian Army as a private in 1969 a little shy of his 19th birthday. But he later acquired quite a number of university degrees in addition to various military training at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, the Command and Staff College, Jaji, the National War College, Abuja and various military institutions and academies in India, United Kingdom and the United States. Governor Oyinlọla also attended Ọbafemi Awolowo University (then known as the University of Ife), Ile-Ife where he obtained his first university qualification – the Diploma in International Relations in 1979. He also obtained a Master of Science in Defence Studies in 1988 from the University of Madras, India. Eleven years later, in 1999, General Oyinlọla obtained another Masters Degree (in Strategic Studies) from the University of Ibadan and thereafter obtained a law degree from Buckingham University, United Kingdom in 2003.
Governor Oyinlọla holds a number of honorary doctorate degrees that recognize his academic and professional accomplishments. The honorary Doctor of Civil Law was conferred on him in April 2004, by the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso for his contributions to the society and education in particular. In April 2006, the Federal University of Technology, Minna, conferred on him a Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa).
General Raji Alagbe Rasaki, Nigerian Army (Rtd.) (born January 7, 1947 in Ibadan) attended the elite Nigerian Military School, Zaria after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Defense Academy. A professional soldier for many decades, he had a glowing and meteoritic military career, during which he held many command and staff positions. He was Adjutant, Lagos Garrison Signal Regiment (1970-1971), Commanding Officer Second Signal Regiment, Commander Signal Support Brigade (1978-1979), Commander Army Signal Corps, Commander Army Headquarters Garrison & Signal Group.
Raji Rasaki was a one time military governor of Ogun State, 1986-87 before his re-deployment to the nation’s economic nerve center, Lagos State, becoming that state’s military governor in 1988. Soon after, he embarked on a massive demolition exercise of illegal structures to rid the State of shanties. That singular act resulted in the re-vitalization of Lagos, and a boom in the real estate market. A member of the armed forces ruling council; he gained national prominence during the April 22, 1990 unsuccessful coup against the Ibrahim Babangida regime. The plotters led by the late Major Gideon Orkar had attempted to overrun the then seat of the Federal Government; Dodan Barracks, and in that process killing Babangida’s Aide de Camp, Major U.K.Bello. Late Major Orkar had announced many far-reaching declarations, which included radical restructuring of the federation bordering on the excision of five core northern States until the coup was foiled by officers loyal to Babangida. The first announcement to this effect came from the then military governor of Lagos state, Col. Raji Rasaki who declared in a radio broadcast that the rebellion was already being contained.
Raji Rasaki’s moderate stance on military matters and vast experience in project management made him a very popular figure in Lagos and Ogun States. He became known as the “action governor” and he is credited with introducing transparency into the contract bidding process in Lagos state. Following his retirement from the army, Rasaki wrote several policy papers and memoirs. In addition he pursued a career as a statesman; participating in numerous conferences and forums. As a public speaker, he addressed audiences across the country and abroad. In 2005 he joined the Nigerian Peoples Democratic Party PDP, and is one of the front runners in the 2007 Oyo State gubernatorial race
Mohammed Namadi Sambo is the Governor of Kaduna State, Nigeria. An architect by training, Sambo is an alumnus of the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria
Samson Emeka Omeruah (born 14 August 1943 in Zaria, Northern Nigeria; Died 4 December 2006) was a retired air commodore of the Nigerian Air Force, a former governor of Anambra State and a former three-time Minister for Information, Youth, Sport and Culture in Nigeria during the regimes of Buhari, Sani Abacha and Abdulsalam Abubakar.
He was once the chairman of Nigeria Football Association – Nigeria’s top football governing body and still regarded as its most successful Chair. He was also the minister for Sports when the Nigerian Golden Eaglets took home the FIFA under 17 world championship cup. He returned to the position in 1994, in time to see the Green Eagles make their first World Cup and win the 1996 Olympic gold medal. He was one of the proponents of privitizing the game in Nigeria and removing control from state governments.
Apart from this, he championed the War Against Indiscipline (WAI) programme of the Buhari regime between January 1983 and August 1985. He was a committed Christian of the Methodist faith and earned a PhD from the University of Lagos in addition to degrees from Punjab University, India and Auburn University in the United States.
He died in London after a brief illness.
Bukola Saraki (born 19 December 1962) has been governor of Kwara State, Nigeria since 29 May 2003. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Saraki was a former vice chairman of Societe Generale Bank.
His father, Olusola Saraki, is a former senator of Kwara State. His sister, Gbemisola Saraki-Forowa, also holds high political office in Kwara as a senator (Kwara Central district).
The pioneer of mechanized agriculture in Nigeria
Ibrahim Shekarau (born November 5, 1955) has been Governor of Kano State in Nigeria since 29 May 2003. He is a member of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP
Shekarau was born in the Kurmawa quarters of Kano, the son of a police officer. He was educated at Gidan Makama Primary School (1961-1967), then at Kano Commercial College (1973-1977) and finally at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1973-1977) where he received a Bachelor in Education (B.Ed) in Mathematics/Education.
After finishing his degree, he went into the civil service. Later on, he started his career as a Mathematics teacher at Government Technical College, Wudil in 1978. Two years later he became Principal at Government Day Junior Secondary School, Wudil. In 1980 he was transferred to Government Secondary School, Hadejia, then to Government College Birnin Kudu in 1986, then to Government Secondary School, Gwammaja and then to Rumfa College in March 1988, all as the schools’ principal.
Shekarau became Deputy Director of Education in charge of Bichi Zonal Education Area in 1992. One year later, he was promoted to Director Planning, Research and Statistics in Ministry of Education. Two year later, he became Director General (Permanent Secretary), Ministry of Education and Youth Development.
In January 1995, Shekarau was transferred to Ministry of Water Resources, Rural and Community Development, then back to Ministry of Education in January – May 1997 before he was asked to moved to General Service Directorate of the Cabinet Office, all as Permanent Secretary. By February 2000, he was on the move again to Civil Service Commission, where he stayed for only four months before the civil service commission under Ado Gwaram Government sent him to the State College of Arts, Science and Remedial Studies (CASRS) as Chief lecturer (Mathematics) at the Department of Physcial Sciences,in May 2000. Shekarau remained in this post for 17 months before he voluntarily retired from the services of Kano State Civil Service on 2 October, 2001. Some time after quiting his post as Chief Lecturer, he decided to work as a secretary to businessman Aminu Dantata. He was employed under Dantata until he became a contender in Kano State’s 2003 gubernatorial elections.
Ibrahim Shekarau was not considered a serious contender in the gubernatorial elections of 2003 in Kano State. He was overshadowed in his party by Ibrahim Ali Amin, the chairman of the ANPP in Kano State who won the gubnatorial primaries. But being favoured by the National executive of the party including the Presidential candidate of the party, Gen Muhammadu Buhari and other influentials such as Hajia Naja’atu Bala Muhammad, Shekarau was forced in to substitute Amin who later decamped to the Peoples Redemption Party PRP and later into the Peoples Democratic Party PDP.
In April 2003 Ibrahim Shekarau won the general gubnatorial polls due to the support of Gen Buhari and anti party activity of the then vice-president Atiku Abubakar who allegedly used his office to rig the polls.
As Governor, Shekarau has achieved a lot. During his first tenure he employed over ten thousand youth who filled most of the vacancies within the state civil service. Such employments includes over fifty (50)medical doctors whom mostly are indigines of the state; qualified and to-be qualified teaching staff. To improve primary health care, his government constructed medical centres in various local governments. Due to raising population in the state, their is inadeqaute water supply within the state, so his government embarked on construction of gigantic water treatment plant which cost nearly $50 million.
Ali Modu Sheriff has been governor of Borno State in Nigeria since 29 May 2003. He is a member of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP).Sarah Bisi Sosan is a Nigerian former schoolteacher and current Deputy Governor of Lagos StateShe was born in Lagos 11 February, 1956 to the family of Chief and Mrs. Durosinmi of Irewe town in Ojo Local Government Area, Badagry division. Her mother hails from the Fafunwa Onikoyi Family of Ita-Onikoyi in Idumota, Lagos Island, and her father was a member of the defunct Action Group (AG) and Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).
She began her early education at the Unity Assembly Primary School Apapa and Secondary Education at the Awori-Ajeromi Secondary School. She commenced her sojourn in the teaching profession at the then Lagos State College of Education, Ijanikin (now Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education) in 1980 where she obtained the National Certificate of Education (NCE) and later proceeded to the University of Lagos Akoka, where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts in English Education (B.A) Ed in 1988 and a Masters Degree in Adult Education ( M.Ed ) 1989.
Her determination to keep abreast with technology led her in 2004, to proceed for an Advanced Diploma in Information Technology at the Lagos City Computer College.As a Youth Corper, Bisi taught at the St. Leo’s Secondary School Abeokuta, Ogun State as a classroom teacher while her sojourn in the Lagos State Public Service started in January 1989 when she was employed by the then Lagos State Post Primary Teaching Service Commission ( PP- TESCOM ) as a Master Grade II, a classroom teaching appointment.
Between 1990 and 1999, Mrs. Sosan left the four walls of the classroom and served as a Principal Education Officer at the Lagos State Ministry of Education and then moved to the defunct State Primary Education Board (SPEB) now Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) as an Assistant Board Secretary. Later in year 2006 when the state Primary Education Board transformed to Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, she was redeployed to the Department of Communication and Information Technology as the Head of Department (HOD). As the Head of Department, she was saddled with the responsibility of ensuring computer education and training was given the attention it deserved in Lagos State Public Primary Schools.
She was appointed to the position of Deputy Governor by Babatunde Fashola in 2007.She is married with children.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu (born 29 March 1952) was governor of Lagos State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a founding member of the Action Congress (AC) political party founded through the merger of the Alliance for Democracy faction, a faction of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Justice Party (JP) and Advance Congress of Democrats (ACD).
Born in the city of Lagos, Tinubu left Nigeria in 1975 to attend college in the United States. After attending Richard Daley College in Chicago, Illinois, he proceeded to Chicago State University and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration, specializing in Accounting and Management.
Tinubu worked for American companies Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, Haskins, & Sells, and GTE Services Corporation before returning to Nigeria in 1983 to work for Mobil Oil Nigeria. At Mobil, he eventually became treasurer of the company.
His political career began in 1992, when he was elected to the Nigerian Senate representing the Lagos West constituency. After the results of the 12 June 1993 presidential elections were annulled, Tinubu became a founding member of the pro-democracy National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which mobilized support for the restoration of democracy and recognition of the 12 June results. He went into exile in 1994 and returned to the country in 1998 after the death of military dictator Sani Abacha, which ushered in a transition to civilian rule.
In 1999, he stood for the position of Executive Governor of Lagos State on the Alliance for Democracy (AD) ticket and was elected.
Tinubu’s first term in office was characterized by lofty promises (a new power plant to tackle the chronic energy shortages in the highly industrialized state; and transportation projects including the 4th mainland bridge, the reinitiation of the Lagos Metroline Project and rehabilitation of roads; improved welfare of state government workers; improved waste management, a new traffic management agency and rehabilitation of the bar beach waterfront). Moderate success was achieved in areas such as workers’ welfare but much was left undone and these again became the promises made in the run up to a second term bid.
Tinubu also faced a major legal battle in his first term as governor when human rights lawyer Gani Fawehinmi accused the governor of perjury and providing false information in his election nomination forms, hiding information that would have disqualified him from the race.
Tinubu, alongside a new deputy governor, Femi Pedro, narrowly won re-election to office as Governor in April 2003 with 48.2% of the vote. He was the only one of 6 incumbent governors in South-West Nigeria to succeed in a reelection bid as the Nigerian ruling party (PDP) made inroads in the region dominated by the regional party (AD).
Tinubu’s tenure as Lagos State Governor ended on 29 May 2007.
He is married with six children one of whom is deceased.
Bashir Othma Tofa is a Nigerian politician. A Hausa Muslim who hails from Kano State, Tofa was the National Republican Convention (NRC) candidate in the annulled Nigeria’s June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was organised by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida.
Before his sojourn into politics, Alhaji Tofa was a businessman, oil trader and an industrialist. His running mate in the election was Sylvester Ugoh, an Igbo and a former governor of the now defunct central bank of Biafra. Both were members of the defunct National Party of Nigeria.
Tofa was apparently defeated in the presidential election by his rival Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, a Yoruba from southwest Nigeria, but the official results were never released by Babangida’s government. Banbangida was forced to step down in August 1993 after protests calling for the results of the election.
Alhaji Ibrahim Saminu Turaki (born 14 July 1963) is a Nigerian politician and former governor of Jigawa State in Nigeria, a post which he has held from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the People’s Democratic Party of Nigeria (PDP). He was elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2003 on the platform of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP).Saminu Turaki attended Federal Government College Kaduna and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) where he obtained a Bachelors Degree in Actuarial Science in 1985.Saminu Turaki’s stated goal is to transform Jigawa state from an agricultural state to a state with an information technology economy. He has undertaken the construction of a Jigawa State Broadband Network at a cost of several billion naira. The project is a satellite based communication facility for delivery of a broad range of multimedia services encompassing video, audio and data. It is first of it kind in Nigeria and the biggest in Africa. The Jigawa Network is controlled by a main earth station located in the state capital, Dutse, with uplink and downlink facilities to the satellite. The Dutse Teleport authenticates and controls all access signals transmitted to and from any system linked to the network.
The aim of the state was to produce 300 IT graduates annually and be the regional hub for software development and for assembly of hardware by 2015 and achieve 100% computerisation of key government activities by 2007. To learn from others, the state administration sponsored hundreds of its youth to study B. Sc. Computer and Computer Engineering in Singapore
Andy Uba (born 14 December 1958) is a Nigerian politician and is the former governor of Anambra State. He was sworn in on 29 May 2007 and was told to vacate the office on the 14th of June 2007. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Andy Uba was a special assistant on domestic matters to the former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2006. He is the brother of PDP chieftain and moneybag, Chris Uba and also of Ugochukwu Uba, a senator in the upper legislative house of Nigeria. Dr Andy Uba ‘won’ the April 14 gubernatorial elections in Anambra State with over 70% of total votes cast despite having entered the gubernatorial race just 6 months earlier. The elections were described as a charade by international observers.
In 2006 the Nigerian investigative journalist, Omoyele Sowore uncovered a case of money smuggling levelled against Andy Uba by the FBI. Andy Uba was accused of smuggling $170,000 to the United states aboard the Nigerian presidential jet without declaring the money to the United states authorities. The FBI was alerted to the activities of his proxy, Loretta Mabinton after a series of suspicious deposits into her bank accounts. On investigation it was discovered that Mabinton bought a Mercedes-Benz SL car worth $97,000 for Uba and shipped it to Nigeria. The car was subsequently returned to the United States. $45,000 was also used to purchase farm equipment for Nigeria’s president Obasanjo’s farm in Otta, Nigeria. After a long investigation, Uba agreed to settle the case out of court and forefeited $26,000 to the United States government. [1]. [2]
He holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, an M.Sc. from California State University and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Biological Sciences from the unaccredited Buxton University, UK
In a landmark ruling delivered by the Supreme court of Nigeria on the 14th of June 2007, Andy Uba was told to vactae the office of governor of Anambra state with immediate effect and the former governor, Peter Obi was re-instated and is to serve as governor till March 17 2010. The supreme court further stated that INEC erred by conducting elections in Anambra state when the serving governor still had over 2 years left to serve. This simply means that the governorship elections held in Anambra state on the 14th of April, 2007 was null and void ab initio and Andy Uba will have to contest in another round of elections if he is to achieve his dAchike Udenwa (born 1948) was the governor of Imo State in Nigeria. He became governor after winning the election in 1999. Udenwa won re-election in 2003, and his term ended on 29 May 2007. He is a member of the People’s Democratic Party. Udenwa is also an Igbo chief. He was succeeded by Chief Ikedi Ohakim on May 29, 2007. He was considered a reformer.
Onyema Ugochukwu (born November 9, 1944; CON—Commander of the Order of the Niger) is a seasoned Nigerian economist, journalist, and politician. Ugochukwu served as the senior Special Adviser on Communication to Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo and the first Executive Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).[1] [2] On February 25, 2008, Ugochukwu was declared the lawful winner of the 2007 gubernatorial election and Governor-elect [edit] Early life
The political turmoil which followed the first military coup in 1966 escalated into a civil war when the south-east region of Nigeria seceded as the Republic of Biafra a year later. Ugochukwu enlisted in the Biafran Army and rose to the rank of captain before the war ended in 1970 [4].
Ugochukwu joined the Business Times group as an Economic Analyst and a pioneer staff of what would later become the most influential financial newspaper in Nigeria. Ugochukwu rose in the ranks to become the Editor of the Business Times newspaper (1977 to 1982). In 1983, Ugochukwu became the Editor in Chief of the London-based West Africa Magazine, where he wrote extensively on development issues, to provide a better understanding of the African debt crisis. He eventually returned to Nigeria to become the Editor in Chief of the Daily Times of Nigeria and he was subsequently appointed to its board as the Executive Director of Manpower and Development. He retired from newspaper journalism in 1994 as the Executive Director of Publications. Ugochukwu remained active as a media consultant for the Dow Jones Financial News Service. Throughout his distinguished career as a journalist, Ugochukwu has met and interviewed numerous Heads of States — including then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher [5], South African President Nelson Mandela, Jamaican Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, French President Jacques Chirac, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Cuban President, Fidel Castro, Nigerian Presidents Ibrahim Babangida, Muhammadu Buhari, Sani Abacha, and Abdusalami Abubakar — and presented papers on African economic and political development at various forums including Oxford University, England, and Uppsala University.[6]
With Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1998, Ugochukwu became the Director of Publicity at the Obasanjo for President Campaign Organisation, and contributed immensely to the election of Olusegun Obasanjo as the President of Nigeria. Ugochukwu was appointed as the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Orientation and Public Affairs. He spearheaded a “National Rebirth” campaign aimed at instilling patriotic virtues into a national psyche ravaged by years of political instability and corruption. It was on this platform that Ugochukwu launched the “The Nigerian Declaration of Human Responsibilities”, which declares in part: “This Character on Human Responsibilities… Seeks to bring freedom and responsibility into a better balance, to highlight and increase awareness of the obligation which we owe each other and to our nation” [7].
To sooth the political unrest in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo signed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) act of 2000 into law. Ugochukwu was appointed as the pioneer chairman of the newly created commission, charged with developing the nine oil producing states of the country, with excess oil revenues. Ugochukwu helped to articulate the president’s vision of sustainable development in the Niger Delta region, and developed a policy which encouraged partnership amongst its stakeholders—Niger-delta communities and their tribal chiefs, youth militia, oil companies and their executives, the Nigerian government, and Non-Government Organizations, and international organizations like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank. During Ugochukwu’s tenure, the NDDC focused mainly on economic revival and prosperity, environmental rehabilitation, and the development of social and physical infrastructure[8].
At the end of his four-year tenure at NDDC, Ugochukwu returned to Abuja and continued to serve as the President’s Special Adviser on Communications. He took an interest in state politics, and resigned from office to join the Abia State gubernatorial race. In 2006, the Campaign for Abia Rebirth (CARE) was launched, with a promise to rebuild the state. On December 13th 2006, Ugochukwu emerged as the People’s Democratic Party’s candidate for the 2007 Abia State gubernatorial elections. The hotly contested race was marred by allegations of electoral malpractice, and violence, all of which culminated in the election of Ugochukwu’s rival, Theodore Orji of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA).
There was an attempt on Ugochukwu’s life during the Abia State Gubernatorial elections on April 14, 2007. The assailants fired shots at his motorcade, fatally wounding one of his State Security Service (SSS) bodyguards, who suffered gunshot wounds through his head and hands. Ugochukwu, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and frontrunner in the election, blamed the attack on his political opponents in the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA).
Ugochukwu sought redress at the Abia State Election Petition Tribunal. Governor Theodore Orji’s election was annulled on February 25, 2008, on the grounds that he was ineligible to contest for the office. Orji and his deputy had failed to resign their respective positions in the Abia State government, 30 days prior to the election as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution. The Tribunal also cited Governor Orji’s failure to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, his affiliation with a secret cult [12]. Ugochukwu was thus declared the lawful winner of the April 2007 gubernatorial election, and Governor-elect of Abia State — pending the outcome at the Port Harcourt Appeals Court
Abubakar Dangiwa Umar is a retired colonel[1] in the Nigerian Army and a Nigerian politician. Currently, he is a social critic and the founder of Movement for Unity and Progress (MU), a political party. He was one time the governor of Kaduna state in Nigeria
Mrs. Nenadi E. Usman is a Nigerian politician from Jere in Kaduna State, Nigeria. She began her education in Jos, then later Kagoro, after which she attended the Federal Government College, Jos, Plateau State.
She later acquired her first degree in Geography at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and later a postgraduate diploma from University of Jos.
She was the Managing Director of DANA VENTURES then later Executive Adviser (youths & Sports) in Kaduna State in 1992. She was also the Executive Adviser (Information, Home Affairs & Culture) in 1993 then the Principal Personnel officer FCDA from 1994 to 1998.
She was appointed commissioner (Women Affairs, Youth & Social Development) in Kaduna State from 1999 to 2002, then Commissioner for Environment & Natural Resourses in the state in 2002 and later Commissioner for Health from 2002 to 2003.
Mrs. Nenadi Usman has been a very active politician, philanthropist and public servant has she has served as a member Kaduna State caucus of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC). She was also a member-elect of the House of Representatives, representing Kachia/Kagarko Federal Constituency under the United Nigeria Congress Party in 1998.
She was the coordinator (women mobilization) Alh. Ahmed Makarfi Campaign team in 1999 and she was re-elected campaign committee chairman in 2003. She was the Coordinator (women mobilization) Kaduna State Chief Olusegun Obasanjo Campaign Committee.
Mrs. Nenadi Usman has played a major role in women empowerment as she had a pivotal role in the formation of an NGO called “Education and Empowerment for women” with its headquarters at Jere in Kaduna State and she is the present chairperson of the Coalition of N.G.O’s for Women Development in Kaduna State.
She was appointed the minister of state for finance and later the honourable minister of finance by the Obasanjo administration. She is married with three children
Patrick Utomi is a political economist, management lecturer and entrepreneur. He was the presidential candidate for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the Nigerian April 2007 elections.
Born February 6, 1956, Utomi is a fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria and was a Senior Faculty of the Lagos Business School (Pan African University) as Director of the Centre for Applied Economics.[1]
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (born 16 August 1951)[1][2] is the 2nd President of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. He served as governor of Katsina State in northern Nigeria from May 29, 1999 to May 28, 2007. He was declared the winner of the controversial Nigerian presidential election held on April 21, 2007, and was sworn in on May 29, 2007. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP
Yar’Adua was born into an aristocratic Fulani family in Katsina;[3] his father, a former Minister for Lagos during the First Republic, held the royal title of Mutawalli (custodian of the treasury) of the Katsina Emirate, a title which Yar’Adua has inherited.[4] [5] His name, Umaru, means “Prosperous“.[6] He started his education at Rafukka Primary School in 1958, and moved to Dutsinma Boarding Primary School in 1962. He attended Government College, Keffi, from 1965 until 1969, and received a Higher School Certificate from Barewa College in 1971.[7] He attended Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria from 1972 to 1975, attaining a BSc in Education and Chemistry, and then returned in 1978 to achieve M.Sc Degree in Analytical Chemistry
Yar’Adua’s first employment was at Holy Child College in Lagos (1975-1976). He later served as a lecturer at the Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology in Zaria between 1976 and 1979. In 1979 he began working as a lecturer at Collage of Art Science, remaining in this position until 1983, when he began working in the corporate sector.
He worked at Sambo Farms Ltd in Funtua, Katsina State as its pioneer General Manager between 1983-1989. He served as a Board Member, Katsina State Farmers’ Supply Company between 1984-1985, Member Governing Council of Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology Zaria and Katsina Polytechnic between 1978-1983, Board Chairman of Katsina State Investment and Property Development Company (KIPDECO) between 1994-1996.
Yar’Adua served as a director of many companies, including Habib Nigeria Bank Ltd. 1995-1999; Lodigiani Nigeria Ltd. 1987-1999, Hamada Holdings, 1983-1999; and Madara Ltd. Vom, Jos, 1987-1999. He was Chairman, Nation House Press Ltd, Kaduna between 1995-1999.During the Second Republic (1979-1983), Yar’ Adua was a member of the leftist People’s Redemption Party, while his father was briefly the National Vice chairman of the National Party of Nigeria. During the Transition Programme of President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Yar’ Adua was one of the foundation members of the Peoples Front, a political association under the leadership of his elder brother, the late Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. That association later fused to form the Social Democratic Party. Yar’ Adua was a member of the 1988 Constituent Assembly. He was a member of the party’s National Caucus and the SDP State Secretary in Katsina and contested the 1991 Governorship election, but lost to Saidu Barda, the candidate of the National Republican Convention and an ally of Babangida. In 1999, he ran for the same position and won.[4] He was re-elected in 2003. He was the first governor to publicly declare his assets.[8]
In 2000, during his administration as governor, Katsina became the fifth northern Nigerian state to adopt sharia, or Islamic law.[9] In 2002 Amina Lawal, a woman from Katsina, was sentenced to death by stoning by a sharia court in the town of Bakori for committing adultery; the story attracted international attention. Her sentence was at first upheld by a court in the town of Funtua, then overturned a year later following an appeal.[10]
On December 16–17, 2006, Yar’Adua was chosen as the presidential candidate of the ruling PDP for the April 2007 election, receiving 3,024 votes from party delegates; his closest rival, Rochas Okorocha, received only 372 votes.[11] Yar’Adua’s success in the primary was attributed to the support of incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo;[11][12] At the time of his nomination he was an obscure figure on the national stage, and has been described as a “puppet” of Obasanjo who could not have won the nomination under fair circumstances.[12] Shortly after winning the nomination, Yar’Adua chose Goodluck Jonathan, governor of Bayelsa State, as his vice-presidential candidate.[11][12]
Another view of the support he received from President Obasanjo is that he is one of few serving governors with a spotless record, devoid of any suspicions or charges of corruption.[12] He also belongs to the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) – a powerful political block founded by his late brother, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who was also Obasanjo’s vice president during his military rule.
Yar’Adua, who suffers from a kidney condition, challenged his critics to a game of squash in an endeavor to end speculations about his health.[13] On March 6, 2007 he was flown to Germany for medical reasons, further fomenting rumors about his health. His spokesperson said this was due to stress and quoted Yar’Adua as saying he was fine and would soon be back to campaigning. Another report, which was rejected by Yar’Adua’s spokesperson, claims that Yar’Adua collapsed after suffering a possible heart attack.[14]In the presidential election, held on April 21, 2007, Yar’Adua won with 70% of the vote (24.6 million votes) according to official results released on April 23. The election was highly controversial; it was strongly criticized by observers, and the two primary opposition candidates, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and Atiku Abubakar of the Action Congress (AC), rejected the results, believing the election to have been rigged in Yar’Adua’s favor.[15]
After the election, Yar’Adua proposed a government of national unity. In late June 2007, two opposition parties, the ANPP and the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), agreed to join Yar’Adua’s government.[16] On June 28, Yar’Adua publicly revealed his declaration of assets from May (becoming the first Nigerian Leader to do so), according to which he had ₦856,452,892 naira (US$5 million) in assets, ₦19 million ($0.1 million) of which belonged to his wife. He also had ₦88,793,269.77 ($0.5 million) in liabilities. This disclosure, which fulfilled a pre-election promise he made, was intended to set an example for other Nigerian politicians and discourage corruption.[8]
In June and July 2007, several governors who served with him before 2007 are being charged by EFCC, the anti-corruption commission. Many decisions of the former government like the hike in prices of petroleum products and VAT have been overturned by his government. Many see this as a sign that he is not a puppet of the former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
Yar’Adua’s new cabinet was sworn in on July 26, 2007.[17][18] It includes 39 ministers, including two for the ANPP.[18]
Buhari and Abubakar filed petitions to have the results of the 2007 presidential election invalidated due to alleged fraud, but on February 26, 2008 a court rejected the petitions. Buhari and Abubakar said that they would appeal to the Supreme Court. Marred with corruption, many argued that this election was rigged by Obasanjo as well as he wanted to have his successor have the same basic ideals he possessed as President. [19]
President Yar’adua is widely admired by the youth in Nigeria, and recently Dr Muktar A. Gadanya, the youngest recipient of National Honour in Nigeria[20] , has initiated a campaign to harness the goodwill of the Nigerian youth for a succesful Yar’Adua presidency titled ” God bless Nigeria’s Yar’adua” This campaign is generating good publicity. Yar’Adua has been married to Turai Umaru Yar’Adua since 1975 and they have seven children.[22] Their daughter Zainab is married to Kebbi State governor Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari.[23] Yar’Adua was married to Hauwa Umar Radda as a second wife from 1992 to 1997. They have two children.
Alhaji Ahmed Sani Yerima (b. 22 July 1960 in Anka town, Zamfara State, Nigeria) was governor of Zamfara State from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP). He unsuccessfully attempted to clinch the party’s presidential ticket for the presidential elections in 2007, but was eventually elected as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.He is presently the Minority Whip in the Federal Senate.
A controversial figure, he began the re-introduction of Sharia law in Nigeria. On August 10th 2006 it was revealed that he unsuccessfully tried to bribe Nuhu Ribadu of EFCC with N 1 million among other allegations of abuse of public funds.[1]
Isa Yuguda is the first-term Governor of Bauchi State, Nigeria.[1] He is a member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).[1]
Yuguda is a former Aviation Minister[2] and former Managing Director of Inland Bank.[3] He has three wives.[
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
Dr. Olusegun Kokumo Agagu (born 16 February 1948) has been Governor of Ondo State in Nigeria since 29 May 2003.[citation needed] He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).[1]
Once, while on a foreign trip, the people of Ondo received false reports of his death.[2]
On 29 June 2006 President Olusegun Obasanjo commended him for the work he had done leading Ondo State, saying “You have taken time to plan. We have also seen that the execution of the plan is now showing results.”[3
Jerry Gana (born 1945, in Busu, Niger State) is a Nigerian scholar, politician and former Minister for Information under Ernest Shonekan. He was the director of the Mass Mobilization for Social Justice and Economic Recovery, popularly known as MAMSER
Mohammed Abba Gana served as a Special Adviser on Civil Society to the Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar until 22 June 2006, when he was sacked by President Olusegun Obasanjo. [1] He had previously served as a Federal Capital Territory Minister from 8 February 2001 to 17 July 2003.
Femi Gbaja Biamila (born June 1962, surname also spelled Gbaja-Biamila and Gbajabiamila) is a Nigerian lawyer, Action Congress politician, and Minority Whip of the House of Representatives
Tunde Idiagbon (14 September 1942 – 24 March 1999) was a Nigerian soldier and a one-time member of the Nigerian military junta which ruled that country. He served as a military administrator of Borno State in the 1970s in the military administration of Olusegun Obasanjo. Following the ouster of the civilian administration of Shehu Shagari at the end of 1983, he rose to become the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters and defacto Vice President in the military administration of Muhammadu Buhari.
In this role, he was the de-facto second-in-command and was responsible for implementing many of the government’s policies. Chief amongst these was the War Against Indiscipline (WAI), which was a campaign to eradicate corruption and disorderliness in Nigerian life.
After 20 months in power, the government of Buhari was overthrown by Ibrahim Babangida. Idiagbon was removed from his position in this coup, and he was placed under house arrest for 3 years. After his release, he returned to civilian life in his hometown of Ilorin, Nigeria, where he died in 1999 of an unknown illness after returning from a conference.
Anthony Ikhazoboh was a Nigerian Air Commander, and former Chairman of the Nigerian Football Association, and Minister of Sports and also transport.
He was born in Kaduna, but hails from Agenebode in Edo state
Farouk Muhammad Lawan (born July 1962) is a Nigerian politician and three-term (since 1999) member of the House of Representatives for the Bagwai/Shanono Federal Constituency of Kano State.
Lawan is a graduate of Bayero University in Kano. He is married with four children.A People’s Democratic Party (PDP) member, Lawan was first elected in 1999, and again in 2003 and 2007. Lawan was the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance under former Speaker Aminu Bello Masari.[2] He identifies his legislative interests as “Appropriation, Information and Education”.[1]
During the late-2007 corruption scandal that caused former Speaker of the House Patricia Etteh to resign, Lawan led the Integrity Group, an alliance of Representatives opposed to Etteh.[3]
One of his key intellectual supporters is Dr Muktar A. Gadanya, MFR. Dr Gadanya is the youngest receipient of 2007 Nigerian National Honor Award[4], as is believed by many to be his potential successor to the seat of reperesentative in the Federal House for Bagwai/Shanono Federal Constituency, to continue with Farouk Lawan’s excellent work.
Kemafo Nonyerem “Kema” Chikwe is a former Nigerian Federal Minister of Aviation
Dapo Sarumi is a Nigerian politician and former minister for Information. In 1991, he contested the SDP gubernatorial primary but was later dis-qualified.
In late 2000, he was involved in a traffic accident and lost two of his ministerial aides.[1]
Dr. Edmund Daukoru of Nigeria is a former Nigerian Minister of Energy and the former President of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) (2006). He is from the oil-rich Bayelsa state. He holds a Ph.D in Geology from Imperial College in London. He was employed by Shell International Petroleum Company in 1970, where he rose from Chief Geologist to General Manager of Exploration in Nigeria. In 1992, he became Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. In 2003, he became Presidential Advisor on Petroleum and Energy. [1].
Isyaku Ibrahim (also spelled Isiaku) is a Kano-based Nigerian politician and businessman.[1] He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP)[2] and is President of the Nigeria Universities Games Association (NUGA).[3] [4]
Ibrahim was a member of Nigeria’s parliament in the early 1960s, before the nation’s first military coup.[5]
Ibrahim was a founding member of the PDP, and remains on its Board of Trustees.[2] He initially backed Alex Ekwueme for the PDP presidential nomination in the 1999 elections, but Ekweume lost out to Olusegun Obasanjo. Ibrahim switched to supporting Obasanjo, who won the nomination and election. However, he has since criticized Obasanjo for showing “no respect for the rule of law”,[6] and said that although Umaru Yar’Adua has taken over as President, Obasanjo is still “the de facto ruler of Nigeria”.[7]
He also criticized the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, fellow PDP member Patricia Etteh, diverging from his party’s official policy of supporting her amidst corruption allegations.[2]
Ibrahim Idris (born 1944) has been Governor of Kogi State in Nigeria since 29 May 2003. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Idris is an Igala from Omala.
Prior to his electoral success in the general elections of 2003, Idris was a successful businessman and furniture maker. Among his businesses is the three star IBRO hotel in Abuja.
Idris was re-elected in 2007, but later in the year his re-election was nullified. On February 6, 2008, the Court of Appeal upheld this ruling and ordered a new election to be held within three months. President Umaru Yar’Adua ordered the Speaker of the House of Assembly to take over as acting governor.[1]. However, in a repeat election held in March 2008, Idris was returned as the Governor of Kogi State.
On the October 29, 2006 plane crash, his 3 daughters survived the accident along with six other people. About this he claimed: ‘This is a superlative show of mercy to me and my family by Almighty Allah. I lack words to express my gratitude to the Almighty Father for this favour. I can only call on Nigerians and indeed humanity in general to join me in thanksgiving for His benevolence’.
Umaru Dikko (born 1936, Wamba) is a Nigerian politician and was a trusted adviser to President Shehu Shagari. He was also the Nigerian minister for Transportation from 1979-1983.
He started playing a role in the nation’s governance in 1967, when he was appointed as a commissioner in the then North Central State of Nigeria (now the Kaduna State). He was also secretary of a committee set up by General Hassan Katsina to unite the Northerners after a coup in 1966.[1] In 1979, he was made Shagari’s campaign manager for the successful presidential campaign of the National Party of Nigeria. During the nation’s Second Republic, he played prominent roles as transport minister and head of the presidential task force on rice.
A coup on December 31, 1983 overthrew the government of Shagari. Dikko fled into exile in London with a few other party officials.
On July 5, 1984, he played the central role in the Dikko Affair; he was found drugged in a crate labeled Diplomatic Baggage at the Stansted Airport, an apparent victim of a government sanctioned but aborted kidnapping. The crate’s destination was a minister in Lagos.[
Jeremiah Timbut Useni was Nigeria's Chief of Staff from 1997 to 1998 during the Sani Abacha military junta.
Josaiah Ndubuisi Wachuku was the Paramount Chief Head of All Ngwa of the then Aba Division of Eastern Nigeria - during British Colonial times. He was the father of Jaja Wachuku, First Nigerian Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, First Nigerian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations; plus First Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, etc. He was the grandfather of Ugonna Wachuku, Nigerian author and creative writer. Josaiah Ndubuisi Wachuku died in 1950. Josaiah Ndubuisi's father was Wachuku; and Wachuku's father was Ogbaregbe whose father was Ebii. And Ebii's father was Mkpeyi - whose father was Chekwa. Chekwa's father was Megwa. Josaiah Ndubuisi Wachuku was born in the second half of the 19th century.
Wahab Dosunmu, is a Nigerian politician and was a former minister for housing in Nigeria. He was an elected member to the Nigerian senate from 1999-2003. He later defected to the People's Democratic Party from his prior party, the Alliance for Democracy. During the 1990s, he was prominent in the struggle to enthrone the presumed winner of the June 12 presidential election of 1993
Major General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua (March 5, 1943–December 8, 1997) was a Nigerian businessman, soldier, and politician. He was the older brother of current Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua. Following on his training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in Sandhurst, England, Yar'Adua participated in the Nigerian Civil War. When Olusegun Obasanjo was military head of state from 1976 until 1979, Yar'Adua was his Vice President.
He was sentenced to life in prison by a military tribunal in 1995 after calling on the Nigerian military government of Gen. Sani Abacha and his Provisional Ruling Council to reestablish civilian rule. He died in captivity on December 8, 1997.
Yar'Adua's younger brother Umaru Yar'Adua became president of Nigeria in 2007
Yarima Ibrahim Abdullahi is a Nigerian administrator, banker and former minister for Housing, as well as Education and Works. He is a graduate of Manchester University, Britain.He has also served as the Nigerian ambassador to Malaysia and Brunei
Francis Arthur Nzeribe is the Ogbuagu, Osiji, Damanze, Oyimba of Oguta in Imo State, Nigeria. A one-time presidential candidate, he was also a 3 time Senator and is a businessman.Arthur is regarded as a maverick politician
Rilwan Lukman served as foreign minister of Nigeria
Godwin Osagie Abbe (born January 10, 1949 in Benin City, Edo, Nigeria) is the Nigeria minister of interior since July 26, 2007.
He joined the military in 1967 and served during the Nigerian Civil War. He has had both Nigerian and American military training. He was military governor of Akwa Ibom State 1988-1990) and Rivers State (1990-1991). He left the army and joined People's Democratic Party in 1999. He is married with children
Cornelius Adebayo is a former head of the Nigerian Federal Ministries of Communication and Transportation. He has been accused of involvement in the Siemens bribe scandal during his spell as communication minister
Air Vice Marshal (rtd) Frank O. Ajobena, CON was the military administrator (governor) of Abia State from 28 August 1991 until January 1992. [1]
When Felix Mujakperuo was chosen as Orodje of Okpe Kingdom in 2004, Ajobena filed suit in favor of his own claim to the throne. Ajobena’s suit was dismissed,[2] and Mujakperuo was installed as Orhue I, Orodje of Okpe on July 29, 2006
Mike Okhai Akhigbe is a retired Vice Admiral of the Nigerian Navy. He served as the de facto Vice President of Nigeria during the Abdusalami Abubakar military junta from 1998 till the termination of military government in Nigeria, in 1999. He had also previously served first as Military Governor of Nigeria’s Ondo State, and then Lagos State, after which he became Chief of Naval Staff, the highest ranking officer of the Nigerian Navy.
Air Marshal Isaac Mohammed Alfa (born 15 September 1950 in Inye, Kogi State, Nigeria) is a retired Nigerian Air Force officer and former Chief of the Air Staff. He now aspires to a political role and in 2003 he contested the governorship of Kogi State.
Augustus Aikhomu is a retired Admiral in the Nigerian Navy, who served as the de facto Vice President of Nigeria during the Ibrahim Babangida military junta from 1986 to 1993. He hails from Edo State in southern Nigeria
Samuel Edem is a former Nigerian ambassador and recently removed as Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). He hails from Ndiya,Nsit Ubium Akwa Ibom State in southern Nigeria
Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe is a retired Commodore in the Nigerian Navy , who served as the Vice President of Nigeria during the Ibrahim Babangida military government from 1985 to 1986. Most Nigerains believe that Ukiwe lost his post due to his principled nature.Knowing that Ukiwe could not pushed around,then military President,General Ibrahim Babangida replaced him with a much more docile officer,Augustus Aikhomu.It was not surprising that Aikhomu lasted seven years in a regime that had high personnel turnover.Ukiwe on his part,was unwilling to compromise personal principles for political gains. In 2006/2007 Ukiwe unsuccessfully ran for the presidency of Nigeria.
Ibrahim Gusau is a Nigerian politician and former minister for Agriculture and Industries. He is also a member of the Sokoto Sultanate council and was a member of the 1977 and 1995 constitutional assembly
Alhaji Idris Waziri headed the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Commerce, until the June 2006 cabinet reshuffle, when he was replaced by Aliyu Modibo
Timipre Sylva is a People’s Democratic Party politician who is the Governor of Bayelsa State in southern Nigeria.
Sylva was born in Rivers State, of which Bayelsa State was split off from in 1996, and was educated there and in Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria. He was a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly in the 1990s.[1]
Sylva won the gubernatorial election and succeeded Goodluck Jonathan on May 29, 2007, who went on to the position of Vice President.[2] During his inauguration, he said that Bayelsa was “the least developed industrially and commercially” of all 36 states.[2]
Sylva’s opponent in the 2007 election, Ebitimi Amgbare of the Action Congress, legally challenged his victory. Although the Bayelsa State Election Petitions Tribunal upheld Sylva’s election, Amgbare took the matter to the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt, which overturned the Tribunal’s decision and nullified Sylva’s election on April 15, 2008. The Appeal Court’s five justices were unanimous in their decision and ordered that Speaker Werinipre Seibarugo be sworn in to replace Sylva as acting Governor, with a new election to be held within three months.[3]
A new election was held on May 24, 2008, and Sylva, again running as the PDP candidate, was overwhelmingly elected with 588,204 out of about 598,000 votes.[4] He was sworn in again on May 27, saying on this occasion that he would form a broadly inclusive unity government.[5]
Sylvester Ugoh was the Vice Presidential candidate of the National Republican Convention in 1993, the NRC’s Presidential candidate being Bashir Tofa.[1]
Major General Timothy Mai Shelpidi is the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the Russian Federation.[1]
Richard Akinjide is a Nigerian lawyer and politician,Born in the ancient city of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State in the southwest of the country in the easrly 1930s to an influential family of warriors, he exhibited brilliance while in school. He travelled to the UK in 1951 for his higher education and was called to the English Bar in 1955 and later in Nigeria. He aestablished his practice of Akinjide & Co soon after. The Firm Remins One Of the Best In the Country till date. he was a minister for Justice in the administration of President Shagari. He was a member of the judicial systems sub-committee of the Constitutional Drafting Committee of 1975-1977 and later joined the National Party of Nigeria in 1978. He became the legal adviser for the party and was later appointed the Minister for Justice.
Vice Admiral Patrick Koshoni is a retired Nigerian naval officer, former chief of Naval Staff and a former minister for Health during administration of General Buhari. During his tenure as health minister, he tried to kick start a national insurance scheme, the scheme involved medical treatment without down payment
Fabian Osuji headed the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education until 2006, when he was replaced by Chinwe Obaji over a bribery controversy
Oladipo Diya is a retired Lt. General in the Nigerian Army. He served as the de facto Vice President of Nigeria during the Sani Abacha military junta from 1994 until he was arrested for treason in 1997. He hails from Odogbolu Ogun State in Western Nigeria.In 1997 Diya and a couple of dissident soldiers in the military allegedly planned to overthrow the regime of Sani Abacha. The alleged coup was uncovered by forces loyal to Abacha, and Diya and his cohorts were jailed. Diya was tried in a military tribunal, and was given the death penalty. Upon the untimely death of Abacha in 1998, Diya was pardoned by the late Head of State’s successor, Abdusalami Abubakar.
Abdullahi Ibrahim is a Nigerian lawyer, politician and administrator. He is a former Minister of Justice. Ibrahim was a legal adviser in the defunct Northern Nigeria region and later chairman of the New Nigeria Development Company.
Marshal Sokari Harry (d. March 5, 2003) was a Nigerian politician. He was the former National Vice chairman of the All Nigeria People’s Party who was later assassinated in Abuja in 2003 during the presidential elections. He was buried in Obuama, 40 kilometres South of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on July 5, 2003[1].
Previous to his murder, Harry was the chairman of the Rivers State People’s Democratic Party. He left his position that year after he threatened to leave the party if the national executive of the party didn’t carry out fresh party congresses in the state[2]. He was immediately welcomed into the ANPP soon thereafter.
Both his son, Inye Marshal Harry, and rebel leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari of the Mujahid Dokubo-Asari accused several high-ranking government officials, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Rivers State Governor Peter Odili, of conspiring for both Harry’sitician and former PDP chieftain Aminosoari Dikibo’s murders during the 2003 election[3][4].
Ahmed Aboki Abdullahi is a retired Brigadier General of the Nigerian army. As a Lieutenant Colonel, he was the Nigerian communications minister, a position he earned as a trained officer in the army signals division. He was at one point in time a general commanding officer. He is thought of as belonging to the group that supported the palace coup of General Sani Abacha in 1993.
Timothy Ihemadu is a Nigerian politician, former member of the Presidential Election Management Committee and coordinator of ceremonies for the Imo State Traditional Rulers Council.
He is the Human Bioethics Treaty Organisation (HBTO) Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and an acting member of the Oversight Committee. Timothy Ihemadu was a special envoy of the (HBTO) to Chad Republic in 2005. He is presently a member of the Nigeria National Think Tank set up to advise the present government in Nigeria at all levels. He is the country director of International Organisation for Sustainable Development in Nigeria
Hassan Muhammed Lawal is a Nigerian politician from Nasarawa State. He heads the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity
Chinwe Obaji headed the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education until the 21 June 2006 cabinet reshuffle, when she was replaced by Obiageli Ezekwesili. [1] Obaji was later probed by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) over alleged corruption
Ibrahim Shema is a Nigerian politician from Dutsin-Ma. He was educated at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Kaduna State. Shema was elected Governor of the northern Katsina State during the 2007 general elections.[1]
Lee Maeba ,Nigerian senator sits on the Committee on Trade, Customs and Immigration Matters on one of the Ten Permanent Committees of the Pan-African Parliament
Mahmud Tukur is a Nigerian politician and former minister for Commerce and Industry during the administration of General Buhari. He was the first Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano and also a former director of Cadbury Nigeria. Tukur’s enviable position and competence displayed as the Vice Chancellor of Bayero University increased his public profile in Northern Nigeria. He became friends with contemporaries such as Mamman Daura, Adamu Ciroma, Hamza Rafindadi Zayyad to form a small clique of policy advocates in Northern Nigeria. He is also the chairman of fukarabe industries
Maitama Bello Yusuf (born April, 1947) is a Nigerian politician and a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was educated at Northgate University, Washington. A member of the defunct National Party of Nigeria, he was made Minister for Internal Affairs in 1979 and Minister for Commerce in 1982.[1]
As minister for Commerce, he was in charge of curtailing imported goods to Nigeria which was massively draining the nation’s foreign reserves. Later, as a member of the opposition in the Nigerian Senate, he played prominent roles in attacking the Third Term Agenda and indicting President Obasanjo for mismanaging a petroleum development fund, he was also a prominent member of the senate committee on youth and sports
Mohammed Magoro (Born May 7, 1947) is a retired Major General of the Nigerian army and a two time former minister under Generals Obasanjo and Buhari. A Kebbi State and Zuru indigene, he was classmates with Mamman Jiya Vatsa and Ibrahim Babangida at the Provincial Secondary School, Bida. He joined the Nigerian army in 1963, and enrolled at the Nigeria Military Training College. He is currently a board of trustees member of Oando group and the People’s Democratic Party, in case of the latter, a notable fund raiser of the party. As minister for Internal Affairs, he oversaw the exodus of close to a million foreign nationals from Nigeria. He was not retained as minister under a new regime in 1985 but was appointed chairman of the Nigerian Maritime Authority
Henry Adefope (born 15 March 1926) was a foreign minister of Nigeria, and is a honorary member of the International Olympic Committee.
He was educated at Glasgow University, graduating in general medicine in 1952. He worked as a doctor from 1953 to 1963, and was then commissioned in the Nigerian Army in 1963. He rose to the rank of Major General and served as Director of Medical Services. He later becamse Minister of Labour (1975-1978) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1978-1979).
Adefope also served in a variety of positions in sports administration, including terms as the President of the Nigerian Olympic Committee from 1967 to 1976 and as Vice-President of the Commonwealth Games Federation from 1974 to 1982. In 1985, he was elected to the IOC. While with the IOC, he has been a member of the commissions that selected the host cities for the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympic Games
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August 12, 2009 at 6:25 am
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