Ernest Shonekan; Industrialist who headed Interim National Government of Federal Republic of Nigeria, from August to November, 1993. Shonekan was a Chairman/Managing Director, UAC of Nigeria Limited, 1980-93. He led the Vision 2010 committee under the regime of General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s military ruler[i]. Born May 9, 1936 in Lagos but an Indigene of Abeokuta[ii],…
Muhammadu Buhari; Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria Armed Forces from December 31, 1983, to August 26,1985, before he was overthrown by Ibrahim Babangida. Buhari was also chairman, Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF. After futile effort at attaining presidency under the flagships of the All Nigerian People’s Party, ANPP, in the 2003 and 2007 and…
Jubril Aminu, Politician and educationist, also a cardiologist. In the event leading up to the Ali Must Go Students riot in 1978, Aminu as National Universities Commission, NUC Executive Secretary, asked the Supreme Military Council to introduce 50k per meal to augment the government subsides[i]. Showing versatility in his scholarship, Aminu played a significant role…
Aikhomu Augustus; Nigerian Naval Officer who served as the de facto Vice-President of Nigeria during the Ibrahim Babangida military junta from 1986 to 1993. Also once a Chief of General Staff, Aikhomu was the first naval officer to be promoted as an Admiral in black Africa. He was the first signatory to the document which…
Simeon Adebo; Public servant of the Nigerian first post-colonial generation. He was head of the Western region civil service during the political impasse that led to the Emergency rule which was declared on 29 May 1962, hence had had to interpret the role of civil servants in the uncertain passage of leadership from Premier Ladoke…
Kayode Fayemi was a pro-democracy activist of the Generals Babangida and Abacha eras, later joining politics to become governor of Ekiti state in 2010 and a cabinet member of President Buhari government in 2015. Fayemi was elected governor the second time in 2019. Growing Up Born in Ibadan in 1965, with his formative years…
Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerian civil war hero on the federal side, Statesman, and Head of the federal government as military general, 1976-79, and elected president, 1999-2007. Obasanjo, descendant of asylum seeker in aftermath of Ijebu-Ife onslaught against Owu, Adegboye, whose son, Ojopola arrived in the new Owu settlement in Abeokuta to give birth to, among others,…
Frederick Lugard was the first Governor General of Nigeria, who in January 1, 1914 amalgamated the Northern and the Southern protectorates to form one country under the British empire. Lugard was born in 1858 of missionary parents in India, and trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in England. In 1894 Lugard visited Nigeria for…
Military Oligarchy is a system in which political power rests with a few military officers. The military is a great and ancient profession, which requires appropriate demeanor and exemplary standard of conduct, encapsulated in the expression professionalism. Yet professionalism in the military, as was clear in various documented testimonies in the Oputa Panel report, even…