Ibikunle Amosun

Senator Ibikunle Amosun
Governor of Ogun State
Assumed office
May 2011
Preceded by Gbenga Daniel
Senator for Ogun Central
In office
May 2003 – May 2007
Preceded by Femi Okurounmu
Succeeded by Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello
Personal details
Born (1958-01-25) 25 January 1958
Political party Accord Party

Ibikunle Amosun (born 25 January 1958) is a Nigerian politician who was elected senator for the Ogun Central district of Ogun State, Nigeria in April 2003. In April 2007 he made an unsuccessful bid to be elected governor of Ogun State. He ran for governor again on 2011, and this time was elected on the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) platform.[1] He ran for office for the 2nd Term under the All Progressives Congress in 2015 and won and was re-elected and sworn into office May 29, 2015.

Background

Amosun was born on 25 January 1958 to a Muslim family. He attended primary school at African Church Primary school in Abeokuta (1965–1970), and then African Church Grammar school, Abeokuta (1971 – 1977). He then went to Ogun State Polytechnic, graduating with a Higher National Diploma (HND) in 1983. Amosun gained an Associate membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in 1990. He became a fellow of the Institute in 1996. He also became an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (1998).[2]

Amosun began his career as an audit trainee with Lanre Aremu & Co. (Chartered Accountants) 1984. Later he joined XtraEdge Consulting as a managing consultant. From 1990 he was Principal partner of Ibikunle Amosun & Co. (Chartered Accountants) in Lagos. Amosun went to the University of Westminster in London, United Kingdom, where he acquired a Master of Arts in International Finance in 2000.[2]

Political career

In April 2003, Ibikunle Amosun was elected to the senatorial seat of Ogun Central Senatorial district.[2] He was an unsuccessful candidate to become Governor of Ogun State in April 2007, running on the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) platform, but was defeated by Gbenga Daniel. He disputed the result, but in August 2009 the Ogun State Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed the petition.[3]

Amosun was the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) for April 2011 Ogun State gubernatorial election. A report in the Nigerian Tribune on 12 February 2011 quoted his media aide as saying he had switched to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), but this was denied by ACN officials.[4] Amosun won the 26 April election running on the ACN platform with 377,489 votes. Adetunji Olurin of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) polled 188,698 votes and Gboyega Isiaka of the PPN came third with 137,051 votes.[1]

In 2015 Amosun stood for a second term as governor. He chose, Yetunde Onanuga, as his running mate of the state governor. He had to find a new running mate as his previous deputy governor had defected to an opposition party. Amosun chose Onanuga who had been working in the Lagos State Ministry of Environment over three other possible candidates.[5]

Awards and honours

His leadership qualities and outstanding achievements have earned him recognition nationally and internationally, some of these include:

  1. In October 2012, he was awarded as the Best Security Conscious State Governor in West Africa by Security Watch Africa in Accra, Ghana. The award was presented by the Chairperson, Board of Trustees, Security Watch Africa, Dr Theresa Oppory Beeko[6][7]
  2. In September 2013, he received the Investment Development Icon Award for 2013 from African Leadership magazine in New York.[8]
  3. In November 2013, Businessday Newspaper in Lagos honoured him with the Good Governor Award as the governor of the fastest growing state economy.[8]
  4. In September 2014, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan conferred on him the National Honour Award as the Commander of the Order of the Niger (C.O.N).[9]
  5. He bagged the Governor of the Year award for 2016 for his outstanding achievement in leadership and infrastructural development. The award was conferred on him by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (N.U.J) President, Abdulwaheed Odusile at the Award Night and Investiture of the Governor of the Year to mark N.U.J. at sixty-two.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 "Ibikunle Amosun of ACN wins Ogun State". InDepth Nigeria. April 27, 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
  2. 1 2 3 "SIA's profile". Ibikunle Amosun. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
  3. ↑ "Tribunal again upholds Gbenga Daniel's election". Business Day. 28 August 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
  4. ↑ Olayinka Olukoya (12 February 2011). "2011: Senator Ibikunle Amosun Dumps ACN, Joins CPC". Nigerian Tribune. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
  5. ↑ How Amosun’s running mate emerged, 19 December 2014, VanguardNGR, Retrieved 17 February 2016
  6. ↑ the nationonlineng.net/amosun-a-honour-well-deserved.
  7. ↑ http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/ibikunle-amosun-consumate-philanthropist.
  8. 1 2 https://oouagoiwoye.edu.ng/the-visitor.
  9. ↑ http://www.imostateonline.com/releases/717-fg-releases-list-of-2013-2014-national-honours-award-recipients.
  10. ↑ http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/04/nuj-honours-gov-amosun-others-outstanding-achievement-leadership.
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