Chief Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan, GCFR, who headed the interim national government that succeeded the junta of Gen Ibrahim Babangida, has died.
A boardroom guru before his selection to head the Interim National Government, died at Evercare hospital, in the Lekki area of Lagos state, at the age of 85, it was gathered.
He was the interim head of the Nigerian government between August 26 and November 17, 1993, before he was ousted in a coup led by late General Sani Abacha.
He was the Chairman of the interim National Government between August 26 and November 17 1993 when he was ousted in a palace coup led by late General Sani Abacha who was Secretary of Defence.
He was the Abese of Egbaland from 1981 (in addition to a variety of other chieftaincy titles),[1] was a Nigerian lawyer and statesman who served as the interim Head of State of Nigeria from 26 August 1993 to 17 November 1993.
Prior to his political career, he was the chairman and chief executive of the United African Company of Nigeria (successor of The Niger Company), a vast Nigerian conglomerate, which at the time was the largest African-controlled company in Sub-Saharan Africa.[2]
According to Wikipedia, he was born on 9 May 1936 in Lagos. The son of an Abeokuta-born civil servant, he was one of six children born into the family.
He was educated at CMS Grammar School and Igbobi College. He received a law degree from the University of London, and was called to the bar. He later attended Harvard Business School.[3]
In his early business career, he joined the United Africa Company of Nigeria in 1964, at the time a subsidiary of the United Africa Company which played a prominent role in British colonisation. He rose through the ranks in the company and was promoted assistant legal adviser. He later became a deputy adviser and joined the board of directors at the age of 40. He was made chairman and managing director in 1980, and went on to cultivate a wide array of international business and political connections.
Crisis of the Third Republic
On 2 January 1993, he assumed office simultaneously as head of transitional council and head of government under Babangida. At the time, the transitional council designed to be the final phase leading to a scheduled hand over to an elected democratic leader of the Third Nigerian Republic.
He learned of the dire condition of government finances, which he was unable to correct. The government was hard pressed on international debt obligations and had to hold constant talks for debt rescheduling.
In August 1993, saying he “stepped aside”, resigned from office, following mounting pressures from within the military council he headed and the growing prodemocracy activism following the annulment of the 12 June elections. He signed a decree establishing the Interim National Government led by Shonekan who was subsequently sworn-in as head of state.
Interim government
He was unable to control the political crisis which ensued following the election annulment. During his few months in power, he tried to schedule another presidential election and a return to democratic rule, while his government was hampered by a national workers’ strike.
The presumed winner of the annulled election and opposition leader Moshood Abiola, viewed Sonekan’s interim government as illegitimate. Shonekan released political prisoners detained by Babangida. His administration introduced a bill to repeal three major draconian decrees of the military government. Babangida made the interim government weak by placing it under the control of the military.
Sonekan had lobbied for debt cancellation but, after the election annulment, most of the Western powers had imposed economic sanctions on Nigeria. Inflation was uncontrollable and most non-oil foreign investment disappeared.
The government also initiated an audit of the accounts of NNPC, the oil giant, an organisation that had many operational inefficiencies. He served as an Executive of Royal Dutch Shell while acting as the interim president of Nigeria.
He tried to set a timetable for troop withdrawal from ECOMOG’s peacekeeping mission in Liberia. General Sani Abacha, was the minister of defence and chief of defence staff who had full control over the military.
Out of office
In November 1993, three months into his administration, he was overthrown in palace coup by Abacha.
In 1994, he founded the Nigerian Economic Summit Group an advocacy group and think-tank for private sector-led development of the Nigerian economy.
Since then he had gone on to feature prominently as an elder statesman.
He was married to Margaret Sonekan.
