Profile
Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan was the 9th President of the federal Republic of Nigeria. He was born on the 9th of May 1936 in Lagos, Nigeria. Ernest Shonekan was a British-trained Nigerian lawyer, industrialist, politician and traditional chieftain who was appointed as interim president of Nigeria by General Ibrahim Babangida on 26 August 1993.
Babangida resigned under pressure to cede control to a democratic government. Shonekan’s transitional administration only lasted three months, as a palace coup led by General Sani Abacha forcefully dismantled the remaining democratic institutions and brought the government back under military control on 17 November 1993.
Prior to his political career, Shonekan was the chief executive of the United African Company of Nigeria PLC, a large Nigerian conglomerate.
Personal Life
Ernest Shonekan was happily married to Margaret Shonekan with children.
Education
| School | Degree | Date |
| C.M.S grammar school and Igbobi College, Lagos | WAEC | |
| University Of London | B.A Law | |
| Harvard Business School |
Work History
| Place | Position | Date |
| UAC | assistant legal adviser – chairman and chief executive | 1964 – 1993 |
Political History
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- On 2 January 1993, Shonekan assumed office as the head of government affairs under the leadership of the military president Babangida. At the time, the transitional council was designed to be the final phase leading to a scheduled hand over to an elected democratic leader.Shonekan assumed the office of President of Nigeria on 26 August 1993, with Babangida’s blessing. The nation was gradually moving towards a stalemate. Shonekan had lobbied for debt cancellation but, after the cancellation of 12 June elections, most of the western powers had imposed economic sanctions on Nigeria.Inflation was uncontrollable and most non-oil foreign investment disappeared. The political problems continued. The winner of the 12 June elections vowed to oppose the interim government. The democracy supporters of southwest Nigeria, Shonekan’s region, considered him an obstacle on the nation’s path to democracy, social justice, and improving the welfare of the people. During his few months in power, he tried to create a new timetable for democratic return, while his government was hampered by a workers’ strike.Shonekan released political prisoners detained by Babangida. He tried to set a timetable for troop withdrawal from ECOMOG’s peacekeeping mission in Liberia. The government also initiated an audit of the accounts of NNPC, the oil giant,[2] an organisation that had many operational inefficiencies. Shonekan’s administration introduced a bill to repeal three major draconian decrees of the military government.His control of the military was loose. This would ultimately prove to be his undoing, as the defence secretary made a military coup and took control of power in November 1993, just a few months into the administration
