Sen. Ayogu Eze (born 23 November 1958) was elected Senator for the
Enugu North Senatorial District
Enugu North senatorial District in Enugu State is made up of six local government areas of Igbo-Etiti, Igboeze North, Igboeze South, Nsukka
Nsukka is a town and a Local Government Area in Enugu State, Nigeria. Nsukka shares a common bord ...
of
Enugu State
Enugu State ( ig, Ȯra Enugu) is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by the states of Benue and Kogi, Ebonyi State to the east and southeast, Abia State to the south, and Anambra State to the west. T ...
,
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, taking office on June 05, 2007. He is currently a member of the
All Progressives Congress
The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, the ...
, APC but was elected to the senate under the
People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to:
* People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
*People's Democratic Party (Belize)
*People's Democratic Party (Bhutan)
*People's Democratic Party (Chile)
* People's Democratic Party (Dom ...
(PDP).
[ ]
Education
Sen. Eze attended the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu, where he obtained Higher National Diploma in
Mass Communication
Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...
. He proceeded to
International Institute for Journalism, IIJ Berlin, Germany, where he graduated on top of the G55 student stream, comprising working journalists from about 14 African countries. He also studied for a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the
University of Lagos
The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...
. He has also successfully attended the executive education programmes of the
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the public policy school, school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in p ...
, where he studied “Leadership for the 21st Century: chaos, conflict and courage”;
Säid Business School of the
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, where he studied “The Oxford Programme on Negotiation” as well as the
Judge Business School
Cambridge Judge Business School is the business school of the University of Cambridge. The School is a provider of management education. It is named after Sir Paul Judge, a founding benefactor of the school.
The School is considered to be pa ...
of the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, where the focus of study was “Leadership in Parliamentary Oversight Programme”.
Early career
He had a very active journalism career, working as a reporter and staff writer with the prestigious
The Guardian newspaper
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
of Nigeria between 1983 and 1989, becoming the head of the Insight Team of the newspaper’s features desk before being deployed to head the Guardian Express, an evening paper from the stable, where he broke the news of the deportation of an intellectual and a critic of the military government, Patrick Wilmot, by the then Nigerian military government of General
Ibrahim Babangida
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August, 1941) is a retired Nigerian Army general and politician. He served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993. He rose through the ranks to serve from 1984 to 1985 as Ch ...
. He later headed the Advance Desk of the newspaper, charged with producing the first edition of The Guardian newspaper, circulated mainly in the eastern and northern parts of the country. In 1989, he moved to edit the Platform Magazine, published by late Dr.
Chuba Okadigbo
Chuba Wilberforce Okadigbo (17 December 1941 – 25 September 2003), was a Nigerians, Nigerian philosopher, academic, writer and political scientist. He served as President of the Senate of Nigeria, Senate president of Nigeria from 1999 to 20 ...
in
Lagos
Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...
. He left the Platform Magazine in 1991 to join yet another flagship of the journalism profession, this time in the magazine sector. He joined the
Newswatch magazine, easily Nigeria’s most prestigious magazine, as Associate Editor in 1991, leaving there in 1992 to join the
Enugu State government as Special Adviser in General Duties to Governor
Okwesilieze Nwodo
Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo (Okwy) (born 28 July 1950 in Nsukka, Nigeria) is a Nigerian politician who was elected Governor of Enugu State in January 1992 during the Nigerian Third Republic.
Later he became the national secretary, national chairman, ...
. After that government was overthrown by General
Sani Abacha
Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...
in November 1992, Sen. Eze went into private life, trying his hands on produce trade and real estate business.
Political career
At the threshold of the return of politics in 1998, he became a pioneer national ex officio member of the then newly born political party, the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, an amalgam of about 34 political groupings that came together in June of that year at Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, to become a formidable political platform that went on to succeed the military administration of General
Abdulsalami Abubakar
Abdulsalami Abubakar (; born 13 June 1942) is a Nigerian statesman and retired Nigerian Army general who served as the ''de facto'' President of Nigeria from 1998 to 1999. He was also Chief of Defence Staff between 1997 and 1998. He succeede ...
. When the new party began to form her state structures, Sen. Eze moved down to his home state of
Enugu
Enugu ( ; ) is the capital city of Enugu State in Nigeria. It is located in southeastern part of Nigeria. The city had a population of 820,000 according to the 2022 Nigerian census. The name ''Enugu'' is derived from the two Igbo words ''Énú ...
, in Nigeria’s south eastern area, to join hands in midwifing the party in the state. He contested and won the position of state secretary, becoming the party’s pioneer state secretary. The PDP won the election in Enugu as in many other states in the country in the 1999 general election. The new governor, Dr.
Chimaroke Nnamani
Chimaroke Nnamani (born 30 May 1960) is a medical doctor and Nigerian politician from Enugu State. He was elected Governor of Enugu State in the 1999 Enugu State gubernatorial election from 1999 to 2007. He subsequently served as a People's De ...
appointed Sen. Eze into his cabinet in 1999, making him the commissioner for Information and Culture. In 2001, he was redeployed to the newly created Ministry of Culture and Tourism but after his heroic effort in the governor’s successful reelection bid in 2003, the new ministry was remerged with the Information ministry to create yet a new Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism. In another cabinet shakeup in 2006, he was dropped from the cabinet but was called back in 2007 to serve as Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Affrairs, a position he held till he was elected to the
Nigerian Senate
The Senate is the upper chamber of Nigeria's bicameral legislature, the National Assembly of Nigeria. The National Assembly (popularly referred to as NASS) is the nation's highest legislature, whose power is to make laws, is summarized in chapt ...
in 2007.
In the Senate, he was appointed chairman of the senate committee on Information and Media, making him the official spokesman of the senate. For the eight years he spent in the senate, he was a member of the Constitution Drafting and Amendment Committee that made some novel changes to Nigeria’s 1999 constitution. After his reelection to the senate in 2011, he was appointed chairman of the committee on works. Eze also served as a member of committees on Police Affairs, National Planning, Marine Transport and Federal Character & Inter-Government Affairs.
[
In a mid-term evaluation of Senators in May 2009, ThisDay newspaper said that he effectively manned the information machinery of the Senate, and he was articulate in debates in plenary motions, particularly on the collapse of the road infrastructure.
He has been described as one of the most powerful of the senators.
Eze competed successfully to be reelected Senator for Enugu North Senatorial District on the PDP platform in the April 2011 elections. He polled 86,220 votes, beating Mike Ajogwu of the Labour Party who got 27,139 votes.
The former senator nursed the ambition of running for the governor of ]Enugu State
Enugu State ( ig, Ȯra Enugu) is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by the states of Benue and Kogi, Ebonyi State to the east and southeast, Abia State to the south, and Anambra State to the west. T ...
in the 2015 general elections under the umbrella of the PDP. However, he lost the primary election to the incumbent governor of the state Rt Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi
Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi CON (popularly known as "Gburugburu") (born 20 March 1964) is a Nigerian politician who was elected as the Governor of Enugu State in April 2015, and was sworn on 29 May 2015. He was a member of the House of Represent ...
. Th primary election which was riddled controversies ended in series of legal actions. However, he lost both at the Appeal Court and at the Supreme Court.
Sen. Eze also contested the 2019 governorship election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC but withdrew from the election when the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was established in 1998 and is the electoral body which oversees elections in Nigeria.
History
Regulation and administration of elections
The administration of democratic elections in Nige ...
, INEC, omitted his name from the final list of candidates for the election, in the aftermath of intractable contrived intra-party legal tussle. Again, Sen. Eze headed to the electoral tribunal to contest his exclusion from the election even after the court had restored his name as the party’s Bona Fide candidate but was prevailed upon to stay the matter by traditional rulers and political leaders from Enugu State
Enugu State ( ig, Ȯra Enugu) is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by the states of Benue and Kogi, Ebonyi State to the east and southeast, Abia State to the south, and Anambra State to the west. T ...
.
TITLES/HONOURS:
In 2012, he was decorated with one of Nigeria’s most prestigious national honours, the Commander of the Order of the Niger
Nigeria became an independent country on 1 October 1960 and in 1963 became the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The republic instituted two orders of merit: the Order of the Niger and the Order of the Federal Republic.
Award
The two highest honour ...
, CON.
Sen. Eze also holders the following chieftaincy titles:
* Ebube Dike of Ogruteland, conferred on him by his Ogrute clan in April 1993 in his home local government area of Igbo Eze North
Igbo Eze North is a Local Government Area in the north of Enugu State, Nigeria. It borders Kogi State and Benue State. Its headquarters are in the town of Enugu-Ezike. Igbo Eze North is made up of two towns. They are Enugu Ezike and Etteh. Igb ...
.
* Okwulora of Umuozzi, bestowed on him by late Igwe J. O. Mamah, Ohabuenyi of Umuozzi in April 1993, also in Igbo Eze North
Igbo Eze North is a Local Government Area in the north of Enugu State, Nigeria. It borders Kogi State and Benue State. Its headquarters are in the town of Enugu-Ezike. Igbo Eze North is made up of two towns. They are Enugu Ezike and Etteh. Igb ...
Local Government Area.
* Eze Chinaza Ekpere of Umumba Ndi Agu, conferred on him by late Igwe Joseph Chibuko of Umumba Ndi Agu, Ezeagu
Ezeagu is a Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Aguobu-Owa.
Localities
* Umuana-ndiuno
Umana-Ndiuno is a town in the Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State in eastern Nigeria. It contai ...
Local Government Area, Enugu State in 2009.
* Odezulu Igbo of Unadu, conferred on him by Igwe Barnabas Okechukwu Agbaji, Enyi 1 of Unadu Kingdom of Igbo Eze South
Igbo Eze South (or Igboeze South) is a Local Government Area of Enugu State in South East, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Ibagwa-Aka (or Ibagwa-Eka). The present local government Chairman is Comrade Peter Andy.
It has an area of ...
Local Government Area, Enugu State in 2014.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eze, Ayogu
Living people
1958 births
Peoples Democratic Party members of the Senate (Nigeria)
People from Enugu
Enugu State politicians
21st-century Nigerian politicians