John Odigie Oyegun (born 12 August 1939) is a Nigerian politician who served as the first national chairman of

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) in Nigeria. He was also the Executive Governor of

Edo State Edo, commonly known as Edo State, is a state located in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. As of 2006 National population census, the state was ranked as the 24th populated state (3,233,366) in Nigeria, However there was controversy ...

between 1992 and 1993, during the aborted

Nigerian Third Republic The Third Republic was the planned republican government of Nigeria in 1993 which was to be governed by the Third Republican constitution. Founded (1993) The constitution of the Third Republic was drafted in 1989. General Ibrahim Badamasi B ...

. Oyegun led then opposition APC and Muhammad Buhari to victory in 2015 after defeating ruling

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 and President

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

. It was the first time an incumbent president and a ruling party was defeated in a presidential poll in Nigeria.

Background

John Odigie Oyegun was born on 12 August 1939, in

Warri The city of Warri is an oil hub within South-South Nigeria and houses an annex of the Delta State Government House. Warri City is one of the major hubs of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Warri and her twin city, Uvwie are the commercial c ...

, Delta State to an Edo father and Urhobo mother from Agbarha Ughelli. He attended St. Patrick's College,

Asaba Asaba is the capital city of Delta State, Nigeria. It is located at the western bank of the Niger River, in the Oshimili South Local Government Area. Asaba had a population of 149,603 as at the 2006 census, and a metropolitan population of o ...

, and then went to the

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 196 ...

where he obtained a bachelor's degree in Economics. He then served in various capacities as a federal civil servant working as a development planner.

Political career

Chief John Oyegun was elected as civilian governor of Edo State on the SDP platform, during the transition to democracy launched by 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 C ...

and served from January 1992 to November 1993. He was removed from office after 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 ...

seized power. Later, he became a leader of the

All Nigeria Peoples Party The All Nigeria Peoples Party (abbr. ANPP) was a political party in Nigeria. Under the leadership of Late Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke who was its vice presidential candidate to General Muhammadu Buhari in the 2007 presidential elections. The party ...

(ANPP). In 2009 he was chairman of the Technical Working Committee of CODER. On 13 June 2014 Odigie-Oyegun was elected as national chairman of the APC.

Bola Tinubu Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu (born 29 March 1952) is a Nigerian accountant and politician who served as the Governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007 and Senator for Lagos West during the brief Third Republic. In June 2022, he was chosen as the A ...

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, states, it is both the List of Nigerian states by population, most populous and List of Nigerian state ...

, the APC national leader, is thought to have played an important role in the decision. The choice of Oyegun, from the mostly Christian south of the country, was calculated to win both Christian and Moslem votes in the challenge to President

(PDP). In 2017 Odigie-Oyegun came under intense criticism of various factions of the party including some powerful group of APC Governors for his handling of the party calling for his removal from office as national chairman of the party. President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

, the leader of the party and seven of its governors backed Odigie-Oyegun to remain in office. President Buhari later withdrew his support for Odigie-Oyegun when it became clear that most of the governors and other powerful members of the party were resolute in their efforts to remove Odigie-Oyegun from office and install a successor

Adams Oshiomhole Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole (born 4 April 1952), is a Nigerian politician and the former National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress. He had previously served as the President of Nigeria Labour Congress from 1999 to 2007 and the executive gove ...

from same state as Odigie-Oyegun. Odigie-Oyegun stepped down from office of the National Chairman of the party by not seeking re-election for a second term in office at the 2018 elective national convention of the party leaving Adams Oshiomhole his opponent the sole candidate for the position.

References

1939 births Living people People from Warri Governors of Edo State All Nigeria Peoples Party politicians All Progressives Congress politicians Candidates in the Nigerian general election, 2011 Leaders of political parties in Nigeria University of Ibadan alumni Edo people Urhobo people {{nigeria-politician-stub