Olusola Obada (born 27 June 1951) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

politician and lawyer. She served as the Deputy Governor of

Osun State Osun State (; yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Ọ̀ṣun), occasionally known as the State of Osun by the state government, is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states, to the north by Kwara State, to the south by Ogun S ...

from 2003–2010, as Nigeria's Minister of State for Defence from 2011–2012 and then as Nigeria's Minister of Defence from 2012–2013 under the Cabinet of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Early life and education

Olusola Idowu Agbeja was born into the Agbejanlabofa family of Obodi in Ijeshaland on 27 June 1951, she completed her

basic education According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), basic education comprises the two stages primary education and lower secondary education. Universal basic education Basic education featured heavily in the 1997 ISCE ...

at UMC Demonstration School, Ibadan and her secondary school education at Queen's School, Ede, Osun State. She is an alumnus of Watford College of Technology,

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

where she studied Advertising Administration before proceeding to the

University of Buckingham , mottoeng = Flying on Our Own Wings , established = 1973; as university college1983; as university , type = Private , endowment = , administrative_staff = 97 academic, 103 support , chanc ...

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of Central Milton Keynes, sou ...

, United Kingdom to study

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and subsequently called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986.

Career

Private sector

Obada began her career as Advertising Officer with

Nigeria Airways Nigeria Airways Ltd., more commonly known as Nigeria Airways, was a Nigerian airline. The company was founded in 1958 after the dissolution of West African Airways Corporation (WAAC). It held the name West African Airways Corporation Nigeria ( ...

before leaving the company to work as Managing Partner in Olusola Agbeja and Co. in 1986. In 1990, she established Iron Gate Finance and Trust Company Limited, a privately owned finance and investment company where she served as Managing Director. In 1996, she was employed as the Executive Director, Finance and Administration of Materials

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Services Limited and later rose to become the company's Managing Director.

Politics

In 2003, Obada was elected as Deputy Governor of Osun State with

Olagunsoye Oyinlola Ọlagunsoye Oyinlọla (born 3 February 1951) is a retired Nigerian general, he became governor of Osun State in Nigeria in May 2003, and was reelected in 2007. He was a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). On 26 November 2010 ...

as governor until on 27 November 2010 when she vacated the post. In January 2011, Obada was appointed into Directorate position, covering the South-West of Nigeria for the Goodluck and Sambo Presidential Campaign Organisation. In July 2011, following Jonathan's victory in the Presidential elections, Obada was appointed

Minister of State for Defence The Minister of State for Defence is a mid-level position in the Ministry of Defence in the British government. It is currently held by Baroness Goldie, who took the office on 26 July 2019. Responsibilities The minister has the following min ...

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 ...

, and then served in Jonathan's cabinet as

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

Defence Minister until a major reshuffle in September 2013. On 6 March 2014, she was appointed by Goodluck Jonathan as one of the top five Nigerian elder-statesmen in the 2014 National Conference, Nigeria. On 29 September 2014, Goodluck Jonathan honoured her with the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) national award. On 2 January 2015, she was appointed by

into a Directorate position for his 2015 presidential re-election campaign. On 6 May 2015, she was appointed Chairman of the Federal University, Dutsin-Ma Governing Council, one of the last appointments made by out-going President

Personal life

Obada is married to Babatunde Obada with whom they have four children. She is a traditional

chieftain A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribe, tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categori ...

who holds about five traditional titles including those of the Erelu of Ijeshaland, Eyaloje of Argidi of Atoko, and the Yeye Asiwaju of Ibodi.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Obada, Olusola 1951 births Living people People from Osun State Yoruba women in politics Queen's School, Ibadan alumni Alumni of the University of Buckingham Nigerian women lawyers Peoples Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians Commanders of the Order of the Niger Yoruba legal professionals Female defence ministers Defence ministers of Nigeria