Jeremiah Timbut Useni (born 16 February 1943) is a retired

Nigerian army The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is governed by the Nigerian Army Council (NAC). The Chief of Army Staff is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Army. History Formation The Nigerian ...

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

, who served as minister responsible for the administration of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja under the

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 ...

military junta. He served Nigeria in various capacities such as Minister for Transport and Quarter-Master General of the Nigeria Army. Useni also served as Deputy Chairman of one of the significant parties in Nigeria, 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 ...

. He was elected Senator for the Plateau South constituency of Plateau State, Nigeria in the March 2015 national elections. Useni was running on the People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform.

Military service

Useni came to national limelight in Nigeria when he was appointed Military Governor of Nigeria's defunct Bendel State in January 1984. In 1998, Useni then minister for the capital territory of Abuja, was rumored as a successor to General

. Useni states that the decision to appoint

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 ...

instead was based on protocol. Ten years later, Useni insisted Abacha died a natural death, contrary to rumors that he died after eating a poisoned apple. Speaking in April 2008, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Aliyu Modibbo Umar, blamed problems with the Abuja Master Plan on the administration of Useni as a minister under the Abacha military government.

Political career

In August 2001, he was appointed head of a delegation from the

Arewa Consultative Forum The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) is a political and cultural association of leaders in Northern Nigeria formed in 2000 which has considerable influence in the political scene. (Arewa means "Northern" in Hausa, the primary language of the region.) ...

to meet and discuss common goals with Northern state governors and other leaders. In 2003, he was Deputy National Chairman, North for the

(ANPP). In November 2004, he was locked in an internal ANPP struggle with Chief

Donald Etiebet Chief Donald Dick Etiebet (1934 - 21 July 2015) was a Nigerian politician who was a senator during the Nigerian Second Republic (1979 - 1983). He was then elected governor of Cross River State with the support of the then Senate president Josep ...

, the National Chairman. In May 2006, he left the ANPP to become chairman of a new party, the Democratic People's Party, taking with him other members of the progressive wing of the ANPP. However, he was suspended indefinitely in December 2008, for saying the death of

Ken Saro-Wiwa Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (10 October 1941 – 10 November 1995) was a Nigerians, Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist. Ken Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homelan ...

was a national sacrifice. He was succeeded by Biodun Ogunbiyi, who criticized Useni's poor leadership, resulting in failure to win any seats in the Senate or

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in the April 2007 elections. Useni ran for election as Senator for Plateau South in April 2011 on the DPP platform, but was defeated by Victor Lar of the PDP. He later on ran for election as Senator for Plateau South In 2015 under the People's Democratic Party which he won.

Governorship run

In October 2018, Jeremiah Useni won the party primaries in the PDP to run for Office Of The Governor Of Plateau state under the platform of the People's Democratic Party. He lost in the general election to incumbent Simon Lalong who polled 595, 582 votes to Useni's 546, 813. Useni challenged the election of Simon Lalong at the plateau State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on the ground that Lalong was ineligible to assume the position of Governor, having submitted a different certificate to the electoral umpire (INEC) bearing different name to that of the present Governor of Plateau State, Simon Bako Lalong. The three panel of justices Tribunal led by Justice Halima Salami struck out Useni's petition affirming the election of Lalong for lack of substantial evidence to prove the discrepancy of names in the certificate Lalong submitted to INEC. Useni appealed the judgement of the tribunal at both Appeal Court and the Supreme Court but lost. The disappointing judgment from the courts ended his 2019 ambition to rule Plateau State.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Useni 1943 births Living people All Nigeria Peoples Party politicians Democratic People's Party (Nigeria) politicians Governors of Bendel State Ministers of the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria) Federal ministers of Nigeria Nigerian Military School alumni Members of the Senate (Nigeria) Peoples Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians Plateau State