What to know about late Ernest Shonekan, head of Interim National Government

The death of Chief Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan, who headed the Interim National Government (ING), that succeeded the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, on Tuesday, January 11, at the age of 85, effectively ends another era of great nationalists who fought for the existence of Nigeria during the dark years of military dictatorship.

Shonekan who was the Abese of Egbaland, a traditional title conferred on him by his community in Ogun State in 1981, was born on May 9, 1936.

He was a British-trained lawyer, businessman, politician, astute administrator and statesman who was installed the interim Head of State of Nigeria from August 26, 1993, before he was removed in November 17, 1993, by the late Gen. Sani Abacha, which made him the 9th Head of State of Nigeria.

Before he was made the interim head of state, Shonekan was the chairman and Chief Executive Officer the United African Company of Nigeria (UAC), which was unarguably the largest conglomerate in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Shonekan, though from Abeokuta in Ogun State, was born in Lagos, in a family of six. He had his early education at the CMS Grammar School and Igbobi College.

He obtained a degree in law from the University of London, and later attended the Harvard Business School.

Shonekan joined the United Africa Company of Nigeria in 1964 and rose through the ranks to become the MD/CEO.

At the age of 40, Shonekan was one of the youngest members of the board of directors of UAC having risen to the rank of deputy legal adviser.

Also Read: Nigeria mourns as Head of Interim Nat’l Govt, Ernest Shonekan, dies at 85

He was made Chairman and Managing Director in 1980, and went on to cultivate a wide array of international business and political connections, before eventually making a foray into the world of politics.

Following a crisis that rocked Nigeria with the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Shonekan was installed by IBB as the interim head of state and assumed office as both the head of transitional council and head of government.

As the head of the transitional council, he was to design a roadmap for a scheduled hand over to an elected democratic leader of a Third Nigerian Republic.

However, in August 1993, Babangida resigned from office, but signed a decree establishing the Interim National Government and swore in Shonekan as the interim head of state.

In his short stint as the interim leader, Shonekan faced a serious political crisis which ensued following the election annulment, with the perceived winner of the election, MKO Abiola, mounting pressure on Shonekan to recognise him as president, often describing the Interim National Government as illegitimate.

Shonekan tried to schedule another presidential election and a return to democratic rule, but his efforts were thwarted by national strikes and opposition coming from the Abiola camp.

Shonekan however, scored some points by releasing political prisoners detained by Babangida and introducing a bill to repeal three major draconian decrees of the military government.

He also lobbied for Nigeria’s foreign debts to be cancelled after most European countries had imposed economic sanctions on Nigeria following the June 12 debacle.

Another milestone in Shonekan’s short stint as head of state was initiating the audit of the accounts of the NNPC.

He also set a timetable for Nigerian troops withdrawal from ECOMOG’s peacekeeping mission in Liberia, something the hierarchy of the Nigerian Army and in particular, Abacha, who was the Minister of Defence and Chief of Defence Staff frowned at and argued that Shonekan had no right to meddle into.

Three months into his administration, in November 1993, Shonekan was overthrown by Abacha in what many have come to describe as a palace coup.

In 1994, Shonekan founded the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, an advocacy group and think-tank for private sector-led development of the Nigerian economy.

As an elder statesman, Shonekan featured prominently on national issues in advisory role and at the time of his death, he was the third oldest surviving Nigerian Head of State after Queen Elizabeth II and General Yakubu Gowon.