President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the national flag be flown at half-mast, effective from the 12th to 14th of January, 2022, as a mark of respect for the former Head of State Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan, (GCFR) who died on Tuesday, January 11.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.
Chief Ernest Shonekan, who headed the Interim National
Government that succeeded the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida,
died on Tuesday at the age of 85.
He was the interim head of the Nigerian Government between
August 26, 1993, and November 17, 1993, but was ousted in a coup led by late
General Sani Abacha.
Shonekan was a British-trained lawyer, industrialist, and
former Chief Executive of the United African Company of Nigeria Plc (UAC)
before he was appointed as Interim President of Nigeria by General Ibrahim
Babangida in 1993.
He was born on May 9, 1936, in Lagos into the family of an
Abeokuta-born civil servant. He was educated at CMS Grammar School and Igbobi
College.
He received a law degree from the University of London and
was called to the bar. He later attended Harvard Business School.
Shonekan joined the UAC in 1964. He rose through the ranks
in the company and was promoted to an assistant legal adviser. He later became
a deputy adviser and joined the board of directors at the age of 40.
He was made chairman and managing director in 1980 and went
on to cultivate a wide array of international business and political
connections.
On January 2, 1993, Shonekan assumed office as head of the
transitional council and head of government under General Babangida.
At the time, the transitional council was designed to be the
final phase leading to a scheduled handover to an elected democratic leader of
the Third Nigerian Republic.
Babangida later resigned from office in August 1993,
following the annulment of the 12 June presidential election. He had signed a
decree establishing the Interim National Government led by Shonekan who was
subsequently sworn-in as Head of State.
Three months into his administration, Shonekan was overthrown
in a palace coup by Abacha in November that year.
In 1994, he founded the Nigerian Economic Summit Group an
advocacy group and think-tank for private sector-led development of the
Nigerian economy.
Since then, Shonekan went on to feature prominently as an
elder statesman.
At the time of his death, he was the third oldest surviving
Nigerian Head of State after Queen Elizabeth II and General Yakubu Gowon.