Chief Ernest Shonekan, the leader of the Interim National Government that followed General Ibrahim Babangida’s military administration, has died.
He died at a Lagos hospital on Tuesday, January 11th.
The news of his death was confirmed by the Ogun State administration to Channels Television.
Between August 26, 1993, and November 17, 1993, Shonekan served as the interim President of Nigeria.
In a coup conducted by the late General Sani Abacha, he was deposed.
He was born in Lagos on May 9, 1936, into the family of a public servant from Abeokuta. He went to CMS Grammar School and Igbobi College for his education.
He graduated from the University of London with a law degree and was admitted to the bar. He went on to Harvard Business School after that.
General Babangida appointed Shonekan as the head of the transitional council and administration on January 2, 1993.
In November of that year, three months after taking office, Shonekan was deposed by Abacha in a palace coup.
In 1994, he created the Nigerian Economic Summit Organisation, a think-tank and advocacy group supporting private-sector-led economic development in Nigeria.
Shonekan has risen to prominence as an elder statesman since then.
He was the third oldest surviving Nigerian Head of State after Queen Elizabeth II and General Yakubu Gowon as of the time of his death.
