Former Nigerian interim leader, Ernest Shonekan has died at the age of 85.
Chief Ernest Shonekan, was the former head of the Interim National Government that succeeded the military junta of General Ibrahim Babangida.
He was the interim head of the Nigerian government between August 26 and November 17, 1993, before he was ousted in a coup led by the late General Sani Abacha.
Report says Shonekan died at a Lagos hospital.
Shonekan was the third oldest surviving Nigerian Head of State after Queen Elizabeth ll and General Yakubu Gowon.
The Late Shonekan
Chief Ernest Shonekan was a British trained Lawyer, Industrialist and former Chief Executive of the United African Company of Nigeria PLC before he was appointed as interim President of Nigeria by General Ibrahim Babangida in 1993.
He was born in Lagos on May 9, 1936 and was educated at CMS grammar School and Igbobi College.
He bagged his law degree from the University of London and was called to bar.
The late Ernest Shonekan later attended Harvard Business Shcool.
Shonekan joined the UAC in 1964 and rose through the ranks where he 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 businesses and political connections.
Shonekan assumed office as head of the Transitional Council and head of government under General Babangida on January 2,1993.
The Transitional Council was designed to be the final phase leading to a scheduled handover to an elected democratic leader of the third Nigerain Republic.
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 elderstatesman.
NP/Confidence Okwuchi
