AMBASSADOR OJO MADUEKWE (CFR)

Chief Ojo Maduekwe, born on the 6th of May 1945, graduated with honours from the University of Nigeria in 1972 and was admitted to practice as a barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1973. That was the beginning of a stellar career at the Bar, in politics and public office. He served as a member of the National Boundaries Commission in 1997 and in the same year was appointed member/Technical Adviser, VISION 2010. He served as a member of the defunct National Assembly in 1983 before the military took over the reins of Government that year. Between 1988 and 1989 he served as a member of the National Assembly.

Chief Ojo Maduekwe participated in the constitutional conference in 1994-1995. At the dawn of the new democratic experience in 1999, he was appointed Obasanjo’s Minister of Culture and Tourism and was later appointed Minister of Transport, a position in which he proposed a bicycle riding culture for Nigerians not only as a means of transport but for fitness. When he left that office he became the President’s Adviser on Legal and Constitutional Affairs and later served as National Secretary of Africa’s largest political party, the peoples Democratic (Party PDP).

He was tapped from that position and translated to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2007 and 2010. When it was time for election, he became the Deputy Director General of the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan Presidential Campaign –the outcome of his being the election of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

That summarizes the career in public office of a senior member of the Nigerian Bar. Chief Ojo Maduekwe is married to Chief (Mrs.) Ucha Maduekwe and they are blessed with children.