Okon Uya Explained

Okon Edet Uya
Office1:Chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria
Term Start1:1993
Term End1:19 November 1993
Predecessor1:Humphrey Nwosu
Successor1:Sumner Dagogo-Jack
Birth Date:12 June 1947
Birth Place:Akwa-Ibom
Nationality:Nigerian

Okon Edet Uya (12 June 1947 – 17 April 2014) was briefly the chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON), appointed by President Ibrahim Babangida after the presidential elections of the 12 June 1993 had been annulled and the previous chairman, Humphrey Nwosu, dismissed.[1]

Uya was of Oron origins.[2] He spent six years as a senior official in Nigeria's diplomatic corps, serving as Nigeria's ambassador in Argentina, Peru, Paraguay and Chile.[3] When a professor of history at the University of Calabar, Uya was appointed to conduct a new presidential poll after the annulment of the 12 June 1993 election. The National Republican Convention and Social Democratic Party were asked to present new candidates for a poll that it was hoped would be held by March 1994. But the confusion that followed the annulment crisis prevented Uya from conducting the election before General Sani Abacha assumed power and dismissed him from his office.[1] He later became the Deputy Vice Chancellor and acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar.[3] The last undergraduate course that he taught concerned the Atlantic slave trade.

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Past INEC Chairmen . ThisDay . Imam Imam . 9 June 2010 . 2010-06-10.
  2. Web site: Guobadia And A Wounded Nation . Reuben Abati . THE GUARDIAN . April 20, 2003 . 2010-06-10.
  3. Web site: How Abacha's coup devastated me, Prof. Okon Uya, former NEC Chairman . August 4, 2005 . Online Nigeria Daily News . 2010-06-10.