Chief Olabisi Onabanjo

Victor Olabisi Onabanjo (1927-1990) was the first elected civilian Governor of Ogun State, serving October 1979 to December 1983 on the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) platform during Nigeria's Second Republic. Following the 31 December 1983 military coup that brought Major-General Muhammadu Buhari to power, Onabanjo was arrested and tried before a Buhari-Idiagbon-era Special Military Tribunal on corruption charges. The tribunal, presided over by Brig.-Gen. Sani Sami Omu (often referred to in retrospective journalism as 'General Omu's tribunal'), sentenced him to 22 years imprisonment in 1984 — a sentence widely viewed by contemporaries and historians as politically motivated, in line with the regime's broader pattern of harsh sentences against Second Republic UPN politicians. He was released by the Ibrahim Babangida regime, which (after the August 1985 coup) systematically pardoned and freed Second Republic politicians jailed by the Buhari junta and returned their confiscated properties. By 1987 Onabanjo had resumed civilian life, writing the 'Aiyekooto' column in the Nigerian Tribune (1987-1989). He died on 14 April 1990. Note: deceased.