Akin Omoboriowo | |
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Deputy Governor of Ondo State | |
In office October 1979 – October 1983 |
Akin Omoboriowo is a Nigerian lawyer and politician who was Deputy Governor of Ondo State, later switching parties and being elected Governor of Ondo State during the Nigerian Second Republic. His election as governor was disputed and later reversed by a court of appeal before he could take office.[1]
Omoboriowo was elected Deputy Governor on the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) platform, running with Michael Adekunle Ajasin, who became governor.[1] He claimed that he should have been UPN candidate for governor, since he had won more votes that Ajasin in the primaries, but that the UPN leaders had rigged the results.[2] During his period as deputy governor, he fell out with Governor Ajasin, who refused to swear him into power as acting Governor when Ajasin was away from the state.[3]
Omoboriowo switched to the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and ran against his old boss in the 1983 elections. When the federal Electoral Commission declared Omoboriowo the winner on 16 August 1983, the announcement sparked riots. His election was disputed, and was reversed by an electoral court of appeal before he was inaugurated, with Ajasin being reinstated in office.[4] After the coup on 31 December 1983 that brought General Muhammadu Buhari to power, he was jailed for four months, as were almost all the former governors and their deputies, but was then released without charge.[1]
Later he became Pro-chancellor and Chairman of the governing council of the University of Ado Ekiti.[5]