NEWS
Emeka Ihedioha sworn in as Governor of Imo state | See Photos!
Mr. Emeka Ihedioha has officially been sworn in as the 6th executive governor of Imo state. He was sworn in by the state Chief Justice, Paschal Nnadi. Ihedioha takes over from Rochas Okorocha. See more photos below
Rt. Hon Chief Sir Emeka Ihedioha (born on 24 March 1965) is a Nigerian politician and Businessman. He is the Governor of Imo State. He is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member and represented the Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency of Imo State. He is also the former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria. He is a Commander of the Order of the Niger and holds the title CON.
In 2015, he also served a spell as the Speaker of the House of Representatives following the defection of Aminu Tambuwal to the APC. He is presently the Governor-Elect of Imo State, following the 9 March Gubernatorial Election where he emerged victorious under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Ihedioha was born on 24 March 1965 at Mbutu Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area in Imo State, South-East Nigeria.
He attended Town School Mbutu in Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State, and completed same at SDA Primary School Abule Oja, Yaba Lagos in 1976. He had his secondary education at St. Ephraim’s Secondary School, Owerrinta in present day Abia State. He then proceeded to the University of Lagos, Akoka-Yaba, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science (B.SC) degree in Food Science and Technology, in 1988.
Ihedioha took an executive certificate course in financial management from the Stanford University, and a leadership certificate course from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
In 1992, Ihedioha was appointed press officer to the Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Iyorchia Ayu. A year later he was appointed as chief press secretary to the Deputy Senate President. Following military incursion in the polity in November 1993, Ihedioha returned to his communications practice as Chief Executive Officer of First Page Communications. He became the Director of Publicity of the newly formed People’s Democratic Movement, the purveyor of the ruling People Democratic Party in 1998.
He was named as special assistant to the Presidential Adviser on Utilities in July 1999, as special assistant of media and publicity to the President of Senate in November 1999, and as special assistant on political matters to the Vice President in September 2001. He won a seat into the House of Representative as a member representing Aboh-Mbasie-Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency of Imo State in 2003.
He was the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives of the federal Republic of Nigeria from 2011 to 2015. During this period, he also served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives after Tambuwal’s defection to the APC and choice to stand down.
On 9 March 2019, Ihedioha contested for the gubernatorial seat for Imo-State under the political platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). On 11 March 2019, Ihedioha was declared the Governor-elect by the Independent Electoral Commission sitting in Imo-State after he defeated his closest rival, Uche Nwosu (son-in-law of the incumbent governor, His Excellency Ethelbert Rochas Okorocha) who ran under the Action Alliance Party (AA), with a total of 273,404 votes.
Outside politics, Ihedioha’s business interests span through real estate development, industrialized farming, hospitality and petroleum sectors. He is married to Lady Ebere Ihedioha and has four children.
