Rose Okoji Oko (27 September 1956 – 23 March 2020) was a Nigerian politician and senator.[1] She was a Member of the Federal House of Representatives from the People's Democratic Party (PDP), representing Yala/Ogoja Federal Constituency in Nigeria's 7th National Assembly. She was elected into office as the first female representative from her constituency in June 2011 and sat as Deputy Chairman House Committee on Education. She was the Senator representing the people of Cross River North Senatorial District. She was elected into office as the first female representative from her Senatorial District in June 2015.[2]
Rose Oko | |
|---|---|
 Rose Okoji Oko | |
| Senator for Cross River North | |
| In office June 2015 – March 2020 | |
| Succeeded by | Agom Jarigbe |
| Constituency | Cross River North |
| Member, House of Representatives | |
| In office June 2011 – June 2015 | |
| Constituency | Yala/Ogoja |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rose Okoji Oko 27 September 1956 Cross River State, Nigeria |
| Died | 23 March 2020 (aged 63) London, UK |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Ogbudu Ojeka and Agbo Ojeka |
| Education | SSC, B.A in Linguistic, M.A in Linguistic, PhD in Linguistic, M.B.A |
| Alma mater | WTC Primary School Enugu, Federal School of Art and Science Ogoja, University of Calabar, University of Wisconsin, Management Institute of Canada University of Port Harcourt, |
Life and education
editBorn on 27 September 1956 to Thomas Ogbudu Ojeka and Agbo Ojeka from Opkoma, Yala LGA, Cross River State and father Thomas Ojeka also from Opkoma. She grew up the first of two children from her mother and the seventh of fifteen from her father. She collected her first School Leaving Certificate in 1977 from WTC Primary School Enugu after which in 1975 she attended Federal School of Arts & Science Ogoja in Cross River State to acquire her Higher School Certificate (Nigeria).[citation needed][3] In 1981,she graduated with an upper second-class B.A.(Hons) degree in Linguistics from the University of Calabar, Cross River state. A graduate course in Linguistics shortly followed at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. A career educationalist, Okoji Oko returned to University of Calabar and graduated with an M.A. in Linguistics in 1984. By 1990 she graduated from The University of Port Harcourt in Rivers State where she acquired her Doctorate in Linguistics.[citation needed] Several years later in 2007, she enrolled in and graduated from the Management Institute of Canada, where she acquired an M.B.A.[citation needed] She has six children.
Early career
editOkoji Oko started her career in the Nigerian Youth Service Corps as a tutor in Edgerly Memorial Girls Secondary School, Calabar in 1981. Between 1982 and 1983 she taught at St. Patricks College, Calabar and in the same year moved to become a lecturer at the Cross River School of Basic Studies Akampka. She held this position till 1984 when she moved to the University of Calabar to become an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Language and Linguistics until 1986 when she was promoted to become Lecturer in the same department.[citation needed] In 1989 at the age of 33, she was recognized for her years of service and started her career as a public servant when she was appointed Commissioner of Education, Cross River State; a position she held till 1991. In that same period, she served as Chairperson Better Life Programme, Cross River Chapter from 1990–1991.
In 1993 she was appointed Director General, National Defence & Security Council, Cabinet Secretariat under the military presidency. She held this position simultaneously with the National Commissioner, National Electoral Commission (NEC) now known as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Between 1993 and 1994 she was appointed Director General, Provisional Ruling Council again under the then Military Presidency. In 1995 she was appointed to [4] (NCFR) now known asNational Commission For Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons. In 2002 she retired.
Political career
editIn 1999, Rose registered and formed part of the team to introduce the People's Democratic Party (PDP) to Cross River State as an inactive member of the party. Between 2002 and 2004 after she retired from public service, she registered and introduced the National Democratic Party (NDP) to Cross River State and served as the Deputy Chairman South, Board of Trustees, NDP. In 2003 when Nigeria held the first democratic election since the handover of power from military to civilian rule, Okoji Oko contested as a senate candidate, Cross River State North Senatorial District under the NDP banner, a contest she lost to the PDP candidate at the time. She continued to serve as chairman of the board of trustees for the NDP party up until 2007, when she ran in the country's second official democratic election as a gubernatorial candidate for Cross River State, a contest she lost to the PDP candidate.
In that same year, she re-enlisted as a member with the PDP and in the 2011 democratic elections ran for Member National Assembly, Federal House of Representatives. Yala/Ogoja Federal Constituency. A position she held until her death. She was elected as a senator and she represented the north of the state where she was born. There were over 100 senators elected in the 8th National Assembly in 2015, but only six of these were women. The others were Stella Oduah and Uche Ekwunife who both represent Anambra. Fatimat Raji Rasaki, Oluremi Tinubu and Binta Garba.[5]
The legislative elections that held on 23 February 2019 produced seven female senators in the 9th National Assembly of which she was elected again. The others include; Stella Oduah, Oluremi Tinubu, Aishatu Dahiru, Uche Ekwunife, Akon Eyakenyi and Betty Apiafe.[6]
In 2019, she was re-elected as Senator representing Cross River State Northern Senatorial District for a second term, and was appointed Chairman, Senate Committee on Trade and Investment.[7]
Selected publications
edit- 1986: "Tense and Aspect in Yala". The Journal of West Africa Languages, Vol.1 pp. 37–52.
- 1987: "Languages and Education in Nigeria. The Case of the English Language", in Ernest Emenyonu|Emenyonu E. N. (ed.) Studies in African Literature, pp. 229–311.
- 1990: "Interrogation in Yala". Ph.D. Thesis, University of Port Harcourt.
- 1992: The Grammar of Question Formation in Yala. Kraft's Book Publishers, Ibadan. ISBN 9782081116[8]
Membership of learned societies
edit- West African Linguistics Society
- Linguistics Association of Nigeria
- The Association for Commonwealth Literature and Linguistics Studies
- Calabar Doyen Lioness Club
- Calabar Municipal Lions Club
- Yala Women's Association
- Cross River State Northern Women's Association
- Madonna Sisters Association
- Catholic Women Organisation
- Patron, Model Secondary School, Okpoma, Cross River State
- Vice President, Cross River State Association, Abuja
- Patron, Exquisite Ladies Association, Cross River State
- Patron, Voice of Women (Network Organisation), Cross River State
- Patron, Intimate Ladies Association, Cross River State[citation needed]
Member House of Representatives
editSenator Oko commenced a four-year tenure as Member House of Representatives, Yala/Ogoja Federal Constituency in June 2011. That year she was appointed to the following committees:
Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
editShe was elected a Senator twice, representing Cross River North senatorial district. She was the chairman committee on Trade and investment.[10]
Death
editOko died on 23 March 2020 in a hospital in London, United Kingdom. The cause of her death was undisclosed.[11]
References
edit- ^ Ulom, Frank (24 March 2020). "BREAKING: Nigerian Senator Rose Oko Dies In A UK Hospital". The Paradise News. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "Nigerian senator, Rose Oko, is dead". 24 March 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ "Nigeria Business Directory - Find Companies, People & Places in Nigeria". www.manpower.com.ng. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
- ^ "NCFRMI – National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons". www.ncfrmi.gov.ng. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
- ^ "The 6 female senators in 8th National Assembly", Naij,com, Retrieved 15 February 2016.
- ^ "Women who will shape Ninth Senate". Vanguard News. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
- ^ Ulom, Frank (30 July 2019). "Cross River Senators Snatches 3 Senate Committee Slots". The Paradise News. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ Okoji Oko (1992). The Grammar of Question Formation in Yala Language. Kraft Books. ISBN 978-978-2081-11-7.
- ^ a b Rose Okoji Oko, NigeriaGovernance. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
- ^ admin (2 October 2017). "Senator Oko: Redefining And Expanding The Horizon Of Quality Representation". TheLeader. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- ^ "Cross River female senator, Rose Oko, dies at 63". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
Notes
edit- ^ Abaribe was elected as a member of the PDP but switched to the APC in May 2022.
- ^ Abbo was elected as a member of the PDP but switched to the APC in November 2020.
- ^ Akpan was elected as a member of the PDP but switched to the YPP in July 2022.
- ^ The PDP's Ekpenyong was elected senator in 2019 but a Court of Appeal partially annulled the results and called a supplementary election in the affected areas. Ekpenyong won the ensuing rerun election and was sworn-in again in January 2020.
- ^ Oduah was elected as a member of the PDP but switched to the APC in August 2021 before returning to the PDP in April 2022.
- ^ Jika was elected as a member of the APC but switched to the NNPP in June 2022.
- ^ Bulkachuwa was elected as a member of the APC but switched to the PDP in November 2022.
- ^ Gumau was elected as a member of the APC but switched to the NNPP in May 2022.
- ^ The PDP's Douye Diri was elected senator in 2019 but resigned in February 2020 after winning election to become Bayelsa State Governor. Cleopas won the ensuing bye-election and took office in December 2020.
- ^ The PDP's Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo was elected senator in 2019 but resigned in February 2020 after winning election to become Bayelsa State Deputy Governor. Dickson won the ensuing bye-election and took office in December 2020.
- ^ a b In April 2022, Adamu and Kyari resigned from the Senate after taking APC party offices the month prior.
- ^ The PDP's Rose Okoji Oko was elected senator in 2019 but died in March 2020. Jarigbe and fellow PDP member Stephen Odey fought in court over the ensuing by-election's PDP nomination; Odey won both initial court decisions and the by-election before taking office late in December 2020. However, Jarigbe later won several court challenges which declared him the legitimate PDP nominee and thus senator. Jarigbe took office in September 2021.
- ^ Nwaoboshi was elected as a member of the PDP but switched to the APC in June 2021.
- ^ Alimikhena was elected as a member of the APC but switched to the PDP in June 2022.
- ^ The APC's Adedayo Clement Adeyeye was elected senator in 2019 but the NASS Election Petition Tribunal awarded and Court of Appeal affirmed the win to Olujimi. She took office in November 2019.
- ^ Onyewuchi was elected as a member of the PDP but switched to the LP in June 2022.
- ^ Due to disputes over alleged irregularities, the APC's Benjamin Uwajumogu was not sworn in until July 2019. Uwajumogu died in December 2019 leading to a bye-election. After disputes, Ibezim was awarded the bye-election victory and took office in April 2021.
- ^ Due to disputes over the alleged forced declaration of his election, Okorocha was not sworn in until June 14, 2019.
- ^ Shekarau was elected as a member of the APC but switched to the NNPP in May 2022 then to the PDP in August 2022.
- ^ Babba Kaita was elected as a member of the APC but switched to the PDP in April 2022.
- ^ Aliero was elected as a member of the APC but switched to the PDP in May 2022.
- ^ Abdullahi was elected as a member of the APC but switched to the PDP in June 2022.
- ^ The PDP's Dino Melaye was elected senator in 2019 but Adeyemi petitioned against the results and the NASS Election Petition Tribunal annulled the results and called a new election. Adeyemi won the ensuing rerun election and took office in December 2019.
- ^ The APC's Adebayo Osinowo was elected senator in 2019 but died in June 2020. Abiru won the ensuing bye-election and took office in December 2020.
- ^ Akwashiki was elected as a member of the APC but switched to the SDP in July 2022.
- ^ The APC's David Umaru was elected senator in 2019 but the Supreme Court awarded the APC primary win to Musa making him senator. He took office in July 2019.
- ^ Balogun was elected as a member of the PDP but switched to the APC in May 2022.
- ^ The APC's Ignatius Datong Longjan was elected senator in 2019 but died in February 2020. Daduut won the ensuing bye-election and took office in December 2020.
- ^ The APC's Abubakar Shehu Tambuwal was elected senator in 2019 but a Court of Appeal awarded the win to Abdullahi Danbaba. He took office in November 2019 as a member of the PDP but switched to the APC in April 2022.
- ^ Bwacha was elected as a member of the PDP but switched to the APC in February 2022.
- ^ a b c Prior to inauguration, the APC's Zamfara votes were voided due to improper holding of party primaries. Thus the PDP runners-up took office. All three (Anka, Hassan Muhammed Gusau, Yaú) switched to the APC in June 2021. In February 2022, Muhammed Gusau resigned to become Zamfara Deputy Governor.