Chief
Tom Ikimi B.Arch (Hons) FNIA KSG is an Architect and Politician. He was born on
10th April 1944 in Kumba Southern Camerouns. Southern Camerouns was
part of Nigeria until, when through a plebiscite in 1961 the teritory broke
away from Nigeria.
Chief Tom Ikimi had his
secondary school education at the St. Joseph’s College, Sasse-Buea, West
Cameroon. The College was an exclusive public school, run then, by the Mill
Hill Catholic Reverend Fathers.
He attended the Mid
Western Polytechnic, Auchi for Civil Engineering Technical Education and
eventually to Ahmadu Bello University – Zaria for Architectural Professional Training.
He graduated in 1973.
Chief Tom Ikimi is the Founder
and Principal Partner of the Architectural Firm Tomikimi Design Company since 1977. The firm has successfully
executed notable projects inside and outside Nigeria.
He was a member of the
Constituent Assembly 1988/89 and he was elected the first National Chairman of the National Republican Convention Party (NRC) in
July 1990. He served in this capacity for a little over two years.
As National Chairman, he
and his colleagues successfully established the Party nationwide and they won
democratic free and fair elections which enabled the installation of the NRC
Governments in over 200 of the then 589 Local Government Areas in the Country. The
Party also established 16 State Governments under NRC Governors in 16 of the 30
States that existed in the Federation in 1991.
He led the vigorous and
painstaking preparation of his Party to contest the Presidential Elections in
1992 but all that effort was interrupted by the surprise dissolution of the
Party leadership of both Parties in October 1992 by the Military Government.
Following the
complications arising from the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential Elections,
he was a member of the National Committee that prepared the peace plan which
produced the Interim National Government led by Chief Earnest Shonekan in
August 1993.
Chief Tom Ikimi was
appointed Special Adviser to the Head of State, Commander-in-Chief, General
Sani Abacha in February 1994. He became Foreign Affairs Minister in March 1995
and retained the portfolio until the Federal Executive Council became dissolved
on 8 July 1998.
In
1999 Chief Tom Ikimi was a Foundation Member of the APP – All Peoples
Party – and a member of its Board of Trustees. The Party’s performance in that
year’s General Election was impressive and if it were sustained the emergence
of two strong political Parties providing balanced alternative options for all
Nigerians would have been guaranteed and achieved by now. However, greed and
lack of foresight on the part of the corps of APP Governors and of the
Executive Leadership of the Party destroyed the prospects.
In the build up to the
2003 General Elections Chief Ikimi was persuaded by forces internal to his home
State – Edo State to join the PDP – Peoples Democratic Party. His performance
as the Party’s Chairman of its Electoral Committee, in conducting the Party’s
Presidential primaries for the 2003 Elections remains legendary. The PDP won
the elections which gave an open cheque to General Olusegun Obasanjo to preside
virtually as he wanted over the affairs of Nigeria for another four years.
Chief Ikimi was one of the
many prominent Nigerian politicians deregistered from the PDP by General
Olusegun Obasanjo and his cronies, in a strange and unusual process designed to
eliminate any opposition within the Party. It later became clear to all that
the process was designed essentially to facilitate the self succession plan of
President Obasanjo.
In the circumstance Chief
Tom Ikimi collaborated with some trusted friends to form the MRDD – Movement for the Restoration and
Defence of Democracy. This was a rallying platform through which the self
succession plan of General Obasanjo was foiled.
Side by side these
struggles, Chief Tom Ikimi together with Chief Ayo Opadokun facilitated the
registration of The Action Congress (AC)
in 2006. The Action Congress is the current true Voice of the Opposition in
Country.
Chief Tom Ikimi, one of
the foundation leaders of the Action Congress and specifically the Party’s
South-South geopolitical zone leader, led the Party to victory in 2007 general
elections in Edo State.
Edo State is today in the
firm grip of the Action Congress.
