Encomium
Ibikunle Amosun (born 25 January 1958) is a Nigerian politician, who was elected Senator for the Ogun Central district of Ogun State, Nigeria in April 2003.
Amosun was born to a Muslim family. He attended African Church Primary School in Abeokuta from 1965 to 1970, and then African Church Grammar School, Abeokuta (1971 -1977). He then went to Ogun State Polytechnic, graduating with a Higher National Diploma (HND) in 1983. Amosun gained an associate membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in 1990. He became a fellow of the Institute in 1996. He also became an associate member of Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria in 1998.
Amosun began his career as an audit trainee with Lanre Aremu & Co. (Chartered Accountants) 1984. Later he joined XtraEdge Consulting as a managing consultant. From 1990 he was principal partner of Ibikunle Amosun & Co. (Chartered Accountants) in Lagos. Amosun went to the University of Westminster in London, United Kingdom where he acquired a Masters of Art in International Finance in 2000.
In April 2003, Ibikunle Amosun was elected to the senatorial seat of Ogun Central Senatorial district. He was an unsuccessful candidate to become governor of Ogun state in April 2007, running on the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) platform, but was defeated by Gbenga Daniel. He disputed the result, but in August 2009 the Ogun State Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed the petition.
Amosun was the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) for April 2011 Ogun State gubernatorial election. A report in the Nigerian Tribune on February 12, 2011, quoted his media aide as saying he had switched to the Congress of Progressive Change (CPC), but this was denied by ACN officials. Amosun won the April 25 election running on the ACN platform with 377,489 votes. Adetunji Olurin of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) polled 188,698 votes and Gboyega Isiaka of the PPN came third with 137,051 votes.
His leadership qualities and outstanding achievements have earned him recognition nationally and internationally, some of these include: Investment Development Icon Award for 2013 by African Leadership magazine in New York, September 2013. Best Security Conscious State Governor in West Africa by Security Watch Africa. In Accra, Ghana, October 2012. Good Governance Award: Governor of the Fastest Growing State Economy by Businessday Newspaper in Lagos in November 2013.
