Kingsley Adeseye Ogunlewe is a Nigerian politician who served as the Minister of Works from 2003 to 2006. He previously served as the

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

representing the Lagos East senatorial district from 1999 to 2003. He is from a royal family in Igbogbo. He is married to Olorogun Omodoro Adeseye Ogunlewe

Early life

Ogunlewe is from an affluent dynasty of Igbogbo, a community in

Ikorodu Ikorodu is a city in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is located to the north-east of Lagos, along the Lagos Lagoon and shares boundary with Ogun State. With a population of over 1 million inhabitants, Ikorodu is currently the 12th largest city in Nig ...

. His elder brother Akin was a permanent secretary in the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry, who was relieved of his position soon after Ogunlewe transferred to the PDP. Ogunlewe is an alumnus of the

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public university located in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Initially founded as the University College Ibadan in 1948, it maintained its affiliation with the University of London. In 1962, it became an independe ...

. During his stay in the premier University he lived in Mellanby Hall and participated actively in student politics. He is a lawyer, and at one time was permanent secretary of Lagos State. His son Moyosore is a politician. Another son, Seye, is a sprinter.

Senator

He was elected Senator on the Alliance for Democracy (AD) platform in 1999 for the Lagos East constituency, before he defected to the

PDP PDP may refer to: Computing and technology * Packet Data Protocol in wireless GPRS/HSDPA networks * Parallel distributed processing in Connectionism#Parallel distributed processing, connectionism * Plasma display panel * Policy Decision Point in t ...

. In July 2002, Wahab Dosunmu and Ogunlewe accused then-

Lagos State Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...

Governor

Bola Ahmed Tinubu Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu (born 29 March 1952) is a Nigerian politician serving as the 16th and current president of Nigeria since 2023. He previously served as the governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007, and senator for Lagos ...

of abusing trust of public funds through contract awards to his friends. Ogunlewe ran for reelection in 2003 on the PDP ticket, but was defeated by Olorunnimbe Mamora of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

Minister of works

In July 2003, Ogunlewe announced that the federal government would invest about $2.85 billion in rehabilitating and upgrading the nation's highway network, and planned to make all roads in the country accessible by year end. In January 2004, he said the Federal government had approved an extra N900 million for rehabilitation of roads in the South-East. In April 2004, Ogunlewe won the Kwame Nkrumah Africa Leadership Award in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. In May 2004, he published his mobile phone number and told people to use it if they saw any pot-holes or had a traffic accident. He said he was inundated with calls, but also said of the roads "They are fantastic now." He claimed that 12,600 km of roads had been rehabilitated in the past six months. In June 2004, there were clashes in Lagos state between agents of the Federal Ministry of Works and officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority. The clashes were over control of Federal roads, and were apparently linked to ongoing disputes between Ogunlewe and the state governor

of the Alliance for Democracy. In August 2004, Ogunlewe announced that The

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...

planned to cooperate with Nigeria to build the Trans-West African Highway from Lagos to

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

's capital

Nouakchott Nouakchott ( ) is the capital and largest city of Mauritania. Located in the southwestern part of the country, it is one of the largest cities in the Sahara. The city also serves as the administrative and economic center of Mauritania. Once a ...

. In October 2004, he stated that the year 2005 would see faster rapid progress in road repair and construction. In March 2006, after being dismissed from his job as Works Minister, Ogunlewe urged President Olusegun Obasanjo to seek a third term in office.

Later career

In July 2006, a Lagos State governorship candidate, Funsho Williams was found murdered in his home. Ogunlewe, who had been a rival for the PDP nomination, was arrested in connection with the murder. He was later released, but in February 2007, he was re-arrested. In November 2009, the Senate ad hoc committee on transport led by

Heineken Lokpobiri Heineken Lokpobiri (born 3 March 1967) is a Nigerian politician who is the minister of state for Petroleum Resources (Oil). He previously served as minister of state for Agriculture and Rural Development from 2015 to 2019, and as Senator represe ...

, submitted a report to the upper house that revealed "alleged serial malpractices" in road contracting over a ten-year period, and recommended that former ministers of works Anthony Anenih, Ogunlewe, Obafemi Anibaba,

Cornelius Adebayo Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo is a former Senator of Nigeria, who became a state governor, and later was head of the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Communications. Background Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo was born on February 24, 1941, in Igbaja in K ...

and others be prosecuted for corruption. Senate discussion of the report was delayed. He resigned from his position as the Pro-Chancellor of the

Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta is one of the higher institutions of learning owned and run by the Federal government of Nigeria. History The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, or FUNAAB, was establish ...

in 2016. In 2019, he left the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogunlewe, Adeseye People from Lagos State Living people Yoruba politicians Senators of the 4th National Assembly (Nigeria) Alliance for Democracy (Nigeria) politicians Peoples Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians Federal ministers of Nigeria Yoruba royalty University of Ibadan alumni Lagos State politicians Nigerian Permanent Secretaries Year of birth missing (living people) People from Ikorodu