Chuka Odom (born October 19, 1960) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

lawyer and 2015 People's Democratic Party (PDP) aspirant for Governor of Imo State. He was Commissioner for Special Duties between 2003 - 2007, in

Abia State Abia is a state in the Southeastern region of Nigeria. The state's capital is Umuahia and its most populous city is Aba. Abia is bordered the west by Imo, east by Cross River, south by Rivers, northwest by Anambra and northeast by Enug ...

, Federal Minister of State for Environment, Housing and Urban Development from December 2007 to May 2009 and then Minister of state for FCT (

Federal Capital Territory A capital district, capital region, or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politic ...

Abuja Abuja (; , ) is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, strategically situated at the geographic midpoint of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As the seat of the Federal G ...

), a post he held until October 2010.

Childhood and Education

Odom was born in

Ikeduru Ikeduru Local Government Area (LGA) is located in the western part of Imo State, in southern Nigeria, West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western A ...

Imo state Imo () is a States of Nigeria, state in the South East (Nigeria), South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by Anambra State, Rivers State to the west and south, and Abia State to the east. It takes its name from the Imo R ...

on 19 October 1960 to the family of Sir Tobias Odom and Lady Irene Odom (née Onyerindu). He started his educational journey at St. Michael's Primary School,

Umuahia Umuahia () is the capital city of Abia State in southeastern Nigeria. Umuahia is located along the rail road that lies between Port Harcourt to its south, and Enugu city to its north. Umuahia has a population of 359,230 according to the 2006 Ni ...

, Abia State between 1971 and 1974. He also attended Immaculate Conception Seminary Ahia-Eke,

in 1974 and obtained his A’Level Certificate in 1980. Thereafter, he proceeded to

Imo State University The Imo State University (IMSU) in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria was established in 1981 through law No. 4 passed by the Imo State House of Assembly. The university admitted the first intake of 392 pioneer students on 23 October 1981. After the ...

to study Law. He earned a Bachelor of Law (LLB Hons) in 1981 and attended

Nigerian Law School The Nigerian Law School is an educational institution set up to provide professional certification to graduates of law. The school was established in Lagos under the Legal Education Act 1962, now Legal Education (Consolidation Etc) Act Cap. L1 ...

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

in 1986.

Career and Politics

Odom started his career as Counsel-in-chamber at Tagbo Nwogu & Co Legal practitioners, Aba, Abia State between 1988 and 1990 and later Established Chuka Odom & Co, Legal Practitioners in 1990. Odom ventured into politics in 1999 when he served as a campaign strategist for

Orji Uzor Kalu Orji Uzor Kalu (born 21 April 1960) is a Nigerian politician and businessman who is the senator representing Abia North Senatorial District. He served as governor of Abia State from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. Kalu is the chairman of SLOK Hold ...

's 1999 gubernatorial campaign and was appointed as Special Adviser, Special Duties to the former governor between 1999 and 2001. He later rose to become the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, Commissioner for Special Duties, Abia State and between May 2007 to September 2007 he was made the Commissioner for Works, Housing and Urban Planning Imo State Government. He became Honourable Minister of State for Environment, Housing and Urban Development of the

Federal republic of Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

in 2007 - 2009 and later became the Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory between 2009 and 2010. He vied unsuccessfully for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

seat for Ikeduru Federal Constituency, Imo State in 2011. In the 2015 general election, he declared his interest to run for the

Governor of Imo state The governor of Imo State is an elective political position, one of the Lists of Nigerian state governors, governors of the thirty-six states of Nigeria. The governor of Imo State is the chief executive, chief executive officer of Imo state and it ...

with an inclusive government if elected but lost the party nomination ticket to Emeka Ihedioha who later lost out to

Rochas Okorocha Owelle Rochas Anayo Okorocha (born 22 September 1962) is a Nigerian politician of Igbo extraction, from Imo State. He was the senator representing Imo West senatorial district at the 9th Nigerian Senate. From 2011 to 2019 he served as Governor ...

of the

All Progressive Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, th ...

at the 2015 gubernatorial election. After the 2019 general election in Imo state with the emergence of Emeka Ihedioha as the state governor, he was announced as a member of the transition committee.

Personal life

Odom married Lady Adaku Celine Odom, (née Nwakibu) the Managing Director of The Lifestyle Group in 1990 and together they have 8 children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odom, Chuka Living people 1960 births Federal ministers of Nigeria Ministers of the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria) People from Imo State Imo State University alumni