Paul Edor Obi is a Nigerian retired lieutenant colonel who served as military administrator of

Bayelsa State Bayelsa is a state in the South South region of Nigeria, located in the core of the Niger Delta. Bayelsa State was created in 1996 and was carved out from Rivers State, making it one of the newest states in the federation. The capital, Yenag ...

from July 1998 to May 1999, during the transitional regime of General

Abdulsalami Abubakar Abdulsalami Abubakar (; born 13 June 1942) is a retired Nigerian army general who served as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1998 to 1999. He was also Chief of Defence Staff from 1997 to 1998. He succeeded General Sani Abacha upon ...

Early career

Obi graduated from the

U.S. Army Aviation School The U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence is the United States Army Aviation Branch's headquarters, and its training and ''development'' center, located at Fort Novosel, Alabama. The Aviation Center of Excellence coordinates and deploys avia ...

Fort Rucker, Alabama Fort Rucker is a United States Army post located primarily in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was formerly named in honor of Chief Warrant Officer Michael J. Novosel, an Army aviator and Medal of Honor recipient. It was previously nam ...

, and earned a Higher Diploma in Aviation Technology. He also graduated from the

Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji The Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji is a training facility for the Nigerian Armed Forces, including the army, air force and navy. It is near the village of Jaji, Nigeria, about northeast of Kaduna in the Igabi Local Government Area ...

. He served in the military for over 23 years. He was a platoon commander under the

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (; ), or UNIFIL (; ) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions United Nations Security Council Resolution 425, 425 and Unit ...

Bayelsa State administrator

Obi was appointed military administrator of Bayelsa State in July 1998. On 11 December 1998, demonstrators marched towards Government House in

Yenagoa Yenagoa is a Local Government Area and capital city of Bayelsa State, Southern Nigeria. It is located at the Niger-Delta region of the country at coordinates . The LGA has an area of 706 km2 and an estimated population of 798,466 at 2024. ...

to convey their grievances. Troops opened fire, killing some and injuring many others. Following continued civil disturbances, on 30 December 1998 he declared a state of emergency, suspending all civil liberties and imposing a dusk-to-dawn curfew. The Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF) leaders described this as an "outright declaration of war on the Ijaws". The curfew was lifted on 4 January 1999 after the government "deployed warships and more troops in Niger Delta areas to quell violent protests by restive Ijaw youths". Obi was a member of the Niger Delta Development Option Committee, which prepared the initial blueprint for development of the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitic ...

region. In April 1999 he met with selected Ijaw leaders at state house in

. He said the Federal Government wanted to help develop the state, and urged the people to "embrace the path of peace and dialogue at all times". He handed over to the elected civilian governor

Diepreye Alamieyeseigha Diepreye Solomon Peter "D.S.P." Alamieyeseigha (16 November 1952 – 10 October 2015) was a Nigerian politician who was the first civilian List of Governors of Bayelsa State, Governor of Bayelsa State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 9 December 2 ...

at the start of the

Nigerian Fourth Republic The Fourth Republic is the current republican government of Nigeria. Since 1999, it has governed the country according to the fourth republican constitution. Nigeria adopted the constitution of the Fourth Republic on 29 May 1999. Founding Foll ...

on 29 May 1999.

Later career

After retiring, Obi became a security consultant and was chairman/chief executive officer of Pauliza Limited. He was appointed to the board of directors of several companies, including United Mortgage, Standard Alliance Insurance, Concert Alliance, Next Generation Wireless, Rode & Roke and

Lagos Business School Lagos Business School (LBS) is the graduate business school of Pan-Atlantic University and is owned by the Pan-Atlantic University Foundation (PAUF), a non-profit foundation registered in Nigeria. LBS was founded by three professionals - Juan Ma ...

Alumni. He was arraigned over alleged fraud in March 2022.

References

Living people Governors of Bayelsa State Pan-Atlantic University people Year of birth missing (living people) {{Nigeria-mil-bio-stub