John Dramani Mahama and Chief John Odigie-Oyegun have been announced the winners of the Year 2018 Zik Prize in Political Leadership.
Professor Pat Utomi, while making the announcement on behalf of the Advisory Board of the Public Policy Research and Analysis Centre (PPRAC), on Wednesday said after an exhaustive appraisal of nominees in the various award categories, the Advisory Board have selected both Mahama and Odigie-Oyegun for the prize of Political Leadership.
Utomi noted that John Mahama, a former Ghanaian President, statesmanship role in the 2016 elections as Tue first incumbent to hand over power to the opposition elicited great global acclaim and entrenched him in the annals of history as a great political leader.
Speaking about Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Utomi noted that the Elder statesman’s democracy activism, conduct and actions had marked him out as an outstanding political leader.
Under the prize for Good Governance, Mr Udom Emmanuel and Dr Abubakar Sanni-Bello, respective governors of Akwa-Ibom and Niger states, took the award, while Pastor Shyngle Wigwe and Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, won the prize for Public Service.
Also Mr Demi Otedola, Chairman of Forte Oil Plc and Prince Arthur Eze, founder of Atlas Oranto Petroleum both won the year 2018 Zik Prize in Business Leadership, just as Professor Oye Ibidapo One, former Vice Chancellor of University of Lagos and Mr Phillip Oduoza, Chairman and Founder of NOVA Merchant Bank Limited won the prize in Professional Leadership.
Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, the wife of the Executive Governor of Ekiti State, took the Zik Prize in Humanitarian Leadership.
It will be recalled that The Zik Prize in Leadership Awards was instituted in 1995 in honour of the first President of Nigeria and Commander of the Armed Forces, the late Dr Nnamdi Azikwe.