PRIME NEWS AFRICA celebrates H.E, Brig-General Christopher Oluwole Rotimi (rtd)) on his 86th birthday.
Born on February 20, 1935, in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Brig- General attended the prestigious Kings College, Lagos. He then proceeded to the University College, Ibadan where obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree.
In 1960, he enlisted in the Nigerian Army and served as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In 1986, he become the first African Deputy Quartermaster General of the Nigerian Army in 1966. During the Nigerian Civil War, Oluwole Rotimi provided logistics support for the Federal Government’s war efforts. He became the commander of the Ibadan Garrison between 1969 and 1970. He served as the Governor of Western State from 1971 to 1975 and became the Nigerian Ambassador to the United States in 2007.
As Quartermaster General during the civil war, he was tasked with the responsibility for supplies to the war front and all army formations. Rotimi earned the trust of the Commander-in-Chief and after the war, he was deployed to serve as the third Military Governor of the old Western State.
His appointment came at a time when the Region was recovering from the crisis that followed the 1965 Western Region election and the Civil War of 1967 to 1970. Rotimi enlisted the support of the civil society and rallied traditional rulers. Projects and factories to his credit include: Cement Factory, Shagamu, Wire and Cable Factory in Ibadan, Ceramic Factory in Abeokuta, Wood Processing Factory in Ondo, and the palm Oil Mill at Okitipupa.
General Murtala Mohammed’s coup of 1975 terminated the Gowon administration. This ended not only the tenure of General Rotimi as military governor of Western State, it also ended his military career. At only forty years old, he was forced into an early retirement.
In 1999, Gen. Oluwole Rotimi was appointed by the President Olusegun Obasanjo as the Head of a Commission of Inquiry for the Investigation of Federal Government Landed Property. Brig. General Oluwole Rotimi (rtd) was honored with a National Award of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2003. In 2005, Oluwole Rotimi was appointed a member of the National Constitutional Review Conference representing his home state, Ogun State.
Reference : Dawn Commission
