Born on April 9, 1955 in Ogidi, Nigeria, Oseloka Henry Obaze, often known as OHO, is a native of Ochuche Umuodu. Umuodu is located in the state of Anambra, Nigeria.
Oseloka Henry Obaze is a Nigerian diplomat, politician, and novelist. He is also a retired official of the UN. He worked for the organization as an international civil servant between the years of 1991 and 2012.
Prior to beginning of Oseloka Henry Obaze job at the United Nations in 1991, he spent the years between 1982 and 1991 serving as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) in the Nigerian Diplomatic Service.
After retiring from his position with the United Nations, Oseloka H. Obaze worked as the Secretary to the State Government of Anambra State, Nigeria. He worked from June 2012 until June 2015, during the administrations of former Governor Peter Obi and former Governor Willie Obiano.
Diplomat, politician, and author Oseloka Henry Obaze is known by all three titles. A notable administrator, author, and politician. He is also a former member of the Nigeria Diplomatic Service and served as an international civil servant with the United Nations.
In addition, he was also a diplomat in Nigeria. Oseloka Obaze made the announcement that he would run for governor of Anambra State. He contested under the banner of the Peoples Democratic Party in November 2016, and on August 28, 2017, he was named the party's candidate to carry the party flag in those elections.
In the elections for governor of Anambra State, which took place in November 2017, he finished in third place.
Oseloka H. Obaze is the second child born to Anthony Chukwunweike Obaze and Rosemary Omuluzua Obaze. In total, the Obazes have six children.
His mother, Rosemary, was an educator. Obaze father, Anthony, held the position of Senior Local Government Administrator in the former Eastern Region of Nigeria. Both of their careers were in Nigeria. He spent his childhood in Onitsha, Ogidi, Aguata, Umuahia, and Uzuakoli, all of which had County Councils that his father served on.
He also spent some time in Umuahia. Between the years 1967 and 1973, he received his education at Onitsha's highly regarded Christ the King College. His education was briefly halted due to the Nigerian Civil War. Between 1973 and 1974, he completed his education at Onitsha's Dennis Memorial Grammar School.
He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in Political Science and International Relations from the Nebraska Wesleyan University and the University of Nebraska, both of which are located in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States of America. He majored in Political Science and International Relations.
Oseloka Obaze, a career member of the Nigerian Diplomatic Service. He served at the former Ministry of External Affairs in Lagos, Nigeria. It was first as an External Affairs Officer, Grade VIII from 1982 to 1983 and then as a Third Secretary (Political) from 1983 to 1986. Both of these positions were held at the same location.
In his various capacities as the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations from 1987 to 1989; President of the 44th United Nations General Assembly and Ambassador-at-Large of Nigeria from 1989 to 1990, he worked as the Second Secretary and Special Assistant (Policy Adviser) to Major-General Joseph N. Garba.
He also served as the Ambassador-at-Large of Nigeria from 1989 to 1990. After then, Obaze was appointed to the position of First Secretary, Bilateral Economic Cooperation, in the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the year 1991.
In the process of negotiating the United Nations Declaration on Apartheid and the Destructive Consequences in Southern Africa, he was the head of the Nigerian delegation. He worked closely with Thabo Mbeki, a former president of South Africa, and Gora Ebrahim, the secretary for foreign affairs of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).
Oseloka H. Obaze started working for the United Nations Secretariat in the year 1991 as a Political Affairs Officer. He was in the Department of Political and Security Council Affairs (PSCA) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. In this role, he was responsible for preventive diplomacy as well as post-conflict peace building.
As part of his responsibilities at the United Nations, he assisted in the formulation, drafting, and finalization of strategic policy papers and reports that were delivered by the then-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Javier Perez de Cuellar, to the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council.
In Cyprus (UNFICYP), in Zimbabwe and Northern Uganda with UNOCA, in Angola (1992) with the United Nations Electoral Observation Team (UNAVEM II), and in Natal/Kwazulu South Africa with UNOMSA in 1994, he was a member of the Special Envoys and Good Offices missions of the Secretary General.
As part of his roles in PSCA, he advised Professor Ibrahim Gambari, who was at the time the United Nations Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs, on policy matters relating to Africa, U.N.-African Union cooperation (where he was a member of the Interdepartmental and Inter-Agency Task Force that drafted and negotiated the UN-AU Declaration signed in November 2006), Security Council thematic and sanctions panels, and Security, Documentation, and Electoral Assistance matters pertaining to Africa.
In addition to this, he provided the Under Secretary-General with policy alternatives and advise on United Nations political offices in the countries of Somalia, Guinea Bissau, the Central African Republic, and West Africa UNOWA.
Between the years 2007 and 2012, Obaze Henry worked as a senior member of the managerial team in the Security Council Secretariat branch, which provides services to the United Nations Security Council.
In addition to this, Obaze served as the Secretary of the Security Council Adhoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention in Africa and as a Trip Coordinator for several different Security Council Missions.
Obaze served on the U.N. National Competitive Examination Political Board, the G to P Examination Board, the Joint Appeals Board (JAB), and the Central Review Committee (CRC) prior to his departure from the United Nations.
He also worked with the UN Office of Internal Oversight (OIOS) in its assessment of a number of different United Nations Special Political Missions. In October of 2006, the United Nations and Georgetown University collaborated to conduct the first Kofi Annan Legacy for Africa Conference, at which he also took part and contributed to the event.
Oseloka H. Obaze left the United Nations in 2012 to begin working for the Anambra State Government. Peter Obi appointed Obaze to the position of Secretary to the Anambra State Government.
After Oseloka H. Obaze retired from his position with the United Nations on June 29, 2012, he was sworn in as the Ninth Secretary to the Government of Anambra State. He held this position until June 8, 2015.
He was succeeded in his position by Professor Solo Chukwulobelu. His predecessor was Chief Paul Odenigbo. Obaze was initially appointed by Governor Peter Obi, and then on 17 March 2014, he was reappointed by Governor Willie Obiano, who succeeded Governor Peter Obi. He served in this capacity until 8 June 2015, when he was succeeded by Governor Willie Obiano.
Obaze served as the Board of Trustees Chair of both the Anambra State Flood Disaster Emergency Fund, and the Anambra State Flood Disaster Relief Coordination Committee in addition to his duties as the Secretary to the State Government.
Both of these organizations were established to aid victims of flooding in the state. In 2012, he participated as a Delegate in the South East Zonal Review of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999, and in 2014, he chaired the Anambra State Government Handover Committee.
Obaze was instrumental in securing the return of his alma mater, Christ the King College Onitsha, and several other mission schools in Anambra State to the original owners of the schools, the missionaries, as well as the collection of more than N25 million for revitalization projects at C.K.C. Onitsha.
After Obaze left his position in the government in 2015, he established Selonnes Consult Ltd., a consulting firm that specializes in policy, governance, and management.
There, he held the roles of managing director and chief executive officer. In 2017, he launched his campaign for the office of governor of Anambra State from this post. After an unsuccessful run for the governor's office, he went back to his previous responsibilities at the company.
During his public policy lecture at UNIZIK in February 2018, titled "The Political Economy of Cattle Colony In Nigeria," he detailed the very limited exploitation and gross under-utilization of the vast value chain of Nigeria's cattle economy.
Oseloka H. Obaze, a member of the Society for International Relations Awareness (SIRA), a leading foreign relations Think Tank in Africa, was elected Chairperson, Public Affairs Committee of the Think Thank in November 2020. Obaze was a member of the Society for International Relations Awareness (SIRA).
He also made his debut in politics in 2013, running for the governorship of Anambra State under the banner of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). However, he was ultimately disqualified by the party due to a voters' card technicality and did not win the election.
This was Obaze's first experience in politics. In 2016, he emerged in the race again under the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party. On August 28, 2017, he was declared the party's flag bearer to contest in the Anambra State governorship elections that will be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
These elections are scheduled to take place on November 18. In the latter half of 2017, he released a book with the working title "Prime Witness" on President Buhari's First Year in Office. The book focused on public policy.
In addition to that, he has penned a great number of critical pieces on a variety of policy, national, and international topics. The Executive Advisory Board of the newspaper The New Diplomat includes him as a member (Nigeria).
At the fifth annual Chinua Achebe Literary Festival, which was held in Awka, Anambra State and was organized by the Society of Young Nigerian Writers (Anambra State Chapter), Oseloka Henry Obaze gave the First Chinua Achebe Memorial Lecture on November 16, 2020.
The title of the lecture was "If the Dead Could Speak, What Would Achebe Say of Present Day Nigeria?" and it was titled "If the Dead Could Speak, What Would Achebe Say of Present Day As a result, he is the first person to have delivered the first memorial lecture in honor of the late Professor Chinua Achebe, who was widely regarded as the most significant literary figure to have emerged from Nigeria.
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