President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed, as Acting Chairman at the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Hon. Kayode Oladele, who sponsored the Bill that former President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law to make June 12 DEMOCRACY DAY.
Oladele, the Federal Commissioner representing Ogun State on the commission, was appointed following the completion of the five-year tenure of Dr. Muheebah Dankaka as the Executive Chairman of FCC.
FCC is the agency responsible for ensuring the implementation of the federal character principle in appointments and promotions within the federal civil service.
As a Legislator in the House of Representatives, Oladele had introduced and sponsored the Public Holiday Amendment Act, which was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on June 11, 2019, for a public holiday to be declared on June 12 every year in Commemoration of Nigeria’s Democracy Day.
PROFILE
Oladele, 62, is a Human Rights activist, lawyer and politician who is a Federal Commissioner and member of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) of Nigeria.
He originally joined the commission after being appointed by Tinubu and sworn-in on February 3, 2025 upon the Senate’s confirmation.
He was elected under the platform of the All Progressives Congress as a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives representing Yewa North/Imeko-Afon Federal Constituency, Ogun State, from 2015–2019.
He also served as the Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Crimes, having previously served as Chief of Staff to the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Oladele served as Legal Adviser to the Governor of Ogun State and as a member of the State Executive Council from 2008 to 2011.
In 2021, he was appointed by Governor Dapo Abiodun as the Chairman of a 20-member Peace-Building Committee.
As a lawyer, Oladele represented the plaintiffs in an international Human Rights violation case brought by a group of Nigerians including the mover of Nigeria’s Independence Motion in 1956, Chief Anthony Enahoro, and a daughter of the presumed winner of Nigeria’s 1993 Presidential election, M.K.O. Abiola, Hafsat Abiola-Costello, against the former military ruler in Nigeria, General Abdusalami Abubakar, before a United States’ Federal Court in Chicago, Illinois.
The protracted Human Rights abuse and extra-judicial killing litigation which went up to the US Supreme Court (on appeal) was eventually settled in 2008 by the Federal Government of Nigeria under the administration of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
In October 2022, he was appointed as the South-West Secretary, Directorate of Grassroots Engagement and Orientation of Tinubu/Shettima APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), where he also doubled as Ogun State Coordinator of the Directorate.
In 1992, he teamed up with Frederick Fasehun, Baba Omojola, and several other labour leaders and student activists to form the Movement for Social and Economic Justice (MOSEJ) and later became its Executive Director.
He was also involved in the formation and activities of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).
