Chief Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan GCFR (9 May 1936 – 11 January 2022) was a Nigerian lawyer and statesman who served as the interim head of state of Nigeria from 26 August 1993 to 17 November 1993.

He was made chairman and managing director in 1980, and went on to cultivate a wide array of international business and political connections.

At the time, the transitional council was designed to be the final phase leading to a scheduled hand over to an elected democratic leader of the Third Nigerian Republic.

He signed a decree establishing the Interim National Government led by Shonekan who was subsequently sworn in as head of state.

During his few months in power, he tried to schedule another presidential election and a return to democratic rule, while his government was hampered by a national workers' strike.

[10] Shonekan had lobbied for debt cancellation but, after the election annulment, most of the Western powers had imposed economic sanctions on Nigeria.

At the time of his death, he was the third oldest surviving Nigerian head of state by age after Elizabeth II and Yakubu Gowon.