Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki (born 1 July 1957) is a Nigerian politician and businessman who served as the governor of Edo State from 2016 to 2024.
[5] Obaseki holds post graduate degrees in both Finance and International Business,[6] and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stock Brokers, Nigeria.
He is the third child of Late Pa Roland Obaseki and Gbinigie of Owina Street, Ogbelaka Quarters, Benin City.
[14] Obaseki later stepped down from his position as chairman of the board of directors of Afrinvest in September 2016, to contest the gubernatorial election in Edo State.
[5] In that capacity, he pioneered a number of policy reforms that saw the state restructure its public finance, secure funding for infrastructure and improve the business environment to attract investment in power, agriculture and other critical sectors.
Aside these, some of his other reforms include:[19] For seven years in the administration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, his predecessor, he served as voluntary Chairman of the Edo State Economic and Strategy Team as well as Chairman of Tax Assessment Review Committee for Edo State Internal Revenue Service (TARC) and the Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), respectively.
He was controversially disqualified from contesting in the APC primary elections by the screening committee due to his disagreements with the National chairman of the party and his predecessor in office comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
[29] In education, Obaseki launched the Edo Basic Education Transformation (Edo BEST)[30] programme, an initiative to train and equip public school teachers with top-of-the-range skills and expertise for deploying Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in classrooms to improve learning outcomes.
Some of the companies investing in oil palm development are Okomu Plc, Aden Rivers, Presco, Dufil (makers of Indomie Noodles), Nosak Group, among others.
The Federal High Court in Abuja eventually struck out a certificate forgery case instituted against the governor[38] by the All Progressives Congress (APC), his former political party.
[41] On 20 September 2020, The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Obaseki the winner of the Edo State gubernatorial election, He won against his major opponent from the All Progressives Congress Osagie Ize Iyamu with a total number of 307,955 votes.
[42] According to the Premium Times publication on 9 January 2021, the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the certificate forgery suit instituted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State.
She holds a Bachelor and Master's degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos, and an alumna of the Kellog's School of Business Executive Management Programme, USA.