Victor Attah

Background

Obong Victor Attah was born on 20 November 1938.

Education

He completed post-primary education in 1956. He also attended the Kennedy Graduate School of Governance at Harvard University.

Career

He gained a degree from Leeds College of Art and a post graduate diploma in Building Science from Liverpool University in 1965. After completing his education, he practised as an architect in the Caribbean, New York, and Nigeria. He served as the National President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects.

Victor Attah was elected governor of Akwa Ibom in 1999 on the PDP platform, and was re-elected 2003.

He was elected Chairman of the Forum of the 36 Governors of Nigeria in 2003. In 2001, Victor Attah travelled to the United States with as many as 21 people in search of foreign investors.

Apparently this visit and others produced no tangible results. He promised to improve telecoms, electrical power supply, and air transport infrastructure, and to replicate Silicon Valley in Uyo.

He planned to build an airport in Uyo before he left office in 2007.

He laid the foundation for the establishment of the Akwa Ibom State University of Technology. The Victor Attah Digital Opportunity Centre (VADOC) was said to be no more a typical cybercafé with VSAT connection and some computer points. Obong Attah ran for the 2007 presidential nomination of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2007, but later withdrew.

In November 2007, Victor Attah challenged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest him if the commission had anything against him.

In September 2009 the Nigerian Justice Minister and Attorney General, Michael Aondoakaa, said he would not release any Nigerians in response to a warrant of arrest issued by the London Metropolitan Police over alleged money laundering and corrupt offences emanating from the $38 million Virgin Mobile shares acquisition. Former state governors James Ibori of Delta State, Ahmed Bola Tinubu of Lagos State and Victor Attah had been accused of money laundering in the transaction.

Aondoakaa said he had no conflict with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). However, EFCC chairman Farida Waziri denied that the EFCC had exonerated any of the suspects and insisted that the investigation was ongoing.

The EFCC was said to be ready to co-operate with the MET police.

In March 2008, Victor Attah joined ExecutiveAction, a consultancy that helps firms manage problems in difficult business environments.

Achievements

• He won the scholarship to study at Columbia University in New York, where he obtained an Master of Arts in Advanced Architectural Design and Planning. According to the Daily Sun, little was in fact achieved.

Membership

He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the People"s Democratic Party (PDP), but has since joined the All Progressives Congress.