Emmanuel Dangana Ocheja

Emmanuel Dangana Ocheja is a Nigerian Senator who represented Kogi East senatorial district in the National Assembly, and a member of the All Progressives Congress.

President Goodluck Jonathan (as Chairman of Authority of Heads of States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria) administered the oath of office to Senator Ocheja to serve as a member of the Nigerian delegation to the ECOWAS regional parliament on 11 August 2011.

Committee appointments In September 2011, Senate President David Mark named Ocheja as the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Navy. He was also named as a member of the Senate committees on Defence and Army, Appropriation, Gas, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, and Privatisation.

2015 elections Sen. Ocheja arrives at the 2015 APC presidential campaign rally in Kogi state

Ocheja resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2014 citing his disagreement with certain power blocs within the party as well as poor governance by some political office holders elected on its platform. The resignation confirmed rumors of his displeasure with the PDP establishment that had started in 2012 when he declined an offer extended to him by Governor Idris Ichalla Wada to serve as the Chairman of the Board of the Town Planning Development Authority in Kogi state. He publicly declined requests from his supporters to contest the 2015 senatorial election, choosing instead to focus on expanding his law practice in Abuja. He formally announced his membership of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) on 7 February 2015, even though he was known to have joined the party long before then. At the event of his decamping, he pledged to work towards delivering victory to all the candidates seeking electoral offices on the platform of the APC in Kogi State. He was an active participant in the APC presidential campaign in the North Central region of Nigeria for the 2015 elections. He served as the Chairman of the Legal Committee of the All Progressives Congress Presidential, National Assembly, and Governorship election campaigns in Kogi State in 2015.

2019 elections

Ocheja did not seek elective office in 2019. He maintained his membership of the APC and campaigned for its candidates throughout Kogi State in the buildup to and during the election. As a believer in President Muhammadu Buhari and his government, Ocheja used several fora to sensitise the electorate in Kogi on why the president had to be re-elected and on the need to vote for APC members into national assembly seats so as to ensure a harmonious and productive relationship between the legislature and the executive arms of government.

In September 2018, Ocheja was sworn in as one of the chairmen of the APC committees for the governorship primaries of the party. He led a team with six other members to conduct the exercise in Taraba State.