Paul Omu

Paul Ufuoma Omu (July 1940 – 29 April 2025) was a Nigerian politician who served as Military Governor of South-Eastern State (renamed Cross River State in February 1976) between July 1975 and July 1978 during the military regimes of Generals Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo.

Military career Omu joined the army on 10 December 1962, and was a course mate to Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Bello and Garba Duba at the Nigeria Military Training College. He attended the Mons Officer Cadet School, Aldershot in the United Kingdom and was commissioned on 25 July 1963. He was Commander, 33 Infantry Brigade in July 1975, when appointed Governor of South-Eastern State.

In 1984, the Muhammadu Buhari regime created military tribunals to try public officers from the Shehu Shagari era who had been accused of embezzling public funds. Omu was appointed chairman of the Lagos Zone tribunal. The tribunal found most of the politicians guilty, handing down jail sentences of various terms. In September 1985 Omu was Commandant, Command and Staff College and a member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council.

Omu retired from the army with the rank of Major General on 3 September 1990 along with a large batch of senior officers in the months following the April 1990 Orkar/Mukoro coup attempt, although he was not implicated in the coup.

In April 2008, Omu was head of the South-South reconciliation committee of the People's Democratic Party, set up to resolve differences among factions of the party. In July 2008, Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan appointed Omu a member of the Delta State Vision 2020 Council, charged with articulating the vision and long-term development plan for the state. In September 2009 President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua appointed Omu chairman of the 10-member Governing Board of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), charged with reviewing the law of the institution.

Omu was inaugurated as the president general of the Isoko Development Union (IDU) which is the umbrella organisation of the Isoko-speaking peoples of the Niger delta region of Delta State, Nigeria, to preside over issues involving the Isoko nation, Delta State, and Nigeria in general. He succeeded Gregory Oke Akpojene, whose tenure lasted from 1993 to 1996. Omu's period in office ended effectively in January 2014.

Death Omu died on 29 April 2025, at the age of 84.