Ogboru Great Ovedje

Great Ovedje Ogboru, born on 10 April 1958, is a Nigerian businessman and politician who has been active in Delta State politics since the early 2000s.

He began his education at Municipal Primary School in Port Harcourt but relocated to Ughelli, where he completed his primary studies at Oharisi Primary School. He later attended Government College, Ughelli, from 1971 to 1975.

Ogboru pursued further education abroad, obtaining an external advanced level certificate in 1980 and later earning a Master of Business Administration from Huron University in the USA and a master’s in international relations from the University of Kent in Kent, England.

He worked as a marketing officer in a Lagos-based fishing company before founding Fiogret Ltd, a private fishing business that expanded across Africa. He also ventured into other enterprises, including a furniture company and a bureau de change in Warri.

During the 1990 coup attempt led by Gideon Orkar, Ogboru fled Nigeria with the help of his brother, Turner Ogboru, initially settling in London before moving to Angola and Namibia. He returned to Nigeria in June 2000, re-engaging with democratic politics.

Ogboru has contested multiple Delta State gubernatorial elections under various party affiliations, including the Alliance of Democracy, Democratic Peoples’ Party, Labour Party, and All Progressives Congress (APC). His candidacies include 2003, 2007, 2015, and 2019, all resulting in losses.

In 2019, Ogboru ran as an APC candidate and received 215,938 votes but lost the election. His political career reflects a trajectory from oppositional challenges against incumbent governors to multiple unsuccessful bids for the Delta State governorship.