Family Background
Edu was born in Epe, Lagos State, into the Edu family, whose roots in the town trace back to his great-grandfather, Buraimoh Edu, who reigned as Baale of Epe from 1903 to 1917 and is generally regarded as the town’s last paramount ruler.
His father, Chief Shafi Lawal Edu, known widely as S.L. Edu, built a career spanning shipping, oil haulage, insurance and food contracting before turning to conservation work; he founded the Nigerian Conservation Foundation in 1980 and served for decades on the council of the World Wildlife Fund. Chief S.L.
Edu died on January 8, 2002, a day after his 91st birthday, and was buried in Epe in keeping with his wishes. Yomi Edu’s elder brother, Babatunde (Tunde) Edu, was Lagos State chairman and a gubernatorial candidate of the Nigerian Peoples Party during Nigeria’s Second Republic.
Education
Edu trained as a lawyer in England, earning an LLB and being called to the Bar as a Barrister-at-Law from the University of Buckingham in 1989.
He also qualified as an insurance broker, a credential that later supported his work on the boards of several Nigerian financial institutions.
The 1991 Lagos Governorship Race
Edu’s entry into elective politics came during the transition programme of Nigeria’s aborted Third Republic.
He was a member of the Peoples Front, a faction of the Social Democratic Party led by Shehu Musa Yar’Adua that also counted Bola Tinubu, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Babalola Borishade among its members.
When the SDP’s two leading contenders for the Lagos State governorship ticket, Femi Agbalajobi and Dapo Sarumi, were disqualified after a bitterly contested primary battle, the party settled on Edu as its candidate for the general election.
He lost the race to Sir Michael Otedola of the National Republican Convention, in a result that saw the SDP-aligned political establishment lose control of the Lagos governorship for the first time.
Federal Minister Under Obasanjo
When Olusegun Obasanjo became president in 1999 at the start of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, Edu was appointed Federal Minister of Commerce.
He was subsequently redeployed to head the Ministry of Special Duties, a position he held for the remainder of the administration’s first term, until 2003.
Edu has said his father counselled him on taking up the appointment, advising him that there would be nothing to celebrate unless he left office with his reputation intact; he left the ministry without facing significant allegations of corruption or misconduct during his tenure.
On Obasanjo: Public Remarks Over the Years
Edu has been willing to speak candidly about his former boss. In a widely published interview shortly after leaving government in 2003, he offered a sharply critical assessment, telling reporters, as later recounted by Blueprint Newspapers, “He is vindictive, he doesn’t know loyalty and he is deceptive.”
He nonetheless added at the time that, as a Yoruba man, he did not believe in publicly opposing an elder. His tone was notably more measured over a decade later: in 2016, responding to comments Obasanjo had made criticising the Buhari administration, Edu told The Point newspaper that the remarks were made in good faith, saying, “The former president is highly respected, both nationally and internationally.”
Life After Government
Since leaving the federal cabinet, Edu has built a career in the private sector. According to the Yar’Adua Foundation, where he serves on the board of directors, he runs an oil services company, Afrigate Energy Limited, and a real estate development company, Vickers Properties Limited.
He has also served on the boards of the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank, African Alliance Insurance Company, Kewalrams Nigeria Limited, and Afcot Nigeria Limited.
Some directories list a separate, more recent business affiliation for Edu as chairman of Eko Support Services Limited, a concessioner at the Apapa port complex; the two accounts of his current business interests have not been reconciled in the sources reviewed for this article.
Career Timeline
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1989 | Called to the Bar at the University of Buckingham, England |
| 1991 | Becomes the SDP’s Lagos State governorship candidate after two rivals are disqualified; loses to Michael Otedola |
| 1999 | Appointed Federal Minister of Commerce under President Obasanjo |
| 1999–2003 | Serves as Federal Minister of Special Duties |
| 2002 | His father, Chief Shafi Lawal Edu, dies at age 91 |
| 2003 | Gives a widely published, critical interview about President Obasanjo after leaving office |
| 2016 | Offers more measured public comments defending Obasanjo’s remarks on the Buhari government |
Personal Life
Edu has described himself as a Yoruba man in published interviews and is known for maintaining a relatively low public profile compared with many former ministers of his generation. He is a close political associate of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
He is the younger brother of the late Babatunde (Tunde) Edu, and the Edu family continues to honour their father’s memory through the annual S.L. Edu Memorial Lecture organised by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation.
Sources
- Yar’Adua Foundation — Yomi Edu
- Wikipedia — Shafi Edu
- Wikipedia — Nigerian Conservation Foundation
- Wikipedia — Dapo Sarumi
- Blueprint Newspapers — Emmanuel Okala, Yomi Edu: Where Are They Now?
- Blueprint Newspapers — Kojo Williams, Yomi Edu: Where Are They Now?
- The Point — Obasanjo’s Attack on Buhari, NASS in Good Faith – Yomi Edu, Others
- ThisDay Live / PressReader — Femi Otedola’s Waiting to Repeat History
- Arise TV — Nigeria Decides: Tinubu and His Lifelong Ambition
- JPS.ng — Abayomi Edu
Last updated: September 24, 2026
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