Peter Odey

Peter had his primary education at St. Benedict’s Primary School Igoli in Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State between 1979 and 1985.^[5] For his secondary education he attended both Government Technical College^[6] and Army Day Secondary School,^[7] both in Ogoja, graduating in 1993 with distinction. He gained admission to the University of Calabar in 1995 to study Sociology and graduated with a BSc. (Hons) in 1999. At the turn of the millennium, he proceeded to serve his fatherland through the National Youth Service Corps in Nguru, Yobe State. He was named the Corper Liaison Officer (CLO) in his batch where he served as an intermediary between the management of the scheme and the corpers whilst working as a focal member of the Nguru Local Government Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP).

At the completion of his youth service, he proceeded to the top-ranked Catholic University in Lueven,^[8][9] Belgium, where in 2002, he bagged a master's degree in Political Sociology. He won a scholarship to study yet another Master’s degree in International Relations with a specialty in Peace & Conflict Resolution at the London Metropolitan University between 2008 and 2009 where bagged an MA with distinction. He returned to the University of Calabar where he has successfully completed his LLB programme and more recently in 2023 completed his PhD in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution.

Odey was employed by the UNDP^[10] to work as a Conflict Adviser immediately after his Master’s in London. During his employment with the UN, he served in Kuwait, Sudan and Abuja before leaving to head the Security and Risk Management Department of the Foreign Office at the British High Commission Nigeria.

The lawmaker's love for politics dates back to his days of student unionism at the University of Calabar. Whilst there, he was at various times elected to serve in the Student Union Government (SUG) of UNICAL, National Association of Cross River State Students (NACRISS), and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

After unsuccessful attempts at contesting for the chairmanship of Ogoja Local Government Area and Member of the Cross River State House of Assembly in 2007 and 2011 respectively, in 2015 he was overwhelmingly elected to represent the people of Ogoja in the Cross River State House of Assembly and re-elected in 2019^[11] when he served as the Leader of the 9th Assembly, both times on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In 2023, Peter was selected as running mate to Governor Bassey Otu for the 2023 Cross River Gubernatorial elections under the platform of the All progressives Congress (APC),^[12] they emerged victorious at the polls, and they were sworn in as Governor and deputy on May 29, 2023.^[13][14]