Western Delta University (WDU), Oghara, will on Saturday, November 15, 2025, hold its 15th Convocation Ceremony for the 2024/2025 academic session.

According to a statement signed by E. O. Ofotokun, Acting Registrar of the university, the event will feature the conferment of degrees, diplomas and prizes on deserving students.

The institution will also confer honorary doctorate degrees on two distinguished Nigerians — Prince Adewale Adebayo, lawyer, philanthropist and former presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 general elections, and General Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (rtd), former Chief of Army Staff and Minister of Interior.

While Prince Adebayo will receive a Doctor of Political Science (Honoris Causa), General Dambazau will be honoured with a Doctor of Strategic Studies (Honoris Causa).

Graduands have been advised to collect their academic gowns and invitation cards ahead of the event and to be seated by 9:30 a.m., while guests are expected to be seated by 10:00 a.m.

The ceremony will commence with the commissioning of projects at 10:30 a.m., followed by the Convocation Lecture at 11:00 a.m., to be delivered by Professor Kyari Mohammed, former Vice-Chancellor of Modibbo Adama University of Technology and Nigerian Army University, Biu.

The high point of the ceremony, scheduled between 12:00 noon and 2:00 p.m., will be the conferment of honorary degrees and presentation of academic awards.

Born on 14 March 1954, Dambazau was commissioned into the Nigerian Army Infantry in June 1977 after completing cadet training at the Nigerian Defence Academy. Over a career spanning more than three decades, he held notable instructional, staff and command roles, including Registrar of the NDA; Principal General Staff Officer to the Minister of Defence; Chief Instructor, Support Weapons at the Infantry Centre; Chief of Army Standards and Evaluation; Directing Staff and later Director of Higher Military Organisation at the National War College; and General Officer Commanding 2 Division. His military service culminated in his appointment as Chief of Army Staff from August 2008 to September 2010.

He attended several professional courses at the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, the US Army Military Police School in Alabama, the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, the Ghana Armed Forces Staff College, and the National Defence College in New Delhi.

A Barewa College alumnus, Dambazau earned multiple degrees—BSc in Criminal Justice Studies, MA in Political Science and M.Ed in Higher Educational Administration—at Kent State University, Ohio, between 1980 and 1984, and completed a PhD in Criminology at the University of Keele, UK, in 1989.

After retiring from service, he joined partisan politics. He served as Director of Security for the CPC in the 2011 elections and held the same role for the APC Presidential Campaign Councils in 2015 and 2019. From November 2015 to May 2019, he was Minister of Interior, where he oversaw reforms across the Prisons Service, Immigration Service, Civil Defence Corps and Federal Fire Service.

Dambazau has held fellowships and board positions with institutions such as Harvard University’s Weatherhead Centre, the University of Massachusetts Boston, the University of Ibadan, California State University Sacramento, and the Nigerian Army Resource Centre. He is affiliated with several global criminology and security organisations and serves as a director with the International Police Executive Symposium.

His honours include the CFR, NPOM, and multiple military service medals, alongside academic distinctions from institutions in India, Ghana and the United States.

A published author in criminology and criminal justice, his research focuses on African regional security, border management and transnational crime. He previously lectured in criminology at Ahmadu Bello University.

General Dambazau is married with children, enjoys music, documentaries, golf and research, and holds the traditional title of Baraden Kano.