President of the Third Cycle 2008 - 2009

Martin I. Uhomoibhi (Nigeria) served as the third President of the Human Rights Council from June 2008 to June 2009. Dr. Uhomoibhi is currently the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Uhomoibhi was Ambassador of Nigeria to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the UN Office at Geneva from 2007 to 2010. He served as the acting Director of the Office of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria from 2004 - 2007.

From July 2003 to January 2004, he was Deputy Director and Head of Division for Inter-African Affairs at the Ministry. In 2000, Dr. Uhomoibhi was appointed Minister and Deputy Head of Mission to the Nigerian Embassy in Addis Ababa, where he concurrently served as his country's representative to the African Union and to the Economic Commission for Africa until 2003. In 1999 he was appointed Consul-General of Nigeria in Atlanta, with responsibility for United States-Nigeria relations in the 16 states of the south-eastern United States.

From 1995 to 1999, Dr. Uhomoibhi served as Special Assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Prior to that, from 1993 to 1995, he served as coordinator and alternative representative of Nigeria to the Security Council in New York. Dr. Uhomoibhi started his diplomatic career in 1984, when he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a Senior First Secretary. In his previous career, from 1977 to 1984, he was a lecturer in diplomatic and African history at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.

Dr. Uhomoibhi graduated from the University of Ibadan in 1976 with a bachelor's degree in history. He also holds a master's in history and political science from the University of Ibadan and a D. Phil from Oxford University in Modern History and International Relations. Born on 3 November 1954 in Nigeria, Dr. Uhomoibhi is married with children.