Gov. Mikie Sherrill will appoint Shirley U. Emehelu, a former federal and state prosecutor and longtime friend and émigré from Nigeria who has not been actively involved in partisan politics, as New Jersey’s fifth lieutenant governor, and is expected to announce the appointment on Monday, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.
Emehelu will succeed Rev. Dale Caldwell, who resigned in September after an internal investigation substantiated allegations that he sexually harassed a female staffer and violated state ethics rules.
The 48-year-old Montclair resident joined the Sherrill administration in January, first as acting state comptroller and then as acting secretary of State in September, replacing Caldwell and taking over the administration of the November 3 general election.
The appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation, puts Emehelu next in the line of succession behind a governor considered to have national political ambitions. She will serve as acting governor when Sherrill leaves the state.
Sherrill had narrowed her choices to two finalists: Emehelu and Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Mercer), the chair of the Assembly Education Committee. Her final short...