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Chief Obafemi Awolowo (in full Chief Jeremiah Oyeniyi Obafemi Awolowo also known as Awo; born March 6, 1909, Ikenne, colony and protectorate of Southern Nigeria – died May 9, Ikenne, Nigeria). Nigerian statesman who was one of the most important Nigerian nationalists of his time. He was the tenacious proponent of a federal system of government for Nigeria and the spear-head of the progressive aspect of its politics. He is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern Nigeria. Awolowo was born on March 6, 1909 in Ikenne in today’s south western Nigeria to David Sopolu and Mary Efunyela Awolowo who were both of Yoruba ethnic extraction. His father, Sopolu, was a prosperous farmer. Awolowo started his education locally at a church school. Following his father’s untimely demise from small pox, he struggled his way through a morass of financial difficulties to become an assistant school instructor. He then attended Wesley College in Ibadan from which he graduated in 1927 as a tutor. In 1932, he set up in business and began to write articles in newspapers. He also edited the Nigerian worker and helped found the Nigerian Produce Traders Association. He subsequently became secretary of the Nigerian Motor Transport Union. He married Hannah Idowu Dideolu in 1937 and the couple had two sons and three daughters. Awolowo organized a successful strike in 1937 against what he perceived as “an unjust and inequitable colonial law”. By this time, he had become active in the Nigerian Youth Movement of which he became Ibadan branch secretary in 1940. He also led against an agitation in 1942 that resulted in the reform of the Ibadan Native Authority Advisory Board. In 1943, he co-founded the Trade Union Congress and in 1944, organized a mass protest against the ban on exporting palm kernel. It was this grassroots activism that helped to assure ordinary Nigerians that they could take on the British and win, and that the colonial system could be challenged in Nigeria as it had been in India whose struggle for independence had partly inspired Awolowo’s activism.

In 1944, Awolowo earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree as a correspondence student of the University of London. During this same year, he left Nigeria for London to study Law and was called to the bar in 1946. While in London, he helped to found the Egbe Omo Oduduwa (EOO) (Society of the Descendants of Oduduwa – Oduduwa was the ancestor of the Yoruba-speaking peoples). This organization was devoted to the study and preservation of Yoruba culture and the intensification of Yoruba unity. It was launched in Nigeria in 1948. Awolowo returned to Nigeria in 1946 and established a successful legal practice. From 1947, he was an advocate and a solicitor of the Supreme Court. In 1950, Awolowo co-founded the Action Group (AG) in a follow-up action to the foundation of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa and was elected its leader. The Action Group won the first elections held under a new constitution in the Western Region and Awolowo was named Leader of Government Business and Minister for Local Government. Following another constitutional advance in 1954, he became the first premier of the Western Region of Nigeria and was created an honorary chief. As leader and premier, Awolowo introduced several social welfare programmes, including free primary education and free healthcare for children, and established the first television service in Africa in Ibadan, the capital of Western Nigeria. He also speeded up the pace of Nigerianization of the regional public service, a policy in which the Western Region, under his leadership, led the federation.

In 1953, 1957 and 1958, he took part in constitutional talks in Ibadan, London and Lagos where successive political advances were worked out for Nigeria. He also became the linchpin of his party’s drive to accelerate Nigeria’s progress towards independence by pressing the British colonial government for self-government in 1956, leading to the first motion for self-government moved on the floor of the Nigerian central legislature. This action helped to raise the tempo of nationalism in the country and arguably helped to bring forward internal self-government in all three regions, especially, in Western Nigeria, in 1957. On the eve of independence in 1959, Awolowo resigned from the premiership so that he could run for the office of the federal prime minister. He published his autobiography shortly thereafter in 1960 and later serialized it in the Nigerian Tribune, a newspaper he had established in 1949. This decision turned out to be a fateful one, as Awolowo lost the prime ministership to a party based in Northern Nigeria, the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), which entered into a coalition deal with the largest party based in the South, the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). The second leader of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, became Prime Minister of the Federation while Awolowo became the federal leader of the opposition and his deputy in the Action Group was elected to succeed him. Serious disagreements between Awolowo and his deputy, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, on how to run the Western Region and subsequently on the adoption of democratic socialism as an ideology led to a crisis within the Western regional ruling party and eventually in the Western Regional Government.

The Action Group under Awolowo’s leadership found Chief Akintola guilty of anti-party activities and Awolowo also accused Chief Akintola of maneuvers to supplant him as the leader of the Action Group. Many in Chief Akintola’s faction were worried that the Yorubas – who constituted the mainstay of the Action Group – were losing their pre-eminent positions in administration and the economy to the other regions, especially the Igbos of the Eastern Region, as a result of the NCNC’s decision to take part in the federal coalition government while the Action Group stayed out. They were also opposed to what they saw as an emergent excessive radicalization of the party through the adoption of the social democratic ideology. Awolowo’s view was that more could be gained by winning the next election without partnering with what he saw as an overly conservative NPC. The Action Group moved to replace Chief Akintola and petitioned the Governor of the Region, Oba Adesoji Aderemi, to remove him from his position as premier of Western Nigeria. The Governor’s attempt to (successfully) remove Chief Akintola, which he implemented by dismissing him, was resisted by the latter as well as the subsequent attempt of the Western Regional House of Assembly to formalize the process of removal. This latter attempt led to a rumpus on the floor of the House and eventually to the declaration of an emergency by the Balewa – led Federal Government in the West, and the appointment of a sole administrator. Chief Akintola then left the Action Group and formed his own party the United People’s Party (UPP), allying it with the NCNC. He subsequently formed the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) to which power was restored in the region at the expiry of the emergency. In 1962, Awolowo and certain of his supporters were charged with a conspiracy to overthrow the ruling coalition with the support of certain sections of Ghana’s society, under Dr Kwame Nkurumah. After a trial lasting many months, they were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment with Awolowo, in particular, receiving a term of ten years. In his 1966 book, “Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution”, written while he was in prison, Awolowo defended a federal system of government which he had earlier called for in his maiden work, “Path to Nigerian Freedom”, but proposed the splitting of the four regions into 18 states, among others.

The remnant of the Action Group fought the federal elections of 1965 in an alliance (called the United Progressives Grand Alliance – UPGA) with the predominantly Igbo NCNC. Amid accusations of intimidations and frauds by the UPGA, the alliance of the NPC and the NNDP (called the Nigerian National Alliance - NNA) won the election. This led to a turmoil in the South and outbreaks of violence in several parts of the Western Region (which lasted until the military coups of 1966) but the Balewa – led administration was reluctant to have a new recourse to the declaration of an emergency. The military coup that ended the First Republic took place on the 15th of January, 1966 and was led mainly by Igbo officers. The Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar, the premier of the Northern Region, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the premier of the Western region, Chief Akintola, the federal minister of finance, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, and some military officers lost their lives in the putsch. The fact that the coup was led mainly by Igbo military officers and the lop-sidedness in the distribution of victims of the military action provoked suspicions and resentment and a counter-coup on July 29, 1966 staged by Northern officers and also involving the massacres of Igbos in some parts of the country, particularly, the Northern Region and the assassination of the then Head of State, General J.T.U Aguiyi Ironsi, an Igbo. Ironsi had also provoked distrust and disaffection by abrogating federalism and wavering on the fate of the plotters of the first coup. Awolowo and his supporters were pardoned and freed from imprisonment by Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, the new head of the federal military government.

The then atmosphere of distrust and disaffection was aggravated by the aforementioned circumstances surrounding the installation of the new military government at the center. Lt. Col. Odumegwu-Ojukwu, (who had been the military Governor of the Eastern Region since the Ironsi Administration) refused to recognize the authority of the federal government over the region. With the spectre of a civil conflict hanging over the country, Awolowo and some eminent Nigerians visited the Eastern Regional capital, Enugu, in an attempt to broker a peace agreement between Lt. Col. Ojukwu and the federal government. There was another attempt hosted at Aburi, Ghana, by the Ghanian government to secure a peace settlement. When all these had failed, Awolowo was invited by Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon to join the Federal Executive Council as its vice-chairman and federal commissioner for finance. He approved, particularly, in view of the new structure of the federation established by the creation of 12 states, but was unhappy that the new federation was not based on the principles of ethnic cohesion and autonomy. In his book published in 1968, he advocated federalism, democracy and socialism as the necessary bases of a stable and prosperous Nigeria. He resigned his position about a year after the end of the civil war convinced that he had fulfilled his duties to his country. Following several years in private practice as a counsel, Awolowo founded the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) as a successor to the Action Group and contested the presidential election that year. He lost to Alhaji Shehu Shagari. In 1983, he again contested the presidential election, this time losing to Shagari by a far greater margin in another election that Awolowo regarded as fraudulent. His party won the gubernational, assembly and the local government elections in the bulk of southwestern Nigeria. On the ouster of the Shagari - led government in December 1983, Awolowo announced his retirement from politics. He died in his hometown, Ikenne, on May 9, 1987.

LEGACY

Aware that the challenge of holding Nigeria’s competing ethnic groups and regions together presented the new nation with its biggest hurdle, Awolowo favoured local autonomy based on ethno-linguistic identity and splitting the composite regions into smaller states. He also believed that the state should channel Nigeria’s resources into education, health, other social welfare programmes and infrastructural development. He had stated that “the West and the East are as different as Ireland from Germany” and that “the North is as different from the either as China”. He further opined that “Nigeria is not a nation” but a “geographical expression”, a remark for which he has been criticized, especially, by his political opponents and their supporters, even though his view is hardly more than an expressive recognition of the generally admitted fact of Nigeria’s ethno-linguistic diversity. He was convinced that the answer to Nigeria’s problem lay in what he saw as a true federal system in which each ethno-linguistic group is accorded autonomy. From three regions Nigeria has divided itself into 36 states in an attempt to weaken the influence of ethnic nationalities as well as strengthen local autonomy.

Awolowo was also an ardent nationalist. He once stated that the British administration had been “carried out by incompetent, inferior officials” and that the British “never had the true interests of the country at heart”. In 1955, referring to the government of the Western Region, he said ”in fourteen months under the present government, we have done more for Nigeria than the British did in 120 years”. He is also considered to be the author of the name, naira, for the Nigerian currency. Awolowo’s legacy continues in the emphasis in many parts of Nigeria, especially, the Southwestern zone, on the welfare policies of free education and free (or subsidized) healthcare as tools of socio-economic development and social integration. He has many political and intellectual followers in Nigeria, especially, in his native Southwest and his name is invoked in opposition to autocratic rule. He has been described as “the best president Nigeria never had”. Njoku, an Igbo, described him as one of the “most cherished philosophers and political thinkers that Africa has yet produced”. When military rule began in 1985, Awolowo said that Nigeria had entered a “dismal tunnel”. As it deals with competing interests and rivalries. Nigeria needs to develop an equitable and just regime. Awolowo as a founding father of the nation has left a legacy that merits scrutiny.

HONOURS

The University of Ife, located in Ile-Ife, was renamed Obafemi Awolowo University in memory of him. His portrait has also been printed on the Nigerian One hundred naira currency note. He has been voted the most influential Yoruba leader of the 20th century by Yoruba nationals in North America. He was honoured with Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Ife and the University of Lagos. He has also been awarded Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. The Liberty Stadium, Ibadan has been renamed after him. The Obafemi Awolowo Halls of the Obafemi Awolowo University and the University of Ibadan are named in his honour. He was awarded the honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic during the Second Republic. During Nigeria’s centenary celebrations in 2014, Awolowo was honoured with an effigy at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, as one of the founding fathers of the nation.

WRITINGS

His writings include 1947	Path to Nigerian Freedom 1960	Awo: The Autobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo 1966	Thoughts on Nigerian Constitution 1968	The People’s Republic 1970	The Strategy and Tactics of the People’s Republic of Nigeria ,,	The Travails of Democracy and the Rule of Law ,,	My March through Prison

BIBLIOGRAPHY

•	Adegbola, Gbenro and Bankole Olayebi, His Truth is Marching On: A Pictorial Biography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Lagos NG: Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, 1997. ISBN 978982218001 •	Awolowo, Obafemi and Biodun Onibonoje. Awo: The Nigerian Colossus. Ibadan, NG. A Onibonoje Agencies, 1987. ISBN 9789782366412 •	Makinde, M. Akin, and Obafemi Awolowo. Awo as a Philosopher. Ile-Ife, Obafemi Awolowo University Press, 2002. ISBN 9789784361296 •	M………, Martin. The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair: A History of Fifty Years of Independence. New York Public Affairs, 2005. ISBN 9781586482466 •	Rotberg, Robert I. Crafting the New Nigeria: Confronting the Challenges, Boulder, CO. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004. ISBN 9781588262993 •	Shillington, ………. . Encyclopedia of African History. New York: F….. Dearborn 2005. ISBN 9781579582456 •	S….. Richard L. Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation. Trenton NJ: Africa World Press, 2004. ISBN 9781592212095 •	Weiner, …….. and Ergun Ozbu……. Competitive Elections in Developing Countries. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1987 ISBN 9780822306856 •	Arifalo, The Egbe Omo Oduduwa •	 	Awo: The Autobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo •	 	The Travails of Democracy and the Rule of Law •	 	My March Through Prison