Obafemi Awolowo | |
|---|---|
 Taken in 1959 | |
| Premier ofWestern Nigeria | |
| In office 1 October 1954 – 1 October 1960 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Akintola |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 12 December 1959 – November 1962 | |
| Prime Minister | Abubakar Tafawa Balewa |
| Deputy | Anthony Enahoro |
| Federal Commissioner for Finance | |
| In office 1967–1971 | |
| Preceded by | Festus Okotie-Eboh |
| Succeeded by | Shehu Shagari |
| Leader of the Action Group | |
| In office 15 January 1966 – 12 December 1959 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jeremiah Obafemi Oyeniyi Awolowo (1909-03-06)6 March 1909 |
| Died | 9 May 1987(1987-05-09) (aged 78) Ikenne,Ogun State, Nigeria |
| Political party | Unity Party of Nigeria (1978–1983) Action Group (1950–1966) |
| Spouse | |
| Relations | Yemi Osinbajo (grandson-in-law) Oludolapo Osinbajo (granddaughter) Segun Awolowo Jr. (grandson) |
| Children | 5 |
| Alma mater | University of London |
| Profession | Journalist, lawyer |
Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo (6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987) was a Nigerian politician who served as the firstPremier of the Western region of Nigeria. He was known as one of the key figure towardsNigeria's independence movement from 1957 to 1960. Awolowo founded the Yoruba nationalist groupEgbe Omo Oduduwa as well as thePremier of theWestern Region under Nigeria'sparliamentary system from 1952 to 1959. He was the officialopposition leader in the federal parliament to theBalewa government from 1959 to 1963.
As a young man he was an activejournalist, editing publications such as theNigerian Worker and the African Sentinel, on top of others as well. He later became founder and publisher ofNigerian Tribune of African Newspapers of Nigeria Ltd.[1] After receiving his bachelor of commerce degree in Nigeria, he traveled toLondon to pursue his degree in law.[2] Obafemi Awolowo was the first premier of the Western Region and later federal commissioner for finance, and vice chairman of theFederal Executive Council[3] during theNigerian Civil War.[4] He was thrice a major contender for the country's highest office.[5]
A native ofIkenne inOgun State of south-western Nigeria,[6] Awolowo started his career, like some of his well-known contemporaries, as a nationalist in theNigerian Youth Movement in which he rose to become WesternProvincial Secretary.[1] Awolowo was responsible for much of the progressive social legislation that has made Nigeria a modern nation.[7] In 1963, he was tried and jailed for 10 years on charges of sedition.[8] He was pardoned by the government in 1966, after which he appointed the Minister of Finance.[9][10] In recognition of all of this, Awolowo was the first individual in the modern era to be named as the leader of the Yorubas (Yoruba:Asíwájú Àwọn Yorùbá orAsíwájú Ọmọ Oòduà).[11][12]
Awolowo was born Jeremiah Obafemi Oyeniyi Awolowo on 6 March 1909 in theRemo town ofIkenne (present-dayOgun State of Nigeria).[13][14] He was the only son of David Shopolu Awolowo, a farmer and sawyer, and Mary Efunyela Awolowo.[15] He had two sisters and one maternal half-sister. Awolowo's father was born to ahigh chief and member of the Iwarefa, the leading faction of the traditionalOsugbo group that ruledIkenne.
In 1896, Awolowo's father became one of the first Ikenne natives to convert toChristianity. Awolowo's paternal grandmother, Adefule Awolowo, whom Awolowo adored, was a devout worshipper of theIfá. Adefule, Awolowo's grandmother, believed that Obafemi was a reincarnation of her father (his great-grandfather). Awolowo's father's conversion to Christianity often went at odds with his family's beliefs. He often challenged worshippers of the god of smallpox,Obaluaye.[16] His father ultimately died on April 8, 1920, of smallpox when Obafemi was about eleven years old.[17]
He attended various schools, includingBaptist Boys' High School (BBHS), Abeokuta; and then became a teacher inAbeokuta, after which he qualified as ashorthand typist. Subsequently, he served as a clerk at theWesley College Ibadan, as well as a correspondent for theNigerian Times.[18]
Following his education atWesley College, Ibadan, in 1927, he enrolled at theUniversity of London as an External Student and graduated with the degree ofBachelor of Commerce (Hons.).[19] He went to theUK in 1944 to study law at theUniversity of London and was called to the Bar by theHonorable Society of the Inner Temple on 19 November 1946.[17][20] In 1949, Awolowo founded theNigerian Tribune, a private Nigerian newspaper, which he used to spread nationalist consciousness among Nigerians.[21]
In 1945, he attended the fifthPan-African Congress inManchester as a representative of theNigerian Youth Movement along withH. O. Davies.[22] Also attending was an illustrious list of participants which includedKwame Nkrumah,Hastings Banda,Jomo Kenyatta andJaja Wachuku, among others.
Awolowo was Nigeria's foremost federalist.[23][24] In hisPath to Nigerian Freedom (1947), the first systematic federalist manifesto by a Nigerian politician, he advocated federalism as the only basis for equitable national integration and, as head of the Action Group, he led demands for a federal constitution, which was introduced in the 1954Lyttleton Constitution, following primarily the model proposed by the Western Region delegation led by him.[25] He was also a keen advocate of minority rights and the relocation of the Federal Capital away from Lagos, advocating for Lagos rights to be governed by the Western region of largely Yoruba stock. He really took the country serious and wanted the yoruba's right to be known.
As premier, he proved to be and was viewed as a man of vision and a dynamic administrator. Awolowo was also the country's leading social democratic politician. He supported limitedpublic ownership and limitedcentral planning in government.[5] He believed that the state should channel Nigeria's resources into education and state-led infrastructural development.[26] Controversially, and at considerable expense, he introduced free primary education for all and free health care for children in the Western Region, established the first television service in Africa in 1959, and the Oduduwa Group, all of which were financed from the highly lucrative cocoa industry which was the mainstay of the regional economy.[27]
HisValedictory Speech on 3 November 1959 to the Western Region House of Assembly recounting his achievements in office between 1952 and 1959, provides context to his work ethic and achievements as an administrator.
From the eve of independence, he led the Action Group as the Leader of the Opposition in the federal parliament, leavingSamuel Ladoke Akintola as the Western Region Premier.[28] Disagreements between Awolowo and Akintola on how to run the Western region led the latter to an alliance with the Tafawa Balewa-led NPC federal government.[29] A constitutional crisis led to the declaration of a state of emergency in the Western Region, eventually resulting in a widespread breakdown of law and order.[30]
Excluded from national government, Awolowo and his party faced an increasingly precarious position.[31] Akintola's followers, angered at their exclusion from power, formed theNigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) under Akintola's leadership. Having previously suspended the elected Western Regional Assembly, the federal government then reconstituted the body after manoeuvres that brought Akintola's NNDP into power without an election.[32] Shortly afterwards Awolowo and several disciples were arrested, charged, convicted (of treason),[33] and jailed underBalewa for conspiring with the Ghanaian authorities to overthrow the federal government.[34]
By 1966, he was released and pardoned by the government, after which he assumed the position of Minister of Finance. From this position, he helped negotiate the joint venture rights of Nigeria in its new oil find, ushering in a decade of oil boom and providing the bulwark of national wealth. He also helped developed the system of national revenue sharing and fiscal allocation (FAAC), which enabled newly created states that boosted minority rights to thrive and survive to this day. He is also credited withnaming the new national currency, theNIGERIAN NAIRA introduced under his leadership.
In 1979 and 1983, he contested under the Unity Party's platform as a presidential candidate, but lost to the northern-based National Party ofShehu Shagari. In 1979, he contested his loss in court, making a case for electoral college decision because the winning candidate couldn't have said to have won having not fulfilled the majority in 2/3 of states (then 19) which led to thelandmark Supreme Court decision of 1979 with Chief Justice Fatai Williamspresiding.
In 1992, the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation was founded as an independent, non-profit, non-partisan organisation committed to furthering the symbiotic interaction of public policy and relevant scholarship with a view to promoting the overall development of the Nigerian nation.[35] The Foundation was launched by the President of Nigeria at that time, GeneralIbrahim Babangida, at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan.[36] The Obafemi Awolowo Foundation continues to promote his ideals through annual events like the 2025 Awolowo Memorial Webinar, themed _“Our 21st Century World: Reflections and Projections.” Topics included technology (especially AI), economic self-reliance, and social justice — values Awolowo championed.[37]However, his most important bequests (styled Awoism) are his exemplary integrity, his welfarism, his contributions to hastening the process of decolonisation and his consistent and reasoned advocacy of federalism-based on ethno-linguisticself-determination and uniting politically strong states-as the best basis for Nigerian unity.[38] Awolowo died peacefully at his Ikenne home in Ogun State, the Efunyela Hall (so named after his mother), on 9 May 1987, at the age of 78 and was laid to rest in Ikenne, Ogun State, amid tributes across political and ethno-religious divides.[39]
Awolowo marriedHannah Idowu Dideolu Adelana, also fromIkenne Ogun State, on 26 December 1937. They had five (5) children, Olusegun Awolowo (1938-1963), (father ofSegun Awolowo), Omotola Oyediran (née Awolowo) (1940-2020), Oluwole Awolowo (1942-2013), Ayodele Soyode (née Awolowo) (1944-2011), mother of former Second Lady of NigeriaDolapo Osinbajo, and Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu (1948).[40]
He is featured in the 100Naira banknote since 1999.[41][42]
In addition to a variety of otherchieftaincy titles, his name has been featured on roads, such as Awolowo way, Bodija Ibadan, Chief Awolowo held the title of theOdole Oodua ofIle-Ife.[43]
Ikenne Residence of Chief Obafemi Awolowo
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Data from Wikidata
