Chief Obafemi Awolowo

Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo GCFR (Yoruba: Ọbafẹ́mi Oyèníyì Awólọ́wọ̀; 6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987) was a Nigerian nationalist and statesman who played a key role in Nigeria’s independence movement, the First and Second Republics and the Civil War.The son of a Yoruba farmer, he was one of the truly self-made men among his contemporaries in Nigeria.

As a young man he was an active journalist, editing publications such as the Nigerian worker, on top of others as well.After receiving his bachelors of commerce degree in Nigeria, he traveled to London to pursue his degree in law.Obafemi Awolowo was the first premier of the Western Region and later federal commissioner for finance, and vice chairman of the Federal Executive Council during the Nigerian Civil War. He was thrice a major contender for his country’s highest office.

A native of Ikenne in Ogun State of south-western Nigeria, he started his career, like some of his well-known contemporaries, as a nationalist in the Nigerian Youth Movement in which he rose to become Western Provincial Secretary. Awolowo was responsible for much of the progressive social legislation that has made Nigeria a modern nation. Awolowo was the first Leader of Government Business and Minister of Local Government and Finance, and first Premier of the Western Region under Nigeria’s parliamentary system, from 1952 to 1959. He was the official Leader of the Opposition in the federal parliament to the Balewa government from 1959 to 1963.

In 1963 he was imprisoned under the accusations of sedition and was not pardoned by the government until 1966, after which he assumed the role as Minister of Finance. 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: Asiwaju Awon Yoruba or Asiwaju Omo Oodua).