Egbe Omo Oduduwa

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Egbé Ọmọ Odùduwà, was a Nigerian political organization established in 1945, when Chief Obafemi Awolowo along with Dr. Oni Akerele, Chief Akintola Williams, Professor Saburi Biobaku, Chief Abiodun Akinrele, Chief Ayo Rosiji and others, met in London. Their stated aim in setting up the organization was to unite the Yorùbá in a manner similar to the tenets of the Ibibio State Union and the Ibo Federal Union; which were political action committees of the Ibibio and the Igbo respectively.

The Egbé Ọmọ Odùduwà grew in importance in 1948 when it was launched in Lagos with great fanfare by prominent Yorùbá politicians associated with the Nigerian Youth Movement. These politicians included Chief Bode Thomas, Sir Adeyemo Alakija, Chief H. O. Davies, Dr. Kofo Abayomi, Dr. Akinola Maja and others. The revival of the Egbé Ọmọ Odùduwà in 1948 was not accidental, because that was the year heated debates were being held to the decide Nigeria's political orientation; nationalism or parochialism. During this period of the struggle for independence from the British, radical nationalism had been on the ascendancy since 1938, but it became very pronounced, between 1945-1948. This period was marked by the General Strike of 1945 and the 1946 Nigeria-wide NCNC campaign against the imposition of the Richards' Constitution.

Yoruba politicians in Lagos led by Chief Bode Thomas formed the group in response to the afore-mentioned ethnically specific organizations, and also to chart a specific course for the development of Nigeria's Western Region, populated overwhelmingly by Yorubas. On March 21, 1951 the Egbé Ọmọ Odùduwà set up a political party called the Action Group. The party was to serve as the vehicle for realizing its primary objective of mobilizing the Yorùbá into one political umbrella. The Action Group, was therefore formed to implement the ideals and objectives of the Egbé Ọmọ Odùduwà; and was led by no less a person than Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

[edit] References

• Some facts and dates were drawn from the book, by Yusufu Bala Usman and Alkasum Abba, entitled The Misrepresentation of Nigeria: The Facts and the Figures, CEDDERT, Zaria, 2005 reprint.