| Obafemi Awolowo | |
|---|---|
| Premier of Western Nigeria | |
| In office October 1, 1954 – October 1, 1960 |
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| Succeeded by | Samuel Akintola |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 6, 1909 Ikenne, Ogun State |
| Died | May 9, 1987 (aged 78) Ikenne |
| Political party | Unity Party of Nigeria (1978-1987) Action Group (1950-1966) |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Religion | Christian |
Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo (Yoruba: Ọbáfẹ́mi Awólọ́wọ̀; March 6, 1909 – May 9, 1987) was a Nigerian social democratic politician, trade unionist and author.[1] A Yoruba and native of Ikenne in Ogun State of Nigeria, he started his career as a regional political leader like most of his pre-independence contemporaries and was responsible for much of the progressive social legislations that made Nigeria a modern nation.[2] He founded many organizations, including the pan yoruba Egbe Omo Oduduwa and the Action Group political party. He was an active journalist and trade unionist as a young man, editing The Nigerian Worker amongst other publications while also organizing the Nigerian Produce Traders Association and serving as secretary of the Nigerian Motor Transport Union. After earning a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Nigeria from a London University through Correspondence, he went to the UK where he earned a law degree from London School of Economics. He was the first indigenous Premier of the Western Region under Nigeria's parliamentary system, from 1952 to 1960, and was the official Leader of the Opposition in the federal parliament to the Balewa government from 1960 to 1963. In addition to all this, Awolowo was also the first individual in the modern era to be referred to as the Asiwaju of Yorubaland, a title which has come over time to be automatically ascribed to his direct successors as the recognised political leader of the elders and members of the Yoruba clans of Nigeria.
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Oloye Obafemi Awolowo was born in 1909 in Ikenne, present day Ogun State Nigeria.[3] His father was a farmer and sawyer who died when Obafemi was only seven years old. He attended various schools, and then became a teacher in Abeokuta, after which he qualified as a shorthand typist. After which he served as a clerk at the famous Wesley college, as well as a correspondent for the Nigerian Times.[4] It was after this that he embarked on various business ventures to help raise funds to travel to the UK for further studies. In 1949 Awolowo founded the Nigerian Tribune, the oldest surviving private Nigerian newspaper.[5]
Awolowo was a social democratic politician.[6] He supported limited public ownership and limited central planning in government.[7] He believed that the state should channel Nigeria's resources into education and state-led infrastructure development.[8] Controversially, and at considerable expense, he introduced free primary education for all in the Western Region, established the first television service in Africa in 1959,and the Oduduwa Group of which the highly lucrative cocoa industry which was the mainstream of the regional economy.(.[9]
Prior to independence, he lead the Action Group as the Leader of the Opposition at the Federal Parliament, leaving Samuel Ladoke Akintola as the Western Region Premier. Serious disagreement 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. A constitutional crisis led to a declaration of a state of emergency in the Western Region, eventually resulting in the Agbekoya crisis of the late 1960s.
Excluded from national government, the position of Awolowo and his party became increasingly precarious. Akintola's followers, angered at their exclusion from power, formed the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) under Akintola's leadership. A constitutional crisis in the region led the federal parliament to declare a state of emergency in the Western region. The federal government suspended the elected Western Regional Assembly, and then reconstituted the body after new elections that brought Akitola's NNDP into power. Shortly afterwards Awolowo and several disciples tried to overthrow the federal government, unsuccessfull in thier attempt, they were arrested, charged, convicted and jailed for conspiring with some Ghanaian authorities under Kwame Nkrumah to overthrow the federal government.[10] The remnants of the Action Group fought the National election of 1965 in alliance with the largely Igbo, and south-eastern NCNC. Amid accusation of fraud from Awo's camp, the NPC-NNDP won the election, the UPN reacted with violent riots in some parts of the Western region. Awolowo was later freed and pardoned by the military administration of General Yakubu Gowon.
Awolowo first introduced free health care till the age of 18 in the Western Region and also free and mandatory primary education in Western Nigeria. Although, Awolowo failed to win the 1979 and 1983 presidential election , his polices of Free Health and Education were carried out throughout all the states controlled by his party UPN.
Awolowo is remembered for building Liberty Stadium in Ibadan, the first of its kind in Africa; WNTV, the first television station in Africa, the first skyscraper in tropical Africa: The Cocoa House (Still the tallest in Ibadan) and running a widely-respected civil service in the Western Region.
Awolowo was allegdly respected by Kwame Nkrumah, and some Yoruba politicians in the West continue to invoke his name, his policies, and the popular slogan of his Action Group party—"Life More Abundant"—during campaigns. He was also the author of several publications on the political structure and future prospects of Nigeria. Many institutions in Nigeria, honoured him and some regional and national institutions are named after him, including Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife Osun State(formerly University of Ile-Ife), Liberty Stadium in Ibadan is now Awolowo Stadium. His portrait is on the ₦100 naira note. A political author, his most prominent works include Path to Nigerian Freedom, Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution, and Strategies and Tactics of the People Republic of Nigeria. However, some sections of Nigeria still remember him as a tribalist and regional champion.
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