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Obafemi Awolowo

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nigerian politician (1909–1987)Edit

Chief Obafemi Awolowo GCFR
Taken in 1959

Premier of Western Nigeria
In office 1 October 1954 – 1 October 1960
Succeeded by	Samuel Akintola
Federal Commissioner for Finance
In office 1967–1971
Preceded by	Festus Okotie-Eboh
Succeeded by	Shehu Shagari
Personal details
Born	Jeremiah Obafemi Oyeniyi Awolowo 6 March 1909 Ikenne, Southern Nigeria Protectorate (now in Ogun State, Nigeria)
Died	9 May 1987 (aged 78) Ikenne, Ogun State, Nigeria
Political party	Unity Party of Nigeria (1978–1983) Action Group (1950–1966)
Spouse	Hannah Adelana (m. 1937)
Relations	Yemi Osinbajo (grandson-in-law) Oludolapo Osinbajo (granddaughter) Segun Awolowo Jr. (grandson)
Children	5
Alma mater	University of London
Profession	Journalist, lawyer

Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo (// ^ⓘ Yoruba: Ọbáfẹ́mi Oyèéníyì Awólọ́wọ̀; ọjọ ẹkẹfa ochu ẹkẹlu ọdọ 1909 – ọjọ ẹkẹla ochu ẹkẹlu ọdọ 1987) che Nigerian nationalist kpai ẹnẹ ki ya che ijabe ka ki nẹnwu ki che efu amẹnwu ki lugbo omi n'ọla mi Nigeria (1957–1960). Awolowo du Yoruba nationalist group Egbe Omo Oduduwa ny'anẹ, manyu i che agboji ejodudu eyi Government Business kpai Minister eyi Local Government kpai Finance, kpai Premier ejodudu eyi Western Region ofe Nigeria's parliamentary system, kwi 1952 ti 1959. Onwu che agboji ejodudu ku ma mọ ki gboji ko ẹnẹ omunẹ efu federal parliament nwu Balewa government kwi 1959–1963.

Ẹgba agba dufu ọnẹkẹlẹ iche ẹnẹ ki ya kọ ẹnwu tanẹ ki ya chukọlọ , ki ya ñwọche ẹnwu kuma kọ dufu ki amonẹ gba dabi Nigerian Worker, manyu abo omunẹ ki amonẹ mọ nyọnyọ gẹ. Ubi lẹ i mu da ẹnẹ ki du ny'anẹ kpai ẹnẹ ki ya du ẹnwu ku ma kọ dufu eyi Nigerian Tribune eyi African Newspapers eyi Nigeria Ltd. Ubi ki gba bachelors eyi commerce degree nwu yi Nigeria, i le ti London ki nẹ degree nwu efu law. Obafemi Awolowo che premier ejodudu eyi Western Region kpai anubi lẹ federal commissioner eyi finance, kpai vice chairman eyi Federal Executive Council ẹgba Civil War eyi Nigeria. I ja nyu uña ki tule chaka ojanẹ onu mẹta.

Ugbo ki kwo che Ikenne efu Ogun State south-western Nigeria, Awolowo chanẹ ukọlọ nwu, dabu ami abo oji ẹgọ nwu kibọ, i che nationalist efu Nigerian Youth Movement eyi ki gba nyọgba gbogbo ki mu da Western Provincial Secretary. Awolowo che ẹtẹ ojile ọda ki lugbo uta eta amonẹ kuma che ojanẹ Nigeria eñini yi. Efu ọdọ 1963, ma ka ajọ nwu ma la mudu t'unyi uga ọdọ mẹgwa oji am'ẹnwu ki che biẹnẹ.[13] Government du ẹnwu ki che cho ele gbogbo wi ọdọ 1966, ubi lẹ ma fu chi ki che Minister eyi Finance.[14][15] kuma du ña ku ma che n'uma eyi, Awolowo che ẹnẹ ejodudu efu oji eleñini kuma d'odu nwu ki iche agboji eyi abo Yoruba (Yoruba: Asíwájú Àwọn Yorùbá or Asíwájú Ọmọ Oòduà).[16][17]

ly life

[efu edit source] Obafemi Awoeyi ki gba nyọgba gbogbo ki mu da remiah Obafemi Oyeniyi Awolowo on 6 March 1909 in the Remo town of Ikenne (present-day Ogun State of Nigeria). He was the only son of David Shopolu Awolowo, a farmer and sawyer, and Mary Efunyela Awolowo. He had two sisters and one maternal half-sister. Awolowo's father was born to a high chief and member of the Iwarefa, the leading faction of the traditional Osugbo group that ruled Ikenne.

In 1896, Awolowo's father became one of the first Ikenne natives to convert to Christianity. Awolowo's paternal grandmother, Adefule Awolowo, whom Awolowo adored, was a devout worshipper of the Ifá. 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. His father ultimately died on April 8, 1920, of smallpox when Obafemi was about eleven years old.

He attended various schools, including Baptist Boys' High School (BBHS), Abeokuta; and then became a teacher in Abeokuta, after which he qualified as a shorthand typist. Subsequently, he served as a clerk at the Wesley College Ibadan, as well as a correspondent for the Nigerian Times.

Following his education at Wesley College, Ibadan, in 1927, he enrolled at the University of London as an External Student and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.). He went to the UK in 1944 to study law at the University of London and was called to the Bar by the Honorable Society of the Inner Temple on 19 November 1946. In 1949, Awolowo founded the Nigerian Tribune, a private Nigerian newspaper, which he used to spread nationalist consciousness among Nigerians.

Politics

[edit | edit source] In 1945, he attended the fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester as a representative of the Nigerian Youth Movement along with H. O. Davies. Also attending was an illustrious list of participants which included Kwame Nkrumah, Hastings Banda, Jomo Kenyatta and Jaja Wachuku, among others.

As Premier

[edit | edit source] Awolowo was Nigeria's foremost federalist. In his Path 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 1954 Lyttleton Constitution, following primarily the model proposed by the Western Region delegation led by him. 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.

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 limited public ownership and limited central planning in government. He believed that the state should channel Nigeria's resources into education and state-led infrastructural development. 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.

His Valedictory 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.

In opposition

[edit | edit source] From the eve of independence, he led the Action Group as the Leader of the Opposition in the federal parliament, leaving Samuel Ladoke Akintola as the Western Region Premier. 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. 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.

Excluded from national government, Awolowo and his party faced an increasingly precarious position.^{[citation needed]} Akintola's followers, angered at their exclusion from power, formed the Nigerian 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. Shortly afterwards Awolowo and several disciples were arrested, charged, convicted (of treason), and jailed under Balewa for conspiring with the Ghanaian authorities to overthrow the federal government.

As National Leader

[edit | edit source] As Minister of Finance, 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 with naming the new national currency, the NIGERIAN NAIRA introduced under his leadership.

Regarding the blockade of Biafra during which more than 1 million Igbo children died of starvation, Awolowo was quoted as saying, "All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don’t see why we should feed our enemies fat, only to fight us harder."

As Presidential Candidate

[edit | edit source] In 1979 and 1983, he contested under the Unity Party's platform as a presidential candidate, but lost to the northern-based National Party of Shehu 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 the landmark Supreme Court decision of 1979 with Chief Justice Fatai Williams presiding.

Legacy

[edit | edit source] 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. The Foundation was launched by the President of Nigeria at that time, General Ibrahim Babangida, at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan. 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-linguistic self-determination and uniting politically strong states-as the best basis for Nigerian unity. Awolowo died peacefully at his Ikenne home, the Efunyela Hall (so named after his mother), on 9 May 1987, at the age of 78 and was laid to rest in Ikenne, amid tributes across political and ethno-religious divides.^{[citation needed]}

Honours

[edit | edit source] He is featured in the 100 Naira banknote since 1999.

In addition to a variety of other chieftaincy titles, Chief Awolowo held the title of the Odole Oodua of Ile-Ife.

Bibliography

[edit | edit source]

Path to Nigerian Freedom
Awo – Autobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo
My Early Life
Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution
The People's Republic
The Strategy & Tactics of the People's Republic of Nigeria
The Problems of Africa – The Need for Ideological Appraisal
Awo on the Nigerian Civil War
Path to Nigerian Greatness
Voice of Reason
Voice of Courage
Voice of Wisdom
Adventures in Power – Book 1 – My March Through Prison
Adventures in Power – Book 2 – Travails of Democracy
My march through prison
Socialism in the service of New Nigeria
Selected speeches of Chief Obafemi Awolowo
Philosophy of Independent Nigeria
Memorable Quotes from Awo
The Path to Economic Freedom in Developing Country
Blueprint for Post-War Reconstruction
Anglo-Nigerian Military Pact Agreement

References