115th posthumous birthday: Seven fascinating facts about Chief Obafemi Awolowo

Today makes it exactly 37 years since Chief Obafemi Awolowo passed. He was a famous leader of thought who many consider a reference point for posterity in the annals of Nigeria’s history, even till date.

In this article, TRIBUNE ONLINE highlights seven (7) interesting facts about the sage.

1. Chief Obafemi Awolowo was born Jeremiah Obafemi Oyeniyi Awolowo on March 6, 1909 to the family of Pa David Shopolu Awolowo and Mrs Mary Efunyela Awolowo.

2. Awo as fondly called hails from Remo town of Ikenne, in present-day Ogun, Southern Nigeria.

3. He founded the Yoruba nationalist group Egbe Omo Oduduwa, and 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.

3. As a young man, he was an active journalist, editing publications such as the Nigerian Worker, on top of others as well.

4. 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.

5. 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.).

6. 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.

7. In 1949, Awolowo founded the Nigerian Tribune, a private Nigerian newspaper, which he used to spread nationalist consciousness among Nigerians.