The history of Nigeria can be traced to the earliest inhabitants whose remains date from at least 13,000 BC through early civilizations such as the Nok culture which began around 1500 BC. Numerous ancient African civilizations settled in the region that is known today as Nigeria, such as the Kingdom of Nri, the Benin Empire, and the Oyo Empire. Islam reached Nigeria through the Bornu Empire between and Hausa States around during the 11th century, while Christianity came to Nigeria in the 15th century through Augustinian and Capuchin monks from Portugal. The Songhai Empire also occupied part of the region. From the 15th century, European slave traders arrived in the region to purchase enslaved Africans as part of the Atlantic slave trade, which started in the region of modern-day Nigeria; the first Nigerian port used by European slave traders was Badagry, a coastal harbour. Local merchants provided them with slaves, escalating conflicts among the ethnic groups in the region and disrupting older trade patterns through the Trans-Saharan route.
Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo was a Yoruba nationalist and Nigerian statesman who played a key role in Nigeria's independence movement (1957-1960). Awolowo 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. He was the official Leader of the Opposition in the federal parliament to the Balewa government from 1959 to 1963.
Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala was a Nigerian politician and police officer. He served as governor of Oyo State in 2006, and again from 2007 to 2011. He was the candidate of the ADP in the 2019 Governorship election in Oyo State.
Chief Samuel Ládòkè Akíntọ́lá(Listen) otherwise known as S.L.A., was a Yoruba politician, aristocrat, orator, and a Yoruba Lawyer. He was one of the founding fathers of modern Nigeria, he served as Oloye Aare Ona Kakanfo XIII of Yorubaland and served as premier of Western Nigeria from independence in 1960 till his assassination in 1966.
Chief James Ajibola Idowu IgeSAN, simply known as Bola Ige, was a Nigerian lawyer and politician. He served as Federal Minister of Justice of Nigeria from January 2000 till his assassination in December 2001. He previously served as governor of Oyo State from 1979 to 1983 during the Nigerian Second Republic.
Gbadamosi Adegoke AdelabuListen was a prominent personality in the politics of Ibadan city and subsequently that of the Western Region of Nigeria right before the country's independence in 1960. He was Nigeria's Minister of Natural Resources and Social Services from January 1955 to January 1956 and was later the opposition leader in the Western Regional Assembly until his death in 1958. He was a self-made man born into a humble family but became an influential figure in Nigerian politics. He attended Government College, Ibadan and eventually became a businessman. His successful political career was cut short when he was killed in a car crash, not long before Nigeria gained independence from Britain.
The Ibadan Peoples Party (IPP) was established on June 15, 1951, by a group of eminent Ibadan indigenes who opposed the policies which held sway in the Yorùbá dominated Western Region, Nigeria in the 1950s. Its founding chairman was Chief Augustus Akinloye, and the other founders were; Chief Adegoke Adelabu, Chief Kola Balogun, Chief T. O. S. Benson, Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya and Chief H. O. Davies. The other leaders of the IPP were: Chief S. A. Akinyemi, Chief S. O. Lanlehin, Chief Moyo Aboderin, Chief Samuel Lana, Chief D. T. Akinbiyi, Chief S. Ajunwon, Chief S. Aderonmu, Chief R. S. Baoku, Chief Akin Allen and Chief Akinniyi Olunloyo.
The Action Group (AG) was a Nigerian nationalist political party established in Ibadan on 21st March 1951, by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The party was founded to serve as the platform for realizing his preliminary objective of mobilizing Western Nigerians to forestall the NCNC control of the Western Region and the subsequent aim of cooperating with other nationalist parties to win independence for Nigeria. It benefited immensely from the relationships developed in the Egbe Omo Oduduwa formed in Awolowo's days in London as a student.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), formerly known as Action Congress (AC), was a Nigerian political party formed via the merger of a faction of Alliance for Democracy, the Justice Party, the Advance Congress of Democrats, and several other minor political parties in September 2006. The party controlled Lagos. It was regarded as a natural successor to the progressive politics more closely associated with the Action Group and Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the First and Second Republics respectively. However, criticism of the party's more pragmatic and less ideological political outlook associated with AG and UPN, has made many argue it was less of a worthy political heir. The Party had strong presence in the South West, Mid-West and North Central Regions. Lagos, Edo, Ekiti, Kogi, Ondo, Bauchi, Plateau, Niger, Adamawa, Oyo and Osun states by far accounts for majority of the party's presence and discernible power base.
Babatunji Olowofoyeku, OFR, SAN, was a Nigerian politician, educationist, lawyer and leader, a Yoruba and native of Ilesha in Osun State of Nigeria, whose political career started in the mid-1950s.
Victor Omololu Olunloyo is a mathematician who became governor of Oyo State in Nigeria in October 1983, holding the office briefly until the military regime of Muhammadu Buhari took power in December 1983. He later became a power in the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State.
Akinwole Michael Omoboriowo was a Nigerian lawyer and politician who was Deputy Governor of Ondo State, later switching parties and contested for the governorship election of 1983 in Ondo State during the Nigerian Second Republic. He was initially declared the winner but was disputed and later reversed by a court of appeal before he could take office.
Chief Sunday AfolabiListen is a Nigerian politician who served in the Cabinet of President Olusegun Obasanjo as Minister of Internal Affairs. Later he stood trial for alleged bribery concerning contracts for the National ID card plan.
Chief Lamidi Ariyibi Akanji Adedibu was an aristocratic power broker in Oyo State, Nigeria. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo described him as the "father of the PDP".
Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde is a Nigerian businessman, politician and philanthropist who has served as governor of Oyo State since 29 May 2019.
Adebayo AdelabuListen is a former deputy governor, operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria and 2019 Oyo State gubernatorial candidate for the All Progressives Congress.
Alhaji Oloye Dauda Soroye AdegbenroListen (1909-1975) was a Nigerian politician, a national leader of the Action Group (AG) Party and Minister of Land and Labour. He was revered by his people in Abeokuta, who conferred on him the chieftaincy titles of Balogun of Owu Egba and Ekerin of Egbaland.
The 2019 Oyo State gubernatorial election occurred on March 9, 2019, the PDP nominee Seyi Makinde won the election, defeating Adebayo Adelabu of the APC.
The 1983 Oyo State gubernatorial election occurred on August 13, 1983. NPN's Victor Omololu Olunloyo won election for a first term, defeating main opposition UPN candidate, Bola Ige, and other party candidates in the contest.
The 2023 Oyo State gubernatorial election will take place on 11 March 2023, to elect the Governor of Oyo State, concurrent with elections to the Oyo State House of Assembly as well as twenty-seven other gubernatorial elections and elections to all other state houses of assembly. The election will be held two weeks after the presidential election and National Assembly elections. Incumbent PDP Governor Seyi Makinde is running for re-election and has been renominated by his party.
