Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo was a Nigerian nationalist and 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 opposition leader in the federal parliament to the Balewa government from 1959 -1963.
Ogun State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. As a Nigerian state, Ogun is the second most industrialised state after Lagos, with a focus on metal processing. It has good road and rail connections to the harbours in Lagos and Lekki. Wole Soyinka, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 1986, lives in Ogun.
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is a federal university in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife by the regional government of Western Nigeria, which was led by Samuel Ladoke Akintola. It was renamed "Obafemi Awolowo University" on 12 May 1987, so by the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida led military administration, in honour of Obafemi Awolowo (1909–1987), the first premier of the Western Region of Nigeria, who initially thought of the idea of establishing the university.
Chief Samuel Ládòkè Akíntọ́lá otherwise known as S.L.A. was a Nigerian politician, aristocrat, orator, and lawyer. 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.
Akinwumi Isola was a Yoruba playwright, novelist, actor, dramatist, culture activist and scholar. He was known for his writing in, and his work in promoting, the Yoruba language. As an actor, he was known for Agogo Eèwò (2002), Efunsetan Aniwura (1981) and Efunsetan Aniwura (2005).
Chief Ògúnwán̄dé "Wán̄dé" Abím̄bọ́lá is a Nigerian academician, a professor of Yoruba language and literature, and a former vice-chancellor of the University of Ife. He has also served as the Majority Leader of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Chief Abimbola was installed as Àwísẹ Awo Àgbàyé in 1981 by the Ooni of Ife on the recommendation of a conclave of Babalawos of Yorubaland.
Fẹ́mi is a common Nigerian given unisex name of Yoruba origin which means "love Me". Femi is most commonly a diminutive form of "Olufemi" which means "The Lord loves me" ,("Olú" means Lord, Leader, or the "Prominent one," in the Yoruba language). "Olufemi" can also be diminutive of "Olúwafẹ́mi". Other full forms of the name include Olorunfemi, Jesufemi, Nifemi, Babafemi, Obafemi, Adefemi, Ifafemi etc.
Chief Victor Olabisi Onabanjo was governor of Ogun State in Nigeria from October 1979 – December 1983, during the Nigerian Second Republic. He was of Ijebu extraction.
Femi Okurounmu was elected Senator for the Ogun Central constituency of Ogun State, Nigeria at the start of the Nigerian Fourth Republic, running on the Alliance for Democracy (AD) platform. He held office from 3 June 1999 to 3 June 2003.
Chief Dele Momodu is a Nigerian journalist/publisher, businessman, and motivational speaker. He is the CEO and publisher of Ovation International, a magazine that has given publicity to people from all over the world, mainly in Africa. In 2015, he officially launched Ovation TV and subsequently launched an online newspaper called The Boss Newspapers. Momodu has received hundreds of awards and honors for his work in the world of business, politics, literature, the music industry and the fashion industry. He writes a weekly column called "Pendulum", published every Saturday on the back page of Thisday newspaper. The articles are praised for highlighting issues in Nigeria, as well as discussing popular topics, current events and notable people, often in a polemic/critical style. ,
Stephen Adebanji Akintoye, also known as S. Banji Akintoye, is a Nigerian-born academic, historian and writer. He attended Christ's School Ado Ekiti, Nigeria from 1951–1955, and studied history at the University College, Ibadan (1956–1961), and doctoral studies from 1963-1966 at the University of Ibadan, where he was awarded a PhD in History in 1966. He taught at the History Department at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, where he became a professor and Director of the Institute of African Studies from 1974-1977. He has also taught African History in universities in the United States including the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida; Montgomery County Community College, PA, and Eastern University, St. Davids, Pennsylvania. Akintoye has written four books, chapters in many joint books, and several articles in scholarly journals. He took a leading part for some time in the politics of Nigeria and served on the Nigerian Senate from 1979–1983 during the Second Republic. He currently lives in Cotonoue, Benin Republic. Akintoye is one of the current leading scholars on the history of the Yoruba people. His most recent work, A History of the Yoruba People, draws on decades of new findings and thinking on Yoruba studies that challenges some previously dominant notions about the origins of the Yoruba. This work dispels the Middle Eastern and Arabia origins propounded by such scholars as the late Samuel Johnson (1846–1901) and also gave prominence to the works on the Pre-Oduduwa Period by Ulli Beier among others. Akintoye also gave prominence to the role of Ilé-Ifè over that of Oyo. A reviewer, Wale Adebanwi, notes: "...this book directly contests and shifts th e focus of Yoruba history away from what many have called the Oyo-centric account of Samuel Johnson... Where Johnson avoids the creation myth that positions Ife as the sacred locus of Oduduwa's original descent and the orirun (creation-source), Akintoye, justifiably, restores Ile-Ife to its proper place as "ibi ojumo ti mon wa'ye" ..."
Newspapers published in Nigeria have a strong tradition of the principle of "publish and be damned" that dates back to the colonial era when founding fathers of the Nigerian press such as Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ernest Ikoli, Obafemi Awolowo and Lateef Jakande used their papers to fight for independence.
Nahzeem Olufemi "Femi" Mimiko is a Nigerian educational administrator and former vice chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, a state-owned university named after the former governor of Ondo State, Nigeria, Adekunle Ajasin. The university was ranked the best state university in Nigeria by the United States Transparency International Standard (USTIS) in April 2014. Mimiko was the only vice chancellor delegate at the National Conference in Nigeria held in 2014 under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. Mimiko assumed office in January 2010 and was preceded by Philip Olayede Abiodun. In 2016, he had a stint as African and African-American Studies Associate, at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Chairman, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc
Chief Peter Fatomilola is a Nigerian dramatist, film actor, poet, ifa priest and prolific playwright.
Kola Oyewo is a Nigerian veteran actor, dramatist, and scholar.
Femi Branch is a Nigerian actor, director and producer.
Femi Adesina OON is a Nigerian journalist who served as the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari.
Steve Oluseyi Ayorinde is the immediate past Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture in Lagos State in Nigeria. Before that, he was the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, sworn in by His Excellency the Governor of Lagos State Akinwunmi Ambode on 19 October 2015. He was also previously the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of the National Mirror newspaper, and before that, the Editor of The Punch newspaper in Nigeria.
Olusegun Awolowo Jr., is a Nigerian lawyer, he was the executive director of Nigerian Export Promotion Council, from 2013 to 2021. He is the grandson of former Nigerian nationalist, socialist and statesman, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. In July 2021, he was unanimously elected as the President of National Trade Promotion Organizations (TPOs) from ECOWAS member States.
