Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo, GCFR, was a Nigerian nationalist and statesman who played a key role in Nigeria's independence movement, the First and Second Republics and the Civil War. The son of a Yoruba farmer, he was one of the truly self-made men among his contemporaries in Nigeria. He was the first premier of the Western Region and later federal commissioner for finance, and vice chairman of the Federal Executive Council during the Civil War. He was thrice a major contender for his country's highest office. A native of Ikenne in Ogun State of south-western Nigeria, he started his career, like some of his well-known contemporaries, as a nationalist in the Nigerian Youth Movement in which he rose to become Western Provincial Secretary. Awolowo was responsible for much of the progressive social legislation that has made Nigeria a modern nation. He 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. In recognition of all these, Awolowo was the first individual in the modern era to be named Leader of the Yorubas.
Chief Samuel Oluyemisi Falae CFR, simply known as Olu Falae, is a Nigerian banker, administrator and politician from Akure, Ondo State. He was secretary to the military government of Ibrahim Babangida from January 1986 to December 1990, and was briefly the Finance Minister in 1990. He ran for president in Nigeria's Third and Fourth republics.
The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) was Nigeria's first political party.
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, HRH Chief D. T. Akinbiyi, Chief S. Ajunwon, Chief S. Aderonmu, Chief R. S. Baoku, Chief Akin Allen and Chief Akinniyi Olunloyo.
Egbé Ọmọ Odùduwà is a Nigerian political organisation established in 1945, when Chief Obafemi Awolowo along with Dr. Akinola Maja Dr. Oni Akerele, Chief Akintola Williams, Professor Saburi Biobaku, Chief Abiodun Akinrele, Chief D.O. A Oguntoye, Chief Ayo Rosiji and others, met in London.
Their stated aim in setting up the organisation was to unite the Yorùbá in a manner similar to the tenets of the Ibibio State Union and the Ibo Federal Union; which were political action committees of the Ibibio and the Igbo respectively.
The Action Group (AG) was a Nigerian political party established in Ibadan on March 21, 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 the 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.
Ernest Sissei Ikoli (1893–1960) was a Nigerian politician, nationalist and pioneering journalist; he was the first editor of the Daily Times. He was the president of the Nigerian Youth Movement and in 1942, represented Lagos in the Legislative Council.
Chief Arthur Edward Prest was an Itsekiri politician of biracial heritage from the Warri division of southern Nigeria.
Oba Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, KBE was the King (Olowo) of Owo, an ancient city which was once the capital of an Eastern Yoruba city state in Nigeria.
Patrick Okedinachi Utomi is a Nigerian professor of political economy and management expert. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria and a former presidential candidate. He is the founder of Centre for Value in Leadership (CVL) and the African Democratic Congress. He is a professor at Lagos Business School, and has served in senior positions in government, as an adviser to the president of Nigeria, the private sector, as Chief Operating Officer of Volkswagen Nigeria.
Chief Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo, popularly known as HID, was born to a modest family in the small Ikenne community of Ogun State in Nigeria and attended Methodist Girls' High School, Lagos. She was married to politician Obafemi Awolowo from December 26, 1937 to his death in 1987. He famously referred to her as his "jewel of inestimable value". She was also a successful businesswoman and astute politician. She played an active role in the politics of Western Nigeria. She stood in for her husband in the alliance formed between the NCNC and the AG, called the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA), while he was tried and in jail.
Chief Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya was a Nigerian politician, lawyer, activist, welfarist, and liberal progressive. He was the son of a famous and powerful traditional healer, the late Oloye Ezekiel Adesanya, who lived between the 19th and 20th centuries.
Alhaji Lamidi Ona-Olapo Adesina was an educator who became governor of Oyo State in Nigeria on 29 May 1999 as a member of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) party.
Chief Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi C.F.R, C.M.G. was a Nigerian gynaecologist and obstetrician. He was also Minister of Health in the Nigerian First Republic.
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".
Chief Godwin Olusegun Kolawole Ajayi, SAN popularly known by his initials GOK Ajayi was a prominent Nigerian Jurist.
Chief Kayode Eso, CON, CFR was a Nigerian prominent Jurist and former Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
A by-election was held for the Lagos seat in the Legislative Council of Nigeria on 5 March 1941. It was required after the incumbent member Kofo Abayomi of the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) resigned in order to move the United Kingdom to take up a Rhodes Scholarship in ophthalmology. Although Ernest Ikoli of the NYM was elected with 56% of the vote, the controversy caused by the election led to the eventual demise of the party.
Oluremi Comfort Sonaiya, is a Nigerian politician, educationalist and writer. She was Nigeria's only female presidential candidate in the 2015 general election under the platform of the KOWA Party. But recently lost her bid to Dr. Adesina Fagbenro Byron in representing the party again in 2019 election.
