CHIEF OBAFEMI AWOLOWO
Whether you are a bad leader or a good leader whatever you do lives after you...but you i'm of the opinion that for you to b remembered it's either you are extremely good or extremely bad...what's yours?
Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo was born on March 6, 1909 in Ikenne, Ogun State,Nigeria.His father was a farmer and sawyer who died when he was about seven years old. He attended various schools, and then became a teacher in Abeokuta, after which he qualified as a shorthand typist. Subsequently, he served as a clerk at the famous Wesley college, as well as a correspondent for the Nigerian Times. It was after this that he embarked on various business ventures to help raise funds to travel to the UK for further studies. In 1949 Awolowo founded the Nigerian Tribune, the oldest surviving private Nigerian newspaper, which he used to spread nationalist consciousness among his fellow Nigerians.
This legend is best remembered for his remarkable integrity, ardent nationalism, principled and virile opposition and dogged federalistic convictions. His party was the first to move the motion for Nigeria's independence in the federal parliament and he obtained internal self-government for the Western Region in 1957. He is credited with coining the name 'naira' for the Nigerian standard monetary unit and helped to finance the Civil War and preserve the federation without borrowing. He built the Liberty Stadium in Ibadan, the first of its kind in Africa; established the WNTV, the first television station in Africa; erected the first skyscraper in tropical Africa: the Cocoa House which is still the tallest building in Ibadan and ran a widely-respected civil service in the Western Region.
He was reputedly admired by many which includes Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, and some of his disciples in the South-West have continued to invoke his name and the policies of his party, the Action Group, during campaigns, while his welfarist policies have influenced politicians in most of the other geopolitical zones of the nation.He was a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Chancellor of the University of Ife and Ahmadu Bello University. He held many chieftaincy titles, including the Losi of Ikenne, Lisa of Ijeun, Asiwaju of Remo, Odofin of Owo, Ajagunla of Ado-Ekiti, Apesin of Osogbo, Odole of Ife and Obong Ikpa Isong of Ibibioland and was also conferred with the highest national honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic. Many institutions in Nigeria have honoured him and some regional and national institutions are named after him, including Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State (formerly University of Ife) Obafemi Awolowo Stadium(formerly the Liberty Stadium)and the Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Government and Public Policy in Lekki,Lagos State. His portrait is on the ₦100 naira note. He was also the author of several publications on the political structure and future prospects of Nigeria, the most prominent of which are Path to Nigerian Freedom, Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution, and Strategies and Tactics of the People's Republic of Nigeria.
However, his most important bequests (styled Awoism) are his exemplary integrity, his welfarism, his contributions to hastening the process of decolonization 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 May 9, 1987, at 78, amid tributes across political and ethno-religious divides.[wikipedia]
It is often said that '' heroes get remembered but legends never die''........Then i think this nationalist is both a legend and a hero.
