FAMOUS FIRST FEATURE
Famous First in Nigeria
Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo,
GCFR
WAS A LAWYER, POLITICIAN, AN ENTREPRENEUR, NIGERIAN NATIONALIST AND STATESMAN WHO PLAYED A CRUCIAL ROLE IN NIGERIA’S INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT, THE FIRST AND SECOND REPUBLICS AND THE CIVIL WAR.
HIS BEGINNING
C
hief Obafemi Awolowo was born on March 6th,1909 in Ikenne, in the present-day Ogun State of Nigeria. His father, a farmer and sawyer, died when he was about seven years old. Chief Awolowo started his career, as a nationalist in the Nigerian Youth Movement in which he rose to become Western Provincial Secretary. It was him that brought a large amount of the enlightened social legislation that has helped made Nigeria a prevailing nation. Awo was the first Leader of Government Business, and a Minister of Local Government and Finance. He became the first 36
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Western Region Premier, during the Nigeria’s parliamentary system, of 1952 to 1959 and also the official Leader of the Opposition in the federal parliament from 1959 to 1963 during the time of Balewa government. Awolowo was also the first in the modern era to be named Leader of the Yorubas. The Asiwaju Awon Yoruba or Asiwaju Omo Oodua. After his education at Wesley College, Ibadan in 1927, he enrolled at the University of London as an External Student and later graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.). In 1944, Awolowo went to the UK to study law at the University of London, and on 19 www.cometonigeria.com
