Thread by @Dstoryteller_1

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STORY TITLE:
Samuel Ladoke AKINTOLA, (S L A) administrator and politician, premier of the Western Region of Nigeria and an early victim of the January 1966 military coup.
#Akintolabythestoryteller

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Samuel Ladoke Akintola was born on the 10th of July, 1910 into a family whose attributes were wealth, valour, courage and bravery, and such person must naturally measure up to the family standard- “omo tekun ba bi, ekun ni yoo jo.”- (a young tiger will always live like its…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …forebears). His father was Akintola Akinbola and his mother, Akanke. The Akintola family, famed in Military background and substantial wealth, emigrated with Ladoke to Minna in 1914, where he had his early education at C.M.S. Minna.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Shortly after, his father was caught in the Adubi War on his way to Lagos to buy textiles and did not return until 1918.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Ladoke was thereafter sent back to Ogbomosho in 1922, to live with his grandfather, Akinbola, where he continued his education at the Baptist Day School from 1922-1925. In Minna, he had honed his skill and proficiency in English, Yoruba, Nupe and Hausa language. After his…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …elementary education, he moved to Baptist College Ogbomosho – a teacher training and Seminary school in 1925 and after completion of Secondary Education in 1930, being a brilliant student, he was sent to Baptist Academy, Lagos, as a tutor of General Science, Biology and Bible…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …Knowledge. Whilst in school, he had started dating Faderera Awomolo, a sister of his friend in Baptist College, who had also trained as a Nurse in Baptist Hospital, Ogbomosho.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Faderera’s father, a very strong willed Policeman, from Igbajo- an Ijesha speaking community, in present day Osun State, also had very strong views.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Faderera inherited her father’s stubbornness and married Samuel Ladoke Akintola in 1935 when she was sent on a domestic errand to Lagos. After the drudgery and stagnant life of a school teacher and lack of career prospect, he resigned from the Baptist Academy in 1942, to join…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …the Nigerian Railway Corporation, where he worked briefly, before relocating to the profession of Journalism, by joining the Nigerian Daily Service Newspaper of Ernest Ikoli in 1942, from where he rose steadily to become its Editor.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday The profession of journalism had then been described by Chief Obafemi Awolowo as that belonging only, to the “flotsam and jetsam” of the society. Ernest Ikoli was distinguished enough then, to own a bicycle.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday #Akintolabythestoryteller with the support of Akinola Maja, a shareholder, replacing Ernest Ikoli as editor. Akintola was also founder of Iroyin Yoruba, a newspaper written in the Yoruba language.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday In 1945, he opposed the general strike led by Azikiwe's NCNC and Michael Imoudu, earning the distrust of politicians like Anthony Enahoro. In 1946, he earned a British scholarship to study in the U.K. and completed legal studies by 1950.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday He started his legal career working as a lawyer on land and civic matters. In 1952, he formed a partnership with Chris Ogunbanjo,Chief Bode Thomas and Michael Odesanya.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Ladoke had met Ernest Ikoli, Akinola Maja, Obafemi Awolowo, H.O.Davies, Samuel Akisanya, later Oba Odemo of Isara and some other Nationalists in 1943 at the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) where Awolowo was then Secretary.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday It’s a funny coincidence, that at a later time in the Western Regional Crisis, the Ladoke Akintola Government had reduced the salary of Oba Samuel Akisanya then Odemo of Isara, to One Pound per annum, when the Odemo crossed to the other side of the divide.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Funnily, Akintola had once in 1943, supported Ernest Ikoli, an Ijaw man against Samuel Akisanya for election to the Nigerian Legislative Council In 1943, when Sir Dr. Kofo Abayomi vacated the seat, to proceed for further studies in ophthalmology in the United Kingdom. During…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …this period of politicking and journalism, he passed the University of London Matriculation Examination and went to Fleet Street, London School of Journalism in 1946, on a one year British Council Scholarship for opposing as Editor of Daily Service, the general strike of 1946.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Ladoke after completion of his study in Fleet Street, shifted to a degree course in Law and was called to the Bar in 1949. He had a tough life in the United Kingdom. He worked part time, with the British Rails, pushing wheel barrow at the Euston station as a porter, whilst also…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …being in good contact with the West African Student Union (WASU) of Ladipo Solanke, founded in 1925.

Samuel Ladoke Akintola came back home in March 1950 and started his law practice in Lagos and later formed a Partnership in 1952 with Chris Oladipo Ogunbanjo and Micheal…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …Odesanya as- Samuel, Chris & Michael (Solicitors), with Samuel Ladoke Akintola as the dominant figure. Micheal Odesanya, later Justice Rtd, direct sibling of S.O. Gbadamosi, was also his student in Baptist Academy, Lagos.

Awolowo had also qualified as a Lawyer in 1946 and…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …started his law practice in Ibadan and later went into a partnership with Biodun Akerele, father of Lagos socialite- Hillario Babs Akerele, as- Awolowo, Akerele & Co. When Samuel Ladoke Akintola came back home in March 1950, one of the few people he visited, was Obafemi…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …Awolowo in Oke-Ado, Ibadan, whom he had known as far back as 1940s then as a member of the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM)

On his way to Ogbomosho after his call to the Bar, he branched at Ibadan, where he visited only two places- the Awomolos- his in-laws and the Awolowos-…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …his friend. Whilst in London, his son, Yomi had lived with Mr. Oyediran, an Offa man and Principal of MBHS Lagos, where he lived with Olukayode Oyediran- later Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, who later married Awolowo’s first daughter- Omotola, when Awolowo was in…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …Calabar Prison.

Samuel Ladoke Akintola and Obafemi Awolowo were of the same age bracket- Awolowo being born on 6th March, 1909 and Samuel Ladoke Akintola, 10th July, 1910.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday They exchanged notes and started their Legal and Political friendship in 1952, they started the Action Group (AG) party together and they were jolly good friends. In the Action Group, Samuel Ladoke Akintola and Awolowo were prominent.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Akintola later became the Legal Adviser of the Party alongside Arthur Prest. They were the brightest legal minds in the Action Group.

Chief Bode Thomas- 1918-1953, became the Deputy Leader of the Action Group.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday He later formed Nigeria’s first indigenous law firm called-Thomas, Williams, Kayode & Co. i.e. the trio of Chief Bode Thomas, Chief Rotimi Williams and Chief Remilekun Fani Kayode. After the death of Bode Thomas, there was the need for Oyo-Yoruba to succeed Bode Thomas and…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …after a keenly contested election, Samuel Ladoke Akintola, emerged as the Deputy Leader, by defeating Chief Arthur Prest, an Itshekiri lawyer and colorful politician, and thus his meteoric rise in the politics of Action Group, Western Region and Nigeria in general.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday In 1953, and under the new government of Sir John McPherson, the Action Group in accordance with the McPherson Constitution of 1951 nominated four members to the Central Cabinet- S.L. Akintola, Arthur Prest, Bode Thomas and Sir Adesoji Aderemi and thus Chief S.L. Akintola…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …became Minister of Labour and he was able to settle the Iva Valley incidence of the coal miners in Enugu.

Samuel Ladoke Akintola who had earlier been seen as anti-labour whilst in the Daily Service as Editor, was able to settle this crisis, to the applause and satisfaction…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …of the labour movement.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday In the cabinet, the Governor General- Sir John McPherson described him as a “master of ambiguities” and Chief Anthony Enahoro buttressed this when he said “Akintola derived virtue in ambiguity” and Chief Obafemi Awolowo after the London Conference of 1953 described S.L.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Akintola as “an able lawyer. He is a brazen and affable character who cannot be ruffled easily, if at all. His peculiar gift consists in his capacity to argue and defend two opposing points of view with equal competence and plausibility.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday This quality backed by a sense of humor and his capacity for nuances made him a puzzle to opponents”

The Sardauna of Sokoto- Ahmadu Bello also described Akintola as “being quick and could be friendly and interested in all around him”.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday All these periods, Akintola had since 1930, been a Lagos man. In fact, he built his first house on 20 Ajasa Street in the city of Lagos and was very friendly with Lagos elites like S.O.Gbadamosi- his former student, Ayo Vaughn, Sir Kofo Abayomi, H.O.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Davies, Dr. Akinola Maja, Sir Kofo Abayomi, Dr. Akanni Doherty and others. Whilst Obafemi Awolowo had since 1927, lived and been an Ibadan man, Ladoke Akintola was a Lagos man, even though he did not speak the Lagos variant of Yoruba language- “mo de, mi de”.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Whilst Samuel Ladoke Akintola remained a member of the Federal House of Representatives in Lagos and Opposition Leader in the Parliament, Awolowo was fully entrenched in Ibadan, as Premier of the Western Region. Samuel Ladoke Akintola, later became the Minister of Health. He…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …was, whilst as Minister of Health associated with the completion o f the University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ibadan (UCH), between 1954-1956 and was able to release the sum of £10 Million Pounds to aid its quick relocation, from the then Adeoyo Hospital, established in…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …1926, which had housed the hospital. In 1957, he was re-appointed back to the Federal Cabinet, alongside Ayo Rosiji despite the disapproval of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He was thereafter made Minister of Communication and Aviation and he was instrumental to the founding of…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …Nigerian Airways to compete with the West African Airline Company (WAAC), British Overseas Airways Company (BOAC), the precursor of British Caledonian Airways and later British Airways, that had hitherto dominated the aviation sector in Nigeria and in 1958, he travelled to…

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday …Holland to source for the set of airplanes for Nigeria Airways.

As Minister for Health, the great Samuel Ladoke Akintola, was on a tour of hospital establishments in the Northern Nigeria in 1957.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday The Great Diplomat, humorist and wordsmith, was being taken round the Nassarawa General Hospital in Kano, when his eagle eyes fell on a young dazzling beauty and damsel- Ms Rosannah Bolanle Adedeji, a Yoruba Nurse in the Hospital.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday In his characteristic humour, he wondered what a Yoruba damsel was doing in the Sahara Desert. As if by design, they both had near identical facial marks. That encounter, became a love at first sight that eventually produced Ladiran Akinniyi Akintola in 1959.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Ladiran is now a Judge of the High Court of Justice, Oyo State. He gave the child a name-Ladiran and his cousin, Ladokun was present at the naming ceremony. His bossom friend, Hon. Dejo Adigun and Ladoke’s younger brother-Akinbowale Akintola became regular emissaries.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday It is a striking coincidence, that Ladiran later married Simisola Oluwatoyin Ige, daughter of Dele Ige and younger brother of Bola Ige- Ladoke’s implacable foe at the 1962 Jos Conference. Akintola was a dignified orator.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday In 1962 he was responsible for completing the founding of the University of Ife (a brainchild of Awolowo, which was renamed in his honour). He was also involved in the development of Premier Hotel and other monuments.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Akintola was assassinated in Ibadan, the capital of Western Region, on the day of Nigeria's first military coup of 15 January 1966, which terminated the First Republic.

@Ade_Nurayn @WaleLadapo @tysalihu @nkyru @the_davidatta @Ehix07 @doyinmojisola @AdeOnafowokan @EmmaNwachukwu_ @LNCtoday Also known as the "Young Majors Coup" or the "coup of the January boys", the coup resulted in the assassination of many leading politicians, mostly members of the Northern People's Congress.

A number of institutions, including Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, were established in both the Oloye's home town and other Nigerian cities as a means of remembering him posthumously. #Akintolabythestoryteller

Thanks for reading, see you soon.

Ref:
Samuel Ladoke Akintola and History
Liste der Regierungschefs der Regionen Nigerias
Britannica
The news 2017

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