Profile: Chief S.L.A. Akintola

[Toyin Falola]

S.L. AKINTOLA, THE GREATEST NIGERIAN THAT EVER LIVED

By - Victor Akintola (Son)
 Ogbomoso Insight Sat 20 Aug 2006

 

Mr. Ladi Akintola, a son to the late Premier of the Western Region, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, and a chartered accountant of repute, with a thriving firm at Ikeja Lagos, which he co- founded with a friend, draws the curtain on this new column, Ogbomoso in Diaspora.

 

In an encounter with Femi Ogunlana and Yemi Adedokun, he bares his mind on a number of issues bordering on national and Ogbomoso interests. He declares unambiguously that his late father, Chief S.L. Akintola is the greatest Nigerian that ever lived, justifying the assertion with facts, while frowning at the avalanches of misconceptions about his late father.

 

In his opinion of Ogbomoso as an economic force, lack of initiatives and a plaque of fractured leadership, he advances, are rather the bane of the town. He goes ahead to analyze a blueprint for the development of the town.

 

Mr. Ladi Akintola's rich mind is copiously expressed in this piece.

 

Sir, how does it feel to be the son of a late Premier?

It is one of my major sources of pride. I believe and I say this without any kind of equivocation that the greatest Nigerian that has ever lived was Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola and I am proud to be one of his sons.

 

I justify it on the basis of his performance and his records. There are many claims but many of those claims are unverifiable and they are claims that are not borne out by the records. I will say this when he was with the Baptist Convention, when working for the Baptist church, he excelled; when he was a newspaper man, he excelled; when he became a parliamentarian, he excelled; when he was leader of opposition, he excelled; when he was premier of Western Nigeria, he excelled. Now there are very few Nigerians to have held such a diversity of positions.

 

And not only did he excel in those positions, he produced, or the training of his children was such, they excelled in their areas of calling too.

 

Now you may claim that most of what I have spoken about is generality but I think a few examples will be more relevant.

 

One is that as a newspaper journalist, there was a period in the early 1940s when a European foreman called a Nigerian a black monkey in the course of work. My father, Chief S.L. Akintola, as a newspaper journalist at the time, took up a crusade against such behaviour by white colonialists; such was the newspaper campaign he pursued that eventually the

whiteman had to be expelled or persuaded to leave the country. No other journalist in the history of Nigeria has had that type of effects in colonial days.

 

As a parliamentarian, he moved a number of very historic motions and he introduced ones that failed.

 

Among the motions that passed were the establishment of the Nigeria Airways; the independence motion, the motion for the establishment of Islamic studies in the university of Ibadan and so on and so forth.

 

Among the ones that failed and the first significant one which he introduced three times was that of building a standard railway gauge in the country. Can anybody imagine how this country would have changed; the way this country would have developed if that particular motion had passed? He introduced it three times in parliament and three times it was rejected.

 

Those are only a few of what he did. His motion was the motion that established the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University); his administration built the University of Ife and not the previous administration.

 

They established the Ikeja Industrial Estate; they built Bodija Estate, I can go on and on.

 

He is the only man in the history of this country whose children had served in the same cabinet in which he himself served in the previous administration. His eldest son ended up being a parliamentarian, Chief Abayomi Akintola and also a minister, he was the minister for finance. His daughter, Dr. Abimbola Akintola, ended up being the first female minister in the Ministry of Finance. A man who could produce people of this calibre is no ordinary man. 

 

But it seems his roles have been misplaced in history, what do you think is responsible?

There are many factors. One is that those of us who started the fight to establish his name properly didn't start early enough. The other one is that those who were his opponents took many great pains to also erase his achievements. It was under his administration that the Daily Sketch was founded, they went and took the headstone of the Daily Sketch and defaced it so that it would not show that it was during his period. At the Cocoa House, they went and changed the frontage area to the back so that people would not see that he laid the foundation of the Cocoa House. So it is a conspiracy to try and ensure that his achievements are put into the background.

 

As a son what are you doing to correct the injustices?

 

We are trying to do many things. We have started publicizing and I have written extensively on many of the things that involved him. Another area of his achievements is law. He was a lawyer of note. The acts in parliament that consolidated local law, that is our own local practices of law and the European and Roman laws that came to being. The act that consolidated them was an Akintola act in the central government of the time because he was Chairman of House Committee on Legal Reform. One must also look at his bigger experiences from the point of view of Osun. Osun Division used to be under the Ibadan Division. He was the one who led the court case that excised Osun Division from Ibadan Division and that was the basis of his parliamentary career.

 

How did his death affect his children?

His death had an effect and one cannot avoid this because essentially, apart from anything else, he was an extremely loving father, he was way beyond his time; he ran a democratic household; his children decided what they wanted to do; he wasn't the type that said, my son, I want you to do law; I want you to do engineering. All of us sat down and took decisions no matter how young you were. He would listen to you and if he felt you were wrong, he would tell you why and you are allowed to argue your case as well. He was way, way ahead of his time because most of my friends used to be surprised whenever I visited them and their parents were talking and they were not allowed to be present. We were present with our parents and most of the things he would bring to what he called the family council; we would sit down and determine those things. All the Akintola's children and we have brought up our own children the same way, were allowed to argue their positions. He was an extremely loving man and- unlike things the people say which may just be mere saying, we his children can actually never forget him, never forget him, not just on a family-birth basis but on the basis of a man who was truly caring; truly loving and a perfect example of what a parent should be.

 

You were not in Nigeria when he was killed, how did you receive the news?

It affected me and I think to a large extent it affected all of us. I learnt of his death on the eve of my A level exams. The Sunday, I had been to the school library and I had been studying; I came into where I was living and the television was on and there was a written announcement across the face of the television screen: "Coup in Nigeria." Infact my impression or my first thought was that it was not possible, "Nigeria ke, coup, Nigeria, one of the bastions of democracy in Africa". May be what they meant was Niger Republic, I then saw the names of three leaders missing, suspected killed, they spoke of Sir Ahmadu Bello, they spoke of Alhaji Tafawa Balewa; and they spoke of Chief S.L. Akintola. At that point I felt sadness descend upon my spirit.

You authored a book, 'Akintola the man the legend'. What prompted you to write the book?

First of all, I have to correct some impression about that particular book. The significance of the book is that most of the research materials used in the book were not my own, the material was dug up and determined by Prof. Jide Osuntokun. My own findings or things I determined later on were that there were a lot of things in the book that were not 100 percent accurate, but the reason why the book had to come out was that something had to come out to shock the nation and I think the book succeeded in doing that because before that book, nothing really widespread had come out about my late father. So the book was rushed into print and it came out. We have now decided to go a step further to try and bring out a book about the parliamentary life of Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola and I think that will be a revelation to Nigerians.

In fact what the book would prove is that he introduced more motions than any other two or three parliaments put together and most of those motions were produced as leader of opposition, from the opposition benches rather than as a member of government and considering that the party he represented was a minority party of the three that is the Action Group. Both the NCNC and the NPC had a greater number of representatives.

Yet he still managed to get most of the motions that he introduced passed so much so that when he eventually went into the Western House of Assembly, Chief Odebiyi in introducing him, as leader of the House, to the other members of the House as in-coming premier, described him as the man who was reputed to be running the government of Nigeria from the opposition benches.

 

What has been your personal contribution to Ogbomoso Parapo?

To my regret, I must confess that I haven't played my part in Ogbomoso Parapo and I will use this medium to apologize to Chief Gbadamosi for not playing the sort of part or the sort of role I should have played. My father considered Ogbomoso Parapo the premier and the arrowhead of the development of Ogbomoso. A lot of us have not played our role in ensuring that Ogbomoso Parapo became a more modernized organization and institution and continue to play the role it played during the earlier generations of Ogbomoso people. I can assure you that I hope to get more deeply involved in the affairs of Ogbomoso Para po. Long may it live!

 

What will be your contribution to the building of the Ogbomoso Parapo's Secretariat to be named after your father?

Whenever I am called upon to do individually or whenever the family is called upon to do with regards to a permanent secretariat for Ogbomoso Parapo we will do.

 

Sir, let's talk about yourself, you are not into politics like your father was, what is responsible for this?

I am in politics, every Nigerian or every person who is under governance is in politics I am not in active partisan politics primarily because, I have always believed that part of Nigeria's problem is that too many people are involved in active partisan politics. You have to have people who hold very strong views on a series of events and a series of activities that impinge upon the progress of Nigeria. Some of those opinions you will not be able to express if you are in active partisan politics because it may run contrary to the activities of your political party. I reserve to myself a right to be able to express my views on all and every issue concerning the progress of Nigeria.

 

As the Akintola family has impacted positively on Ogbomoso, politically, it has not been so economically, why is this so?

First of all, I don't believe that is correct. If you look at it from the point of view of Ladoke Akintola, the Water Works, electricity, the original tarring of roads, the development of tobacco, and the town as a major tobacco growing area are all things that came up under Ladoke Akintola.

 

Under Chief Abayomi Akintola, he was instrumental to persuading Chief Alata to return to Nigeria and to begin to establish industries in Ogbomoso and if I should draw your attention back to a number of events when Chief Alata was setting up the Flour Mills, he had some difficulties with government as regards getting licenses, this was even after my brother has left office, but using his connection and his clout, he managed to get the license for the late Chief Alata. There are many other instances as well.

 

On the personal level, the GSM, MTN, we were involved in the bringing of MTN to Ogbomoso. It is not that it would not have been to Ogbomoso in due course, but we were instrumental in bringing it to Ogbomoso at the time when it would have been scheduled to come to Ogbomoso.

On the personal, personal level, if you look at Sabo, we have started building series of shops which are being let out at very subsidized rates to encourage development of business activities in that area. Now one may begin to say things about how these do not appear to be highly significant investments. Then I will say the other thing that has precluded my being involved in active and partisan politics particularly with regards to Ogbomoso and that is this: I have always maintained, and I will continue to maintain it that my father was not a corrupt politician. The amount of resources available to him was limited. The amount of resources available to us was limited. Within the resources that are available to us, I can assure you that a substantial proportion of it goes in to Ogbomoso. My brother spends roughly 6 months or more in a year in Ogbomoso; he feeds as many people as he can; where he can influence people to bring business to Ogbomoso, he tries to. When he was minister, I remember that there was a move to build a mini steel mill somewhere within the Osun/Oyo area of Nigeria, the Shagari administration had decided that Ogbomoso was going to be the place where the mill would be sited.

 

Unfortunately for us, as a people, the coup occurred before the thing could be made a reality. So if you are talking about the contributions of Ogbomoso families, let's ask if there are other families that have contributed more.

 

On a last note sir; what advice do you have for youth?

I think we need to begin to develop more positive thought process. I think we should begin to make it our duty to learn a bit more about how history develops and how to build up history. We also need to develop our ability to work out logic because one of the things I notice is that our attitude towards logical thinking is not the correct one. Let me give you one example and let it be the closing remark I make on this. When the television in Nigeria, when they were doing the anniversary, people went on record about saying all sorts of things about how independent the television service was when Chief Awolowo was running it and how he did not interfere with the running of the television station, and how when Chief Akintola became the premier the television stations were politicized. Now if you have studied history and you have studied logic, first of all the television station was established around September; 1959. It was not infact commissioned until December; 1959/January 1960. In October of 1959, Chief Akintola became premier of Western Nigeria so when you now start talking about interference and all these things, the station did not start functioning until Akintola was premier. If you had studied history you will know when the station came into being and when Akintola became premier. If you had studied logic, you will know that it is not logical to be able to claim that one person was partisan in his administration of the state and another one was not. It is not logical; you cannot be partisan when you are no longer in charge of a thing. So my advice to us all is that we have to begin to look at learning, not just as a process of absorbing what is being taught but as a process whereby you learn and absorb so as to be able to reason and reach deductive conclusions.

 

Editor's note: Mr. Victor Akintola died recently in Lagos. This article is published in his memory.

-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
512 475 7222  (fax)
www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa

[Dr. Samuel Olamijulo]

Respected Yoruba Nigerians everywhere, good morning.

 

I thank Olodumare and Prof. Toyin Falola for my opportunity to write this little appeal as tears flow down my cheeks.

 

Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo was a very distinguished political leader of the Yorubas in his life. My father, Late Senator Luke Tewogbola Olamijulo was an Action Group Senator from Imesi-Ile in the first republic.He was a teacher of Late Chief Awolowo in Sagamu in his younger days. They were very fond of each other until death. Although I knew Awo as a great man from my own childhood, I was privileged  to learn the most directly from Chief Awolowo himself especially after his release from prison.

 

Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola was a very gifted political leader.

For example, once Chief Akintola as Premier was attending a special meeting of the then Osun Division Obas in Iwo. The then Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abimbola was a very good friend of my father. Oba Abimbola and my father agreed to join efforts at that meeting to persuade Premier Akintola to help complete the road between Imesi-Ile in Ijesa Division and Okemesi in Ekiti Division. It was difficult hilly terrain and the road was beeing constructed by direct volunteer labor of the two towns people. The importance to then Osun Obas was that Osun and Ijesa Divisions would become better linked by road with Ekiti Division . Okemesi to Imesi-Ile to either Igbajo all Kiriji war terrain with relatives in all three towns on to Ikirun  etc or Okemesi  to Imesi-Ile to Ibokun to Osogbo to Ogbomoso etc. I was impressed, very impressed by the exceptional abilities  of Chief S. L. Akintola at that meeting in particular and many of his brilliant Yoruba radio broadcasts.

 

The original Action Group to which all of them belonged was second to none in African politics.

It is a pity, very great pity till today that the skills maturity and foresight needed to evolve the required Yoruba political consensus in the midst of very fierce national political battles eluded our leaders then.

 

It is even a greater pity that Nigerian Yoruba politicians in most current political parties seem to have learned very little from our collective Yoruba political mistakes of the past.

 

Politics is obviously very important but Yoruba development must mature beyond strange Yoruba Nigerian sometimes short sighted very immature politics of mutual assured destruction.

 

We thank God for the labors of our forebears but we must learn from their mistakes in order to make progress. We must all strenghten and teach our children about our Omolowabi spirit, to value and pursue Yoruba people very inclusive community cooperation for mutual development at the complimentary levels of Village or Town ; Country  and now more than ever before,GLOBAL. Our Yoruba Community Development cooperation boats must be large enough to contain ALL  of us contributing to the common good, in every way each of us can, in spite of known differences in political, religious, and other persuasions.

 

As our gramaphone record used to sing in those days,

"Bo ba wola Oluwa yio si da a."

 

Olodumare a fun wa se o - Amin.

 

Dr. Samuel Kayode Olamijulo

-----------------------------------------------------

Toyin Falola <toyin....@mail.utexas.edu> wrote:

---

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['Kale Oyedeji]

Thank you very much Dr. Ọlamijulọ for your moving response to the subject matter. First I need to be informed of the difference between Oke-Imẹsi and Imẹsi-Ile. I know they are not the same.

 

To come to the substance of your comments, Prof. Adeniran Adeboye, Prof. Bolaji Aluko and Prof. Toyin Falọla and I had engaged in private conversations on this topic with Prof. Adeboye bringing out from his repertoire of first-hand knowledge of events of the 60's. The Yoruba race lost a great opportunity by not getting these two great minds to work together to the end of their lives. And it is hoped that our generation will not also miss such an opportunity. We need to come together as a race instead of letting our differences prevent us from achieving great heights. "Bi ao ba gbagbe ọrọ ana, ao le r'ẹni ba'sere." Mo b'ọwọ fun ẹyin agba o.

 

'Kalẹ Oyedeji

 

 

---

From: yoruba...@googlegroups.com [mailto:yoruba...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Dr. Samuel Olamijulo
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 3:56 AM
To: yoruba...@googlegroups.com; YorubaWorld e-Group; Yorubas-Community e-Group; YorubaNation e-Group; Egbe Isokan Yoruba; Olootu Jare Ajayi; Mrs. Molara Wood; Prof. Mobolaji E. Aluko; Prof. Ade Ajayi; Prof. Michael Faborode; Prof. J Aladekomo; Prof. Oyewale Tomori; YORadioPost e-Group; Felix Adejumo
Subject: Yoruba Affairs - Re: Profile: Chief S.L.A. Akintola
Importance: Low

Yahoo! Mail Beta.

---

[Amidu Sanni]

In an insightful wtite-up in September on Religious
tolerance or so, Professor Ade-Ajayi indicated that an
early history of the Yoruba was written in the 17th
century in Yoruba with Arabic characters/script. I
have tried to get details of this from the Professor
but without success. Is anyone in position to provide
details of the said work, viz, name of author, title
of the work, where written, was the author a native or
an Arab settler?
Thanks
Professor Amidu Sanni
Lagos State University

--- 'Kale Oyedeji <koye...@morehouse.edu> wrote:

> Thank you very much Dr. Ọlamijulọ for your
> moving response to the subject matter. First I need
> to be informed of the difference between Oke-Imẹsi
> and Imẹsi-Ile. I know they are not the same.
>
> To come to the substance of your comments, Prof.
> Adeniran Adeboye, Prof. Bolaji Aluko and Prof. Toyin
> Falọla and I had engaged in private conversations
> on this topic with Prof. Adeboye bringing out from
> his repertoire of first-hand knowledge of events of
> the 60's. The Yoruba race lost a great opportunity
> by not getting these two great minds to work
> together to the end of their lives. And it is hoped
> that our generation will not also miss such an
> opportunity. We need to come together as a race
> instead of letting our differences prevent us from
> achieving great heights. "Bi ao ba gbagbe ọrọ
> ana, ao le r'ẹni ba'sere." Mo b'ọwọ fun ẹyin
> agba o.
>
> 'Kalẹ Oyedeji
>
>
> _____
>

=== message truncated ===

___________________________________________________________
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[Dr. Samuel Olamijulo]

Dear compatriot Kale Oyedeji , your information, kind comments and question are appreciated.

Imesi-Ile is in old Ijesa Division six miles from  Okemesi  in old Ekiti Division and also six miles from Igbajo in old

Osun Division. Many people in  all three neighboring but distinct towns are blood relatives.

Olamijulos, Oguntoyes, Olaniyans,Ajayis, Familusis, Makanjuolas, Adeoyes etc are from Imesi-Ile .

 Durotoyes, Osuntokuns, Kola Ogunmola ,Onis of Oni and Sons  etc are from Okemesi.

 Awomolos, Tugbiyeles, Dahunsis, Mrs Faderera Akintola etc etc are from Igbajo.

Thank you.

Dr. Samuel Kayode Olamijulo

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kale Oyedeyi wrote :

Thank you very much Dr. Ọlamijulọ for your moving response to the subject matter. First I need to be informed of the difference between Oke-Imẹsi and Imẹsi-Ile. I know they are not the same.

 

To come to the substance of your comments, Prof. Adeniran Adeboye, Prof. Bolaji Aluko and Prof. Toyin Falọla and I had engaged in private conversations on this topic with Prof. Adeboye bringing out from his repertoire of first-hand knowledge of events of the 60's. The Yoruba race lost a great opportunity by not getting these two great minds to work together to the end of their lives. And it is hoped that our generation will not also miss such an opportunity. We need to come together as a race instead of letting our differences prevent us from achieving great heights. "Bi ao ba gbagbe ọrọ ana, ao le r'ẹni ba'sere." Mo b'ọwọ fun ẹyin agba o.

 

'Kalẹ Oyedeji

 

---

From: yoruba...@googlegroups.com [mailto:yoruba...@googlegroups.com]

On Behalf Of Dr. Samuel Olamijulo
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 3:56 AM

Respected Yoruba Nigerians everywhere, good morning.

 

I thank Olodumare and Prof. Toyin Falola for my opportunity to write this little appeal as tears flow down my cheeks.

 

Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo was a very distinguished political leader of the Yorubas in his life. My father, Late Senator Luke Tewogbola Olamijulo was an Action Group Senator from Imesi-Ile in the first republic.He was a teacher of Late Chief Awolowo in Sagamu in his younger days. They were very fond of each other until death. Although I knew Awo as a great man from my own childhood, I was privileged  to learn the most directly from Chief Awolowo himself especially after his release from prison.

 

Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola was a very gifted political leader.

For example, once Chief Akintola as Premier was attending a special meeting of the then Osun Division Obas in Iwo. The then Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abimbola was a very good friend of my father. Oba Abimbola and my father agreed to join efforts at that meeting to persuade Premier Akintola to help complete the road between Imesi-Ile in Ijesa Division and Okemesi in Ekiti Division. It was difficult hilly terrain and the road was beeing constructed by direct volunteer labor of the two towns people. The importance to then Osun Obas was that Osun and Ijesa Divisions would become better linked by road with Ekiti Division . Okemesi to Imesi-Ile to either Igbajo all Kiriji war terrain with relatives in all three towns on to Ikirun  etc or Okemesi  to Imesi-Ile to Ibokun to Osogbo to Ogbomoso etc. I was impressed, very impressed by the exceptional abilities  of Chief S. L. Akintola at that meeting in particular and many of his brilliant Yoruba radio broadcasts.

 

The original Action Group to which all of them belonged was second to none in African politics.

It is a pity, very great pity till today that the skills, maturity and foresight needed to evolve the required Yoruba political consensus in the midst of very fierce national political battles eluded our leaders then.

 

It is even a greater pity that Nigerian Yoruba politicians in most current political parties seem to have learned very little from our collective Yoruba political mistakes of the past.

 

Politics is obviously very important but Yoruba development must mature beyond strange Yoruba Nigerian sometimes short sighted very immature politics of mutual assured destruction.

 

We thank God for the labors of our forebears but we must learn from their mistakes in order to make progress. We must all strenghten and teach our children about our Yoruba Omolowabi spirit, to value and pursue Yoruba people very inclusive community cooperation for mutual development at the complimentary levels of Village or Town ; Country  and now more than ever before,GLOBAL. Our Yoruba Community Development cooperation boats must be large enough to contain ALL  of us contributing to the common good, in every way each of us can, in spite of known differences in political, religious, and other persuasions.

 

As our gramaphone record used to sing in those days,

"Bo ba wola Oluwa yio si da a."

 

Olodumare a fun wa se o - Amin.

 

Dr. Samuel Kayode Olamijulo

-----------------------------------------------------

Toyin Falola <toyin....@mail.utexas.edu> wrote:

---

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