Profile: C. C. Adeniyi-Jones
Toyin Falola
An Abridged Version of a Monograph Entitled "C.C. Adeniyi-Jones,
1876-1957: A 'Forgotten' National Hero" BY Professor S.O. Arifalo
Department of History and International Studies, Adekunle Ajasin University,
Akungba-Akoko & Dr. Olukoya Ogen, Department of History, Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-Ife
Introduction
It is now generally agreed that the quality of statesmanship has a
decisive effect in determining the course of civilisation. In Nigeria,
like elsewhere, there were some outstanding political leaders and
nationalists who exercised profound influence in the quest for freedom
and nationhood. In a very important respect, they were the makers of the
country in which we live. C.C. Adeniyi-Jones belonged to this category
of patriots and national heroes. It is, however, regrettable that this
man has not been given adequate attention in Nigerian nationalist
historiography and biographical studies. It is, therefore, important to
"resurrect" the contributions of C.C. Adeniyi-Jones to the growth of the
anti-colonial movement in Nigeria by placing his remarkable
contributions to the development of nationalist consciousness in Nigeria
in proper historical perspective. Though he was a many sided individual,
we still need to appreciate his political activities and the use to
which he put his enormous wealth, connections, oratorical prowess and
superb intelligence for the benefit of his fellow man. His great
courage, frightening candour, vociferous campaigns and rugged
determination in fighting the injustices of colonialism could serve as
an inspiration to a society where selfishness, corruption, lawlessness
and unbridled craving for material wealth seem to have become a way of
life.
The Man: Curtis Crispin Adeniyi-Jones
Dr. Curtis Crispin Adeniyi-Jones was born at Waterloo in Freetown,
Sierra Leone, of Yoruba (Aku) parents of the Creole community in 1876.
After finishing his early education at the Sierra Leone Grammar School,
he went to the United Kingdom. He qualified as a physician from Durham
University and studied further to obtain the M.B.B.S. qualifications at
the University of Dublin in Northern Ireland in 1901. His quest for
knowledge and professional competence took him to the famous Rotunda
Hospital, Dublin, the West London Hammersmith Hospital and to the
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. In those days, these were no
small achievements.
After doing a stint under the late Sir Robert Boyce of the Liverpool
School of Tropical Medicine, he returned to West Africa and like many
educated Sierra Leonean Creoles, came to work in Nigeria. This was a
time when many Sierra Leonean Creoles belonged to both countries. He
entered the Government medical services in Lagos in 1904. Just as he was
about to start work, a new British policy which relegated African
doctors to junior ranks in the colonial medical service was adopted.
Thus, African doctors were deliberately placed in a subordinate position
to European doctors regardless of relative ability, professional
competence and qualifications. After working for the government for some
years, he resigned to set up a flourishing and excellent private
practice at his Priscilla Hall residence in Lagos. By 1914, his clinic
was already equipped with a beautiful operating theatre. He also added
hospital wards for both male and female patients. His clinic was
definitely one of the leading hospitals in Lagos during this period. His
unsavoury experience in the colonial medical service must have aroused
the nationalist and reformist zeal in him, as he decided to join
politics like many of the other Nigerian professionals of the period.
C.C. Adeniyi-Jones As a Politician
On June 24, 1923, Herbert Samuel Heelas Macaulay, a grandson of Bishop
Samuel Ajayi Crowther, and his friends founded the NNDP. At the
inauguration of the NNDP, Macaulay was elected Secretary while Joseph
Egerton Shyngle, one of the most brilliant lawyers of the day and Eric
Moore, also a well-known lawyer, were elected President and
Vice-President, respectively. When Shyngle died in 1926, the brilliant
and mercurial Dr. C.C. Adeniyi-Jones succeeded him.
In the first elections of 1923 Adeniyi-Jones was elected to the new
Legislative Council as a prominent member of the NNDP. The other members
elected for Lagos were J. Egerton Shyngle and Eric Moore. Macaulay could
not stand for election because of his criminal conviction a few years
earlier. In the 1928 elections he became the 'First Lagos Member' after
polling more votes than the other two Lagos members, namely, T. A.
Doherty and Eric Moore. Adeniyi-Jones became President of the NNDP early
in 1926 and under his leadership the party went ahead to win all the
three seats in the Lagos Town Council in June 1926. He was in the
Legislative Council for 15 years between 1923 and 1938, a period in
which he was said to be:
One of the most prominent citizens of Lagos. He spoke on many public
occasions and sometimes acted as a spokesman for Nigerian...at least
Lagosian interests as in 1934 when he proposed more African
representation on the Lagos Town Council, which the colonial government
accepted.
Adeniyi-Jones' Activities in the Legislative Council
In the Legislative Council, Adeniyi-Jones played the role of
a one-man official opposition, to the extent that he became well known
for his incessant questioning and harassment of the Government. Coleman
has this to say about the man:
Dr. C.C. Adeniyi-Jones, president of the party and one of its
representatives in the Legislative Council from 1926 to 1938, was the
most militantly critical member of the Council, he frequently raised
provocative and challenging questions which applied to all Nigerians or,
more frequently, to the African race. The debates of the Legislative
Council during his tenure in office provide a good index to the growth
of racial and national consciousness.
His penchant for incessant criticism of colonial policies was
acknowledged in 1934 by no less a person than the Governor-General
himself, Sir Donald Cameron, who referred to the "tornado of questions"
submitted to the Legislative Council by Adeniyi-Jones. The questions
covered a wide range of issues and grievances. A debater of prodigious
ability, Adeniyi-Jones saw himself as the spokesman for the whole
country against government measures which he considered inimical to the
welfare of the people. By his incessant questions he became an irritant
to the Government. He often put the government officials on the spot,
and they more often than not merely saved their faces by disallowing his
questions.
The role of Adeniyi-Jones in the Legislative Council did not consist
only in opposing unfavourable legislations, although that role
influenced the colonial administration to modify or withdraw some of its
measures. He also sought to use the platform of the Council to demand
for the improvement of the welfare of Nigerians. A master of oratory and
the English language, he provoked controversies on a wide range of
issues of the day. He often demonstrated a good knowledge of British
history as well as the British constitution.
In a thought provoking address to the members of the West African
Students Union (WASU) in London in 1928, Adeniyi-Jones vehemently
attacked the discriminatory employment policies of the British colonial
government. That lecture was perhaps the greatest criticism of colonial
administration in Nigeria at that period. In fact, it covered the whole
spectrum of colonial rule in Nigeria. Adeniyi-Jones also condemned in
the strongest terms the violation and desecration of Nigerian indigenous
laws and customs in the appointment of traditional rulers by the British
officials. His apt and virulent attack on the indirect rule system of
administration introduced by the British colonial government is also
worth noting. He also seriously queried the appointment of warrant
chiefs in Eastern Nigeria. He campaigned against the profligacy and
reckless expenditure of the British colonial government.
While some of his contemporaries were still savouring the euphoria of
the 1922 Clifford constitution which introduced the elective principle
for the first time in British West Africa, Adeniyi-Jones was quick to
point out the fundamental defects of the constitution. He criticised the
overwhelming official majority which "... has not only nullified the
principle of the franchise but has practically reduced the unofficial
members, especially the elected members to the role of mere recording
instrument of official sweet will".
Adeniyi-Jones fervently believed that legislators owe a sacred duty to
the electorate for the protection of the rights and interests of the
common man. Present-day Nigerian lawmakers may find his advice useful
with respect to the duties and responsibilities expected of legislators.
These are just a few of the issues raised by this
outstanding Nigerian politician and nationalist. Indeed, Adeniyi-Jones
touched virtually every topic under the sun in his days in the
Legislative Council.
Adeniyi-Jones' Commercial Activities Outside the Legislative Council
Adeniyi-Jones also made significant contributions to the socio-economic
development of Nigeria. For instance, Tete Ansa of the Gold Coast set up
the Nigerian Mercantile Bank (NMB) in 1930 and appointed Adeniyi-Jones
as its Chairman. The bank endured till 1936. Meanwhile, for some time
in the 1930s, Adeniyi-Jones engaged in another commercial venture aimed
at giving African farmers and exporters a bigger role and a better deal
in the overseas trade dominated by expatriate firms. He had been the
Director of West African Cooperative Producers Limited before becoming
the Chairman of Nigerian Mercantile Bank. Unlike the NMB which failed,
the West African Cooperative Producers Limited was a modestly successful
venture. In spite of the fact that the NMB did not achieve much, their
establishment encouraged the formation of other indigenous banks such as
the National Bank in 1933, the Agbonmagbe Bank (later Wema Bank) in
1938, the Nigerian Farmers and Commercial Bank in 1947, and the African
Continental Bank in 1948.
Adeniyi-Jones was a foremost nationalist. Regrettably, most
analysts have been too much concerned with the immediate or short term
achievements of Adeniyi-Jones with regard to the struggle for
independence to the extent that they have seldom bothered about the
ultimate implications of his legacies. Those achievements are truly
impressive and radical. A nationalist in the mould of Macaulay,
Adeniyi-Jones was an articulate politician and social reformer. As the
second President of the NNDP after the death of J.E. Shyngle, he was
commonly regarded as Macaulay's chief deputy.
He earned the respect of the colonial administrators for his
astute knowledge of and respect for parliamentary procedures. All that
can be said with justification is that Adeniyi-Jones as a colonial
legislator demonstrated a reformist zeal. Indeed, the root of Nnamdi
Azikwe's penchant for harassing officialdom and his emphatic and pointed
nationalist demands have been traced to the example set by
Adeniyi-Jones.
Nevertheless, it must be stated that those who have criticised
Adeniyi-Jones and his colleagues for not demanding outright independence
are guilty of looking at history with the eyes of the present. The
"Eltonian" principle of historical methodology states that " The past
must be studied in its own right, for its own sake and on its own
terms". Like Herbert Macaulay, Adeniyi-Jones felt that it was possible
to obtain political freedom and economic prosperity for Nigerians within
the existing framework of British colonialism in a larger British
empire. His holding of this view does not, in our opinion, negate the
fact that he was indeed an outstanding patriot and one of the most
positive manipulators of power in colonial Nigeria. There is no doubt
that his socio-political and economic agitations provided a solid
intellectual platform from which younger nationalists like Obafemi
Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikwe, Anthony Enahoro, Ahmadu Bello and so on,
launched their own political careers.
Our conclusion is that Adeniyi-Jones was a nationalist
leader of tremendous stature. During the 15 years he spent in the
Legislative Council, he proved not only to be a man of ideas, but also a
great debater who contributed immensely towards the socio-economic and
political development of Nigeria. He fought for the interest of all,
irrespective of tribe or ethnic affiliation. He was often on the side of
the masses and he fully identified with the aspirations of Nigerians.
His legislative debates and questions speak volume in this regard.
Indeed, the history of the Nigerian Legislative Council or even Nigerian
politics between 1923 and 1934 cannot be written without Adeniyi-Jones
occupying the centre stage there.
What Adeniyi-Jones bequeathed to his country was a legend as
well as a vital political creed. He was an epitome of those qualities of
moderation and reasonableness which the statesmanship of our own day so
desperately needs. As an accomplished legislator, he was without equal.
His grasp of legislative details, his insight into motives and his
ability to sense the limitations as well as the opportunities offered by
each new legislative bill or proposal, all show him to be an articulate
master craftsman.
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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)
http://www.toyinfalola.com/
www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa
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