Ladoke Akintola
Samuel Ládòkè Akíntọ́lá or “S.L.A.”was born in Ògbómòsó on July 6, 1910. He was a
politician and who was renowned for his great oratory skills. He held the title
of the highly revered Aare Ona Kakanfo XIII of Yorubaland.
Chief Akintola was a teacher in the
1930s and early 1940s. He left teaching to study public administration and law
in England and returned to Nigeria in 1950’s a qualified lawyer. Upon his
return, he teamed up with other educated Nigerians from the Western Region to
form the Action Group (AG) under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. As the
deputy leader of the AG party, he did not serve in the regional government
headed by its premier Chief Awolowo, but served as the parliamentary leader of
his party in the House of Representatives of Nigeria. At the federal level he
served as Minister for Health and later Minister for Communications and
Aviation.
In late 1959 in preparation for
Nigeria’s independence, the Action Group party took a decision which affected
the career of Akintola, the party and Nigeria when the party asked him to swap
political positions with Awolowo by becoming the premier of the Western Region
while Awolowo who also was the national leader of the AG, would became the
party leader in the Federal House of Representatives as well as the Opposition
leader in the House.
The division of roles in the Western
Nigeria government led to a conflict between SLA and Awolowo; the AG party
broke into two factions leading to several crises in the Western Region House
of Assembly that led the central/federal government, headed by the Prime Minister
Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa to declare State of Emergency rule in the Western
region and an Administrator was appointed. After a lengthy court battle, SLA
was restored to power as Premier in 1963 and won in general election of 1965
not as member of the Action Group party but as the leader of a newly formed
party called Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) which was in an alliance
with the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) the party that then controlled the
federal government.
Along with many other leading
politicians, Akintola was assassinated in Ibadan the capital of Western Region
on January 15, 1966 during the first military coup. The coup also terminated
Nigeria’s First Republic.
SLA was married to Chief Faderera
Abeke Akintola. They had five children, two of whom were finance ministers in
Nigeria’s Third Republic (Chief Yomi Akintola and Dr Bimbo Akintola). Chief
Yomi Akintola served as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Hungary and SLA’s
daughter-in-law, Mrs. Dupe Akintola is Nigeria’s High Commissioner in Jamaica.
His fourth child, Chief Victor Ladipo Akintola, dedicated much of his life to
ensuring the continued accurate accounting of SLA’s contributions to Nigeria’s
position on the world stage. Chief S L Akintola’s youngest son, the late
Tokunbo Akintola, was the first black schoolboy at Eton College, enrolling two
terms prior to the arrival of Dilibe Onyeama (author of Nigger at Eton).
Many institutions, including Ladoke
Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho were established in his home town
and other Nigerian cities to remember him. Above all he practiced law.
#nationalweekofremembrancefordepartedwriters 
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