Awolowo-Akintola Saga 1 | Hon Femi Kehinde | Edmund Obilo | State Affairs

The understanding of the past and its interpretations determine the values of the future. The crisis of the Western Region, a fall out of the battle of supremacy between Obafemi Awolowo, leader of the Action (AG) and his deputy, Samuel Ladoke Akintola, is a story of the past, but the analyses of the events of the time are lessons of history.

Awolowo after relinquishing the premiership of the Western Region in 1959 elected to move to the federal parliament in a bid to be Nigeria’s Prime Minister. He only succeeded in becoming opposition leader. Akintola left the federal parliament for the region to take Awo’s place as premier. No sooner had this happened than both men engaged in a power struggle over the principles of government in the Western Region. Awolowo as leader of party insisted on party supremacy but Akintola believed in government supremacy.

After a state of emergency was declared in the region, Awolowo had to deal with the Coker Commission set up to investigate the finances of the Western region. Awoist saw the move as a plot to humiliate Awo who was at loggerheads with the Tafawa Balewa Federal Government and the Samuel Akintola Western Region government over power. Awo would go to prison having been convicted of offences bordering on his role in a planned coup against the Balewa government.

The discontent bred by the trial, Coker’s Commission findings and the severely flawed Western Region election of 1965, culminated in Operation Wetie when thousands were killed in the region to settle political scores. Following Operation Wetie was the January 1966 coup that took the lives of Balewa, Ahmadu Bello, Akintola and other political and military leaders, eventually culminating in the Nigerian Civil War.

State Affairs 5 October 2019
Splash 105.5 FM, Ibadan

Guest: Hon Femi Kehinde, lawyer, former member representing Ayedire/Iwo/Olaoluwa Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives 1999-2003. He is the author of Samuel Akintola in the Eyes of History.

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