The betrayal of Awolowo by S.L Akintola, 1962

Author: Gbonka Ebiri

Awolowo museum at Lekki... he was placed on house arrest here in 1962 during the power struggles with Akintola...

The tribal marks may fool many that he was full blooded Yoruba... the real truth... Akintola had Fulani ancestry... spoke Hausa very fluently... was a great admirer of the Fulani Jihad and from the moment he rose to be premier, he pledged his allegiance only to the Sadaurna.

From the moment he got the power, he schemed to get rid of Awolowo and join with the North... the plan was to form a team and get rid of Igbos and the only obstacle in the way was Awolowo. He had so much of an Awo complex that he would literarily openly show contempt and crowds shouting Awo Awo ( which was a cliche of AG slogan at the time) ... before going to rallies, he would send people in advance to caution the crowd not to shout Awo... they should only shout his name... ( the plan always failed... the sage at the time was too much of a demigod) Akintola embarked on two major strategies to destroy Awolowo's influence... first was to win the support of Balewa which gave him the confidence to Dare Awolowo ( an action which otherwise would have been political suicide) second was to make plans to take over NIPC. This was a financially powerful agency in the southwest and he needed it desperately to be able to get needed funds to finance his leadership.

Both schemes failed and a plan B was put in place to work with NCNC in the southwest. At the time, it was led by Fani Kayode. A meeting was arranged with Fani Kayode and the moneybag of NCNC in London ( Okotie Eboh) to help finance his leadership and fight against Awolowo ( a sworn enemy of NCNC at the time) ... the middle man who put things in place was Oba C.D. Akran.

The final straw for AG was when Akintola left a meeting in Jos to rush down to Ibadan to meet his real boss...The Sadaurna of Sokoto... His visit was not official and had nothing to do with Akintola. It was the university of Ibadan that invited him to honor him by naming one of the halls after him. Akintola was not invited to the ceremony but he showed up anyway... after which he arranged for an open roof tour of Ibadan with him...

21st May, 1962, AG party removed him from power and replaced with Adegbenro... that was when the drama unfolded... Balewa was determined to have Akintola in power... it was his only hope of a coalition with a better friend in the desperate attempt to get rid of NCNC and Igbos. He decided to get involved in the desperate attempt to destroy Awolowo's influence in the western region.

Awolowo was placed on house arrest at his hometown in Ikenne... on 30th May, 1962... the hope had been that if he was restricted from making public tours, his influence will fade off with time and Akintola would take the center stage... from dusk to dawn however ... lorries of die hard admirers poured into his house from all.parts of the western region... in his journals, Awolowo said for days on end, he had little sleep... having to make speeches back to back as people visited him from all parts of the region... The women of his house constantly cooked to entertain guests. it became the new fashion of the time for anyone who could boast that he was at Ikenne to listen to Awolowo. Those who could not make the trip would visits those who could.to hear from them and this further elevated the powerful influence of Awolowo in the region.

This greatly worried Balewa's protege in the western region... the intention to isolate Awolowo had an opposite effect... 20th of June, 1962, the government restricted him to a more remote part of the country... a place were navigation was near impossible... Lekki. At the time, there were no roads to Lekki... you had to go by boat... there was no lights... it was a fishing village and mosquito infested. That was the perfect place to send someone into isolation.

Once again, the legends of the sage preceded him. The villagers poured out to welcome him and his family. They made a makeshift kitchen for him. He bought a speedboat to run errands and bring provisions from the city... thousands of people poured in to visit him through the harsh terrains by boat day and night... The sage mentioned in his journal how his wife ( a woman every great man should pray to have one of a kind) and her maids worked tirelessly to prepare meals for guests and how she never once complained throughout his ordeal.

This now got Balewa and Akintola very jittery. It seemed they had underestimated Awolowo's influence in the southwest and totally misjudged that getting him out of sight would get him put of mind... to get rid of him... there would have to be a more devious scheme... something criminal in nature... like a libel of corruption or even much worse... accusation to overthrow the government.