Category: People
-
Abidoye Babalola; University Administrator and Student Union activist of the 1960s. Under Abidoye Babalola’s leadership, students of the University College Ibadan escalated the mild but historically notable Marjorie Michelmore affair[1]. The proposed Anglo-Nigerian defense pact interpreted by activists as a tactical return to colonialism was abrogated following a protest led by him. Abidoye preempted the…
-
Abdullahi Bolaji; Member of cabinet under President Jonathan. Bolaji was among the youngest, first holding the portfolio for Youth Development before taking over at the Sports ministry. He was born in 1969 in Kwara to parents who were peasants. In his bid to change the fussy education he understood that he was getting, Bolaji started…
-
Itsekiri are a small ethnic group in southern Nigeria, numbering just over 30,000 in 1952. Due to the position of their homeland- western area of the Niger Delta and the estuary of the Benin River, the people in in the 18th century became wealthy as middlemen between European traders whose ships lay off the habour…
-
Akoko people occupy the hilliest and most rugged part of Yorubaland, a phenomenon which historian, S.A. Akintoye posits, is an explanation for the great cultural diversity found among the group. The people’s ancestral abode is in the North East part of Yorubaland and the northern end of Ondo State, sharing borders with Kogi, Edo and…
-
Ekiti people are subgroup of the Yoruba, historically occupying the Ekiti country, which was made up of 16 kingdoms- Otun, Ikole, Ado, Oye, Ijero, Ido, Ikere, Ise, Emure, Effon, Okemesi (traditionally Imesi-Igodo), Ara, Isan, Itaji, Obo, Akure, and Ogotun. In 1882- the Awujale of Ijebu made mention of being an ally of “the 16 kings…
-
Asara is traditionally known as Oduduwa’s appointed priest in Mecca who extended the worship of multiple gods to the disdain of Moslems, who were at the time, subdued. Asara’s son, Braima, who was opposed to this practise, had caused a riot that led to the great exodus of Oduduwa and his kindreds to Ile Ife.…