The Commissioner for Information and orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, has described the duo of Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola and Obafemi Awolowo as the best political combination in modern history.
Presenting a paper titled, “SAMUEL LADOKE AKINTOLA; A CLASSIC CASE OF MEDIA BEFUDDLEMENT” at the 2024 S.L Akintola Memorial Lecture held in Ibadan, Oyelade said the late sages had lots in common, including being politicians, lawyers, journalists, and administrators of note.
“To be sure, Akintola and Awolowo were political siamese twins, and their combination was made in heaven. One was exactly what the other was not. Indeed, Awolowo conceded political grand-standing to SLA because, while SLA was given with the gift of the garb, Awolowo was taciturn and a little bit distant, he said
Prince Oyelade, however decried how the media understated Akintola’s achievements as a Premier of the Western Region and the Aare Ona Kakanfo (generalissimo) XIII of Yorubaland, noting that he was one of the founding fathers of modern Nigeria.
Highlighting the understated achievements of Akintola like that of Awolowo, Prince Oyelade said it is a mystery that the establishment of the University of Ife in 1961 was never credited to Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, who at the time was the Premier of western region.
“Equally baffling is the refusal to credit SLA with the establishment of the Daily Sketch newspaper, which was founded by the regional government on December 2, 1964 under his watch as Premier, he said.
Prince Oyelade said that under late Akintola’s watch, the popular cocoa house was formally commissioned in 1964.
“SLA was still the Premier of western Nigeria, though the project was the brainchild of the awolowo premiership,” he added.
“As a result of the deliberate strategy of a section of the media and their collaborators, the history and achievements of Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, the former and last Premier of western region, can not stand on its own. His achievements had to be subsumed by the Western region crisis and his disagreement with Chief Obafemi Awolowo, his leader and predecessor in office. ”
“This needn’t be so because the western region crisis apart, SLA recorded many outstanding achievements for the region as a federal parliamentarian, minister, and Premier between Dec. 1960 and Jan. 1966 when he died, “he said.
He noted that Akintola was a nationalist to the core, experienced and versed in the tenuous craft of give-and-take, adding that “As the editor of a national daily, The Daily Service, he had bitter engagement with his colleague, Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, editor of the West African Pilot, among others and both sheath their swords the moment they left journalism for politics”.
He said Akintola was the first Minister of Labour for the federation, a portfolio he chose for himself because of his interest in labour matters. He later moved to be Minister of Health and later still, Communication and aviation.
Prince Oyelade wondered why the most popular Yoruba leader, Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo’s achievements, are so amplified and while that of Samuel Ladoke Akintola should be a footnote.
Reeling out other achievements of late Akintola, the Commissioner said it is on record that as the federal minister of health, Akintola played a pivotal role in the establishment of the University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ibadan.
“In his capacity as the minister of health, he was able to release the sum of ten million pounds to aid the completion of UCH. As a result of that lifeline, UCH was relocated from Adeoyo Hospital to its permanent site in 1956”, he said.
“And in 1957, when he was reappointed to the federal cabinet and was minister of communication and avaition, he realised one of his dreams by breaking the monopoly of British Airlines with the establishment of the Nigerian Airways. He it was that the federal government sent to Holland to source for new aeroplanes for the newly established Nigerian Airways,” he said.
Earlier, a former ambassador and daughter of the late sage, Dr. Bimbo Akintola described her late father as a renowned orator, politician, and devoted Christian in the Baptist Church.
“He was a family man of no mean status, a lovable father who went miles to see his children through their education,” she said.
She opined that he contributed immensely to the development of Nigeria as a whole, saying he wrote the Nigerian motion for independence as a federal lawmaker.
“He served meritoriously for the unity of Nigeria, even as the 13th Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, but he was not appreciated.”