Category: Tribute

THE family of the late Alhaji Mufutau Adewale Sanni (aka Baba Yellow) will hold the 41-day Fidau of their patriarch on Saturday at Sanni Ajimo’s compound, Itamogiri, Ijebu-Imushin, Ogun State.

Entertainment of guests follows at Ojowo Local Government Council (LCDA), Ijebu-Ife from 12:30pm.

Pa Sanni, who died on January 2, and has since been buried according to Islamic rites, hailed from Ijebu-Imushin, Ogun State.

Sanni, aged 77, worked at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). He is survived by children and grandchildren, including Mrs. Marian Oyinlola Osibote, Taiwo Omolara Fausat and Fakoya Ogooluwa.

 

The death has been announced of Mrs. Ezinne Mgboye Ezeokonkwo (nee Ezeonyi) of Oba village Adazi–Enu, Anaocha Local Government of Anambra State. She was 83 years.

A statement by her daughter and wife of Chairman of NIPCO Plc, Lady Beatrice Anekwe, said the body would be laid-in-state on Friday at the late Jonas Ezeokonkwo compound.

Burial service will hold at the Anglican Church, Adazi–Enu.

On Saturday, friends and well wishers will be received, with thanksgiving service the next day at Immanuel Anglican Church, Adazi–Enu.

The deceased is survived by sons, daughters and grandchildren.

A community leader and a produce merchant, Pa James Oyebanji Ayinla Arowolo is dead. Aged 120 years.

The final burial ceremony takes place on Friday, February 21st 2020.

According to a statement by the family, until his death, he was a devoted Christian and an active supporter of gospel activities financially for several decades.

The late Pa Arowolo contributed immensely to the development and growth of the Apostolic Church Nigeria in Wakajaiye and Gbongan, Osun State. He was a promoter of peace in the church.

Chief Olayinka Olasehinde Simoyan, former diplomat, administrator and community leader has died. He passed away at Egbe, Kogi State on October 29, 2019 after a brief illness

Born to Mr. Angus Aremu and Madam Yeyeolu Simoyan both of Egbe, Kogi State on February 1, 1934, the young Olayinka was tutored by his father in his early years, and later attended the Sudan Interior Mission Central School and Titcombe College, both in Egbe, Kogi State. He proceeded to the Nigerian College of Technology in Zaria where he studied public administration at the University of Ife (Ibadan branch).

In furtherance of his diplomatic career, he studied at Universite de Montpellier, France and the American University in Washington, DC. He also received a Certificate in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced Studies.

After leaving the Foreign Service, he had a stint at BIAO Banking Training School, Paris, France. He also attended the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru (Jos).

He undertook postgraduate studies at the University of Ibadan and wrote a doctoral dissertation on Yagba history.

During Chief Simoyan’s illustrious career, he served as Second Secretary at the Nigerian

Embassy, Washington, DC between 1965 and 1968. He was Charge d’Affaires at the Nigerian Embassy, Benin Republic (1971-74) and Austria (1974-76).

While serving in Vienna, Austria, he doubled as Nigeria’s alternate permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Panel, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and a permanent member of the Nigerian delegation to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

He was Deputy Chief of Protocol, Ministry of External Affairs during the Festival of Arts and Culture in 1977 (FESTAC ’77). He later joined the banking industry as Deputy General Manager, International Bank for West Africa (later Afribank) and  later Executive Director till 1986.

He married Modupeola Simonyan (nee Afolabi) on November 23, 1963 and they had three daughters and three sons. He is survived by his children, eight grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of others to whom he was a father figure, trusted friend and mentor.

 Toyin Falola

 

IN public conversations globally, names such as those of Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato, among many others, evoke a general feeling of admiration for the intellectual engagements of these characters who have made strenuous efforts to change their world and leave behind an indelible mark of intelligence that outlives centuries. Sometimes it becomes a source of wonder that the intellectual deification of these figures is reflective of privileging certain individuals because the propagators of modern education structures are Eurocentric and have minimal, if any, regard for the knowledge economy and academic productions of civilizations other than theirs. This provincial sentiment is not inherently bad in itself. For one thing, it shows that humans, given the power to determine the nature of things, are disposed to projecting their bias, making their perspective the sole basis for giving, enhancing and engaging ideas. However, what is important therefore is that Africans, or any other race for that matter, should combat any urge restraining them from telling their own stories, in their own forms. It is in the documentation of their own stories that important personalities of their own world are equally shown to the global society, telling about the near impossible tasks that certain individuals have accomplished in their own world.

In the African world, especially in the wake of European domination of the globe in every sphere, certain individuals showed an uncommon courage to challenge the superstructure through their proficient intellectual engagements that sought to parallel the achievements of those great Westerners mentioned above. Without a doubt, Chief Isaac Delano falls within this category and through the almost interminable list of his works, one begins to wonder if Delano, like Socrates and others, is just a mere mortal like everyone. He broke the Eurocentric metanarrative to enthrone the ideas of his own people: the Yoruba.

The legacy left behind by this intellectual giant leaves very many people in utter astonishment, given the limitations of resources, inadequate funding, and pervasive cultural indifference in his age, all concertedly making it difficult to thrive in the trade of academic endeavour. However, despite all odds, the indelible mark that Delano left behind, in actual fact, continues to pave ways for his increased popularity because those intellectual work set a pace that is practically difficult to submerge even by current academic warriors whose time is sufficiently suffused by helpful inventions of technological machines or materials that can easily facilitate or fast track any encumbrance.

Suffice to say then that, had Delano lived in the age when people were promoted to the position of a deity, his intellectual engagements available to be accessed through his legacy would qualify him to be considered and treated as one. It is empirically difficult to find an aspect of African, or (with particular specifics) Yoruba worldview that is untouched by the intellectual giant that Delano had attained. From African morality and their language (which also encapsulates insightful research about the grammar of the language), to marriage customs of Africans, particularly the Nigerian patterns of marriage, among many others, the great sage Isaac Delano contributes more than enough, and the following academic adventurers are banking on many of the insights provided by this special individual. Despite the relatively short window of opportunity that was given by nature to individuals like Delano, they make laudable efforts to make themselves known and continuously relevant even in contemporary discussion. This explains why they keep commanding the public attention, regarding their many works and ideas.

Delano and his moral legacy

Born at a time when the African culture had not undergone a severe transformational process, the sage Delano had access to African values and became a committed advocate of them. For anyone familiar with the African philosophies, it would be undeniable that Africans had a different moral focus and direction from many other people. Taking the Yoruba society here as an example, the people place value on the moral development of the younger ones because such is the foundation of their collective social philosophy found in Omolúwàbî (someone who possesses good character traits), and they would devise appropriate means by which these societal values can be introjected into the younger individuals among them. Interestingly, the Africans do not enforce this moral system by the means of coercion. Instead, they have developed many stories, proverbs, and other strategies as carriers of these stated values into the cognitive domain of these younger ones. As such, it is especially popular that Yoruba people particularly deploy oral methods to build the younger members to taste. Without fear, the ones getting such method of character development are systematically transformed into reliable adults whose primary aim is to advance the course of the society, generally.

Therefore, when Delano explains Yoruba values and moral directions in his works, it is an indirect way of intimating the public of the moral constructs of the people. Contrary to the view that Africans are a people without bankable ideas (a narrative that seeks to denigrate them beyond repair), Africans are particularly identified as a people with clear moral constructs that can be found wanting even in other worlds. Without instilling fears of punitive measures such as the ones found in capital or corporal punishment, as especially popular in the European worldview, Africans inculcate these societally accepted norms and values into the younger ones, and that habit was sustained for a very long period before the sudden invasion of the Westerners into the African space. One example of such moral legacies depicted by Delano is the place of parents and their children on the issue of decision making that affects the latter. Where the two parties are probably having contrasting views about the same idea, both have their moral right to express their opinions albeit in acceptable ways. This way, the interest of the parties involved would be keenly protected and at the same time respected.

As an example, in Lojo Ojo Un, a literary production of Delano, the two worlds of the people are contiguously contrasted, ideologically. These two worlds are the precolonial and postcolonial Yoruba worlds. The fact that the work is written during the latter world explains why Delano has represented the pristine African values as being exposed to modifications in a new order because certain practices are inconsistent with a multicultural society. Although Balogun Igbein concerns himself primarily as the decider of spousal choice for his amiable daughter, Fifake—a cultural attitude prevalent in the pristine African society—he does not appear to enforce the decision with no measure of diplomacy. Obviously, Fifake will not succumb to such imposition about issues that primarily concern her, but then she displays a high level of morals even when she is not contented with her father’s position. Likewise regarding the father; the moral expectation of him, despite his reservation, is to allow democracy, otherwise there would be chaos within his household. Thus, morality is not dished out because of age, it covers every societal member.

His sense of dynamism

It is almost impossible to believe that someone like Delano with limited access to scientific and technological innovations that are capable of changing one’s view about some aspects of living, and about our perception of life generally, has a flexible mind to entertain contending opinions about things he personally considers sacred and or special. During the formative years of Delano, there was insufficient scientific elaborations on strongly held beliefs, especially ones that have to do with human creation. Thus, as an example, Charles Darwin’s twentieth century postulation of evolution as an alternative to the hitherto held position about human beginning sparked different reactions and ruptured people’s psychology for a very long time. Coupled with the fact that there are insufficient proofs to back such a conclusion up, many people disregarded it outright, casting it into the trashcan immediately. In fact, the reason for such public rejection of the idea is that it creates psychological shock among the people who have forever held something contrary as not only their truth, but also as a frozen reality. Even among scientists of notable intelligence in their field, there were seeming contentions as to where they would pitch their tents.

However, Delano falls within the class of people who are particularly ready to change their mind if there is an availability of sufficient evidences that would reinforce their understanding. Knowing that the position offered by Darwin contradicts his religious foundations and philosophies, Delano, in one of his writings Science Vs. Christian Religion, lays bare his reservations about evolutionism and creationism. Without necessarily allowing the discovery of the former to affect his commitment to the latter, he diplomatically assents that clearly there are certain parts of his scriptural conclusion that stand at variance with empirical analysis. Confronted with some milestones achieved through scientific engagements, it is increasingly difficult to reject postulations made by scientists who are the brains behind such pronouncements of evolution as a credible alternative to the story of human beginning. Such dynamism is therefore benchmarked through his flexibility to ideas and issues without, in the process, losing his moral, cultural and ideologic face. Clearly, Delano is a rare breed of Yoruba man, and secondly an uncommon Christian faith adherent with an open-minded stance on life generally.

Delano leaves a sweet memory for us all not only in his academic engagement; he personified the idea of a good human. Knowing that the world is populated by individuals with stupendously double standard traits, having people like him in the historical chart of the Yoruba means we have been blessed with a rare gem. Having many stories that barely can survive scientific evaluation makes Delano take a stand that tries to bridge the gap between science and religion. Advocating for balance, he clings to the reality that the human society needs reliance on both phenomenon that is science and religion, for the people to steer well in the journey of life. The overreliance on science as the sole dictator of human behaviour will only bring about outright anarchy and thus makes it difficult to survive in the society. As such, that is structured on an understanding that religion provides the moral foundations upon which the people can build strong moral characters. Of course, science could make important and fascinating discoveries, but that doesn’t imply that it would be useful in guiding the moral directions of the people. In short, Delano leaves behind a legacy that the human mind must be open to new ideas, without losing its moral principles.

His education legacy

On the African education front, it is almost impossible to match the singular efforts of Delano, whose zeal is to ensure that Africans are truly free, especially in dishing out educational activities and focus to the younger African generations by using African curriculum and educational designs which will have great effects on the continent as a whole. A quick observation of the educational focus of the colonial era will reveal that Africans were educated to primarily suit the purposes of their enslavers and political overlords. Beyond communication purposes, not many Africans are allowed, or even encouraged, to be educated in ways that will transform their lives or their own environment. As benumbing as this reality appears, succeeding Africans after the postcolonial time did not make triumphant efforts to emancipate the African child from the shackles of linear education given to them. Largely, Africans in this era are given educational treatments that seek to advance the course of their once-upon-a-time colonial invaders. Except that revolutionaries like Delano begin to educate, or orientate Africans of the need to condition these curricula and find ways by which they will suit the purposes of Africans, the available education system did not allow for creativity.

The reason for this is especially simple. It is simple because virtually all the growing civilizations in the world today have one thing in common; developing their younger ones with local educational strategies. This is not however closing the window of opportunity to the issue of borrowing some useful ideas from another civilization to one’s own. In fact, such attitude or borrowing makes those developed with diverse strategies more profound and sound in intellect. However, by exclusively relying on foreign educational structures, it has a very grave consequence for the survival of the immediate cultural agenda which would have been infused into the educational system without struggles. This argument therefore is tilted towards the emancipation of a people through their educational system. Apart from developing their curriculum in ways that will reflect the urgencies of the people and address them, language as a medium of instruction should adequately also be worked on. Any language that is reduced to codification is capable of being used as instruments of instruction to the learners. In this regard, Delano and his team have undertaken surplus and efficient researches on ways by which this issue can be addressed.

Consolidating on the efforts of his predecessors such as Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Samuel Johnson and many others, he left an unforgettable memory in his courageous and laudable engagements to bring up books on grammar of the Yoruba. Delano perfectly understands that taking the heroic step is obviously necessary as people, that is other Africans, would follow suit after seeing the success of such embarkation. By working on Yoruba grammar and dictionaries, he is showing Africans the very way to begin their outright decolonization process, which will calculatedly yield important results in the long run. Without doubt, this form of brave assignment will come at the height of a personal cost which will include finance, time, psychological warfare (in a political environment that is obviously averse to such level of creativity, or bravery) and many other things that are unimaginable. Even though such efforts were crushed by the blatant indifference shown by the political class, it does not however quench the burning desire of  Delano to see a very radical change in African educational approach.

Delano and history of Yoruba people

Amidst doing the work of an anthropologist, linguist, lexicographer and cultural activist, Delano is yet again found in the corridor of history as a subject of study, making incredible accomplishments as a successful historian. Delano the historical icon has approached history (Yoruba history) as a tool to reinvent the people in the contemporary society, by disinterring historical information to process it adequately so that it can be consumed generously by the current and subsequent learners of historical happenings. Before we can understand the magnitude of his actions and the importance of his sacrifice displayed in his academic engagement, we would have to first come to reality that when a people desist from telling their stories, they have unconsciously given external exponents to represent them in ways that appeal to them in their own writings. In this case, the resultant effect is usually devastating for the referents in the historical documentation orchestrated by their putative detractors. Thus, when we come across people trying to document the events around their own lives and people, it is underrated effort at intellectual freedom. They have clearly done that to ensure they are not victims of misrepresentation.

By writing biographies of certain historical figures in the Yoruba world, Delano has systematically combined their heroic deeds and the society’s outstanding characteristics. We have come across various stories told of unique Yoruba personalities who made commendable efforts to intensify the good works of the collective people. There are many individuals who have made serious and outstanding personal contributions to the advancement of the Yoruba world. At a time when there were multiple internecine struggles, there are individuals such as Lisabi who came to the rescue of his people by devising appropriate methods to combat the despotic rule of the Oyo dynasty. The story of the kingship of Egba, as it involves various power plays before and after the contact with the colonial powers, is equally handed down by Delano. What about the exploits of the mission in Africa, especially in the Yoruba land? There are adequate documentations that help to place in proper context the contributions (both commendable and condemnable) of the Europeans to the Yoruba society. All these stories are a pointer to the fact that Africans, prior to the coming of the Europeans and Arabs, are clearly organized people.

In what would seem ideologically impossible for someone of his religious commitment, Delano breaks the boundary of religious extremism and thus identifies with his traditional values. Yoruba people are a people with deep-seated conviction of their traditional values and mores and are not apologetic about it. They are well immersed in their cultural values and ideas, until they were cohabiting their cultural space with Euro-Arabic invaders. Their cultural immersion is displayed in the totality of their engagements where one notably sees elements of cultures in their various indulgences. Despite this obvious immersion, they are equally open to ideas and are unconcerned with religious extremism which would, as believed by many of them, bring about negative results for them in the long run. Thus, they accommodate people of dissenting religious opinions and this is reflected in their accommodating attitude shown to those dissimilar religious and cultural ideologies. All these are properly detailed by Delano the historian with a view to place within the proper perspective the Yoruba people and their worldviews. It is practically difficult to render the history of the Yoruba’s advancement in modern times without referring to Delano.

Delano and African women

Contrary to the mainstream opinions that Africans, since they are perceived as primitive, would have wrong management of their female folks, the available history reveals something different. In traditional African society, the females are given roles to play and contribute their own quota to the advancement of the societal course. With a particular attention given to the Yoruba people, females are treated specially and respected through the glistering positions they occupy in the social build-up. There are female deities among the Yoruba people, female political leaders and powerful ones who have, at one time or the other, performed warring activities after they are conscripted into the available army of the society to combat invasive forces, and conquer. Females in traditional African societies are not mere objects to be relegated into the background for reproductive contributions alone, rather, they are powerful stake holders whose presence in the society commands a level of respect and encomium for the outstanding roles they play generally. Among the Yoruba subgroups, there are variations on the ways and levels by which women can participate in social and political activities. In some cases, females become the monarchical head if the need arises.

In all the literatures documented by Delano which explain the intricate relationship between women and their male counterparts, it is evidently obvious that the readers or his audience generally are witfully encouraged to learn the ways of the society in handling the female figures, not as an object, but as contributory personnel. The level of the social regard accorded the female folks is underscored by all the appreciation, deification, celebration and beatification which usually reverberate through the social network. The mother figure is duly respected as a reliable Orisha (local god) upon whose shoulders rest the hope of a child’s greatness. Thus, children are commonly encouraged to pay homage to their mothers as there is no one who would show them true affection apart from their mothers. This general attitude has built mutuality where women see themselves as the deciders of the society’s progress. Philosophies all over the world remain in the golden position of people’s mind after they have been lived and practised repeatedly. Through the continuous practice of this system of regarding the females, the females have thus affected their society positively, historically.

One of such cases is the case of Moremi in Ile-Ife, a matriarch of the ancient Ife city. When the people of Ife are entrapped by an alien invasive group, they are continuously preyed upon and had been psychologically captured by this supreme force. For many years, they are made to submit to the whims and caprices of this group and have no confidence to resist their invasion. There was no way of fighting themselves out of this entrapment because their putative enemies have more sophisticated technology to bank on. When the situation was becoming unacceptable, the bravery in Moremi was put to test by herself and she secretly accepted the role to sacrifice her own freedom for the goal of the common man. Moremi took a very brave step to spy on these invaders after scheming her own arrest to the ignorance of the visiting group. While taken as a captive under them, she intelligently studied their secret to the making of their technology which has proven successful against the Ife people for a while. She escaped their trap and thus returned to reveal her findings to the Ife people. From then on, Ife became free because of that single act.

The teaching of nuptial philosophy

Marriage is a universal phenomenon. This status of it does not however indicate that marriage is conceived generally among people to mean the same thing. While it is legally acceptable in some civilizations that men take control of women in marital affairs, there are some areas where the females take their men into custody and could even decide on the numbers of husbands to take. Occasions like this help in educating us about the diverse perspectives from which people see things, and it further ascertains that diversity is really important in life. As a result of this dissimilar position held by people about marriage, for example, it explains why marital engagements, focus and the form of expectations people have about it vary considerably. While in some other civilizations we have monogamy, polyandry and polyamory among others, among Africans, the majority of them practised the system of polygamy, especially the Yoruba people of West Africa. This cultural practice is properly maintained and carefully developed in such a way that their contributions to social advancement cannot be underrepresented. Without written codes to guide the people’s actions in their marriage, social values are not undermined in this precolonial marital arrangement.

African women are not considered as objects that can be purchased and excoriated or divested at will. Even in extreme circumstances where both parties are uninterested to continue with their union, there are laid down processes to follow before disrobing a nuptial contract. Among all the reasons why a man could divorce his wife, her inability to bear a child (either biologically or circumstantially) is not considered a viable one. Instead to discard her because of this known condition, it is always advisable that he gets married to another woman together with whom she can raise children who would be regarded as theirs, collectively. While on the other hand, females can be allowed to divorce their husband on the account of his impotency. Such social code is not meted on people because there is a kind of gender inequity, rather, that is a system that is considered effective for the advancement of society without losing value. Marriages to the pristine African people are an avenue to build the society through that micro-identity. It is necessary because when individuals contribute their own quota, it makes the society have a strong footing.

It is on this premise that the idea of premarital investigation is not an alien encounter among the Yoruba people. Apart from making consultations with the socially recognized bodies before their marital contracts, families of the two parties carried out intense researches about their potential in-laws to ascertain the nature of family they are imminently bonding with. It has been a growing trend of these people to carry out such findings to avoid some circumstances that can capsize their relationship in later life. In what is compacted under medical records in the contemporary world, the precolonial Yoruba society is peopled by individuals who would carry out enough findings before they dabble in the business of marriage. All these are thus properly represented by Delano in his body of works. There may be some genetic irregularities in the family of potential in-laws; the premarital findings would have helped to save the people from going blindly into such danger that would be too late to avert after consummation. Unlike modern times when such practice is minimally considered, if even practised at all, the pristine Yoruba people have fascinating marriage philosophies.

 

Conclusion

 

From the foregoing, it is already apparent that the legacy of Delano has not received the deserved attention. The bulk of work that the intellectual giant has carried out speaks volumes of his cultural activism aimed to place African patterns of doing their things on the global map. It is quite difficult to find areas that are left untouched by the curious pen of Chief Delano. He dedicated a considerable amount of his time to the study and teaching of Yoruba philosophy, capping it with his advocacy for linguistic and cultural emancipation, which in the actual sense would bring about true freedom for the African people. It is unarguable that if subsequent African scholars follow his lead on this direction, the people would be freed from their total dependence on the outside world as the sole producer of their consumables; ideologies, philosophies, and also their educational focus.

Prof Falola is of the Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, USA.

 

In the Second Republic, the fiery jurist, the late Justice Adewale Thompson, was the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Oyo State. The demise of the Thompson family  matriarch has stirred nostalgia about the late jurist.  Until his demise, he was the National Secretary of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE). Group Political Editor, EMMANUEL OLADESU, revisits the life and times of the Awoist and his contributions to the socio-political development of the country.

Justice Adewale Thompson was a celebrated adventurist, jurist, pan-Africanist, consummate politician, committed Awoist, philosopher, author, newspaper columnist and elder statesman. He led a life of principle, duty and honour throughout. As a lawyer and jurist, he was in a class of his own. As a politician, he was a committed ideologue and shining example of a progressive. In the twilight of his life, Adewale Thompson flashed back. To his chagrin, the new brigade who should continue with the imperishable ideas showed hypocritical commitment. At 81, he died a fulfilled man, but not without some pain that the glorious years of the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo, could not be re-enacted by successive governments.

What can the new generation learn from Thompson?

He was a chieftain of the defunct Action Group (AG), the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and Alliance for Democracy (AD). For him, loyalty was the watchword. All through his political career, he never jumped ship. Neither did he subvert or undermine his leader, despite evident inducement. Thompson’s devotion to principles was legendary. He was a man of integrity and credibility who shunned avarice and primitive accumulation.

However, the problems he left behind have not been resolved. He left behind a divided Yorubaland, a polarised Afenifere and a fragile Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE). He left behind a beleaguered country that has been plundered by soldiers and civilian rulers.

If Thompson were alive, how would he have reacted to the move by Afenifere to blindly support Goodluck Jonathan for a second term, despite the former president’s apparent ineptitude and poor performance? And what would have been his reaction to the last National Conference? Corruption was rampant in his days. But, it has assumed a more dangerous dimension. How would the jurist have described today’s crop of politicians lusting after money?

In blissful retirement, Thompson was vocal. Incisive wit, power of logic, persuasive talent and sense of objectivity constituted an arsenal which endeared his analysis of topical issues to the stakeholders in the Nigeria project. A meticulous and charismatic political figure, he was also an effective organiser, inspirer and mobiliser.

He was a great debater and may have learned the rudiments of city politics at the feet of his illustrious father, Ajayi Gureje Thompson (1892-1964), the famous licensed surveyor. For 16 years (1954-1960), the Ijesa-born Lagosian was a member of the Lagos Town Council.

As a youth, Thompson caught the bug of nationalism. He was fascinated by the legendary Herbert Macaulay, the father of Nigerian Nationalism, the Zikist Movement. He was also inspired by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the eloquent speaker and great freedom fighter who enlisted the younger generation in the battle against colonialism. After meeting Awo, Thompson remained fiercely loyal to him.

Thompson attended Hope High School and Baptist Academy, Lagos where he was taught by eminent lawyer and nationalist politician, the late Chief Ladoke Akintola. Between 1941 and 1944, he worked as a Third Class Clerk at the Post and Telegraphs Department, Marina, Lagos.

In the colonial service, Thompson worked as a telegraphist, a wireless operator and an accounts clerk. Afterwards, he attended the Trinity College, Dublin, graduating as a Moderator in Legal Science (B.A. MOD and holder of a LL.B in 1948) and M.A. (TCD) in 1952.

In 1951, he was called to the English Bar, Grays Inn London Hilary before enrolling as solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the same year. Between 1951 and 1967, Thompson was a senior partner in the law firm of Thompson and Coker Solicitor at 11, Abibu Oki Street, Lagos. Legal historians recall that the brilliant lawyer handled some celebrated cases at the bar.

He was the leading counsel for the Nigerian Farmers and Commercial Bank in the case of ‘The official Receiver of Nigeria versus The Nigerian Farmers and Commercial Bank’. The case dragged on for over eight years. Although he lost at the High Court and Supreme Court in 1953, he later won the case at the Privy Council, London in 1956. In the famous Elegba Juju case of 1961, Thompson was also the leading counsel for the 19 accused persons. They were all acquitted and discharged.

In the First Republic, he was unwavering in his support for Chief Awolowo. Thompson was the leading counsel for six accused persons in the treasonable felony trial between 1962 and 1963 involving the AG leader and 26 members of his party. The legal practitioner also pitched his tent with the Lagos Market Women Association when Awolowo and Kajola markets, Mushin, fell under the hammer of the Akintola-led Nigeria National Democratic Party (NNDP) government of Western Nigeria.

The proposed demolition of the market had a political undertone as the traders were rooting for AG. His legal intervention prevented the controversial demolition.

In 1960, the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa government ran into troubled waters over its proposed defence pact with Britain. The AG opposed the controversial pact. The students of the University of Ibadan (UI), who believed that the agreement had the potential of eroding the independence recently won from Britain, stormed the National Parliament in Lagos to disperse the legislators. There was a clampdown on nine students described by the government as ring leaders. They were charged to the Lagos Magistrate’s Court for conduct likely to cause a breach of peace.

Again, Thompson stood as leading counsel for the students in the Defence Pact Case (1960). After a serious legal battle, they were discharged. An innovative lawyer, Thompson was also the first counsel to canvass the doctrine of contemporaneous accident in the country. He won the battle up to the Supreme Court.

However, fortune did not smile on his political career, despite his devotion to Awo. In 1964, Thompson failed the popularity test. He had wanted to represent the Lagos Mainland Constituency in the House of Representatives on the platform of the AG. His opponent at the shadow poll was another loyal and committed party man, Sikiru Shitta-Bey, political scion of the legendary Seriki Shitta-Bey family of Isale-Eko and dynamic Secretary of Action Group Youth Association.

Both Thompson and Shitta-Bey were blazing the trail in the legal profession. They were Awo’s devotees. Neither of them was willing to step down. It was, therefore, a nightmare for party leaders and elders to choose between the two brilliant and trustworthy party activists who enjoyed equal rating. The contest degenerated into crisis. The supporters of Thompson and Shitta-Bey began to flex muscles. This prompted the party to set up a committee to make recommendations on the way forward. The panel was headed by the late Bola Ige, an Ijesa indigene like Thompson.

In its report, the committee advised that Shitta-Bey should contest the election. As a loyal party chieftain, Thompson accepted the verdict in good faith. He did not defect to the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) led by Akintola.

Thompson was not left in the cold by the AG. Between 1960 and 1963, he served as a member of the Board of the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN), representing the Western Nigeria. This trailed his brief stint as Director and Chairman of G.L. Gaiser Nigeria Limited in 1960. Following the military takeover, Thompson became a judge of the High Court of Western State of Nigeria between 1967 and 1975.

In 1978, Thompson was a founding member of the UPN, led by Awo. He served as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice between 1979 and 1983 under the Bola Ige Administration. His compatriots in the cabinet were Bola Ige’s former teacher, Pa Emmanuel Alayande (Special Adviser on Education), Chief Sunday Afolabi (deputy governor), Chief Bisi Akande (Secretary to the Government, and later, deputy governor), Chief Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa (Education Commissioner), Chief Busari Adelakun (Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs), Chief Michael Koleoso and Chief Morakinyo. The cabinet tapped from his pool of wisdom.

Reminiscent of the 1962 AG crisis, another crisis led to a split in the UPN, ahead of the 1983 governorship primaries. The crisis led to the exit of Afolabi, Adelakun and other top leaders of the party to the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Thompson resisted the temptation to join bad company. He backed Ige, who nevertheless lost the election to Dr Victor Omololu Olunloyo in controversial circumstances.

Ahead of the Fourth Republic, Thompson joined forces with old Awoists to demand political restructuring in Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, led by his compatriot, the late Senator Abraham Adesanya. Both Adesanya and Thompson were fond of themselves. Thompson possessed great wit. Whenever he sighted Adesanya, he would demand respect befitting an elder, because he was older by one day. In reply, Adesanya would say: “Welcome, my brother by one day.”

But, as the crisis ravaged Afenifere, Thompson and Alayande concentrated on the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE). The motivation for setting up the YCE however remains in the realm of conjecture. The association came up shortly after the crisis engulfed Afenifere and Ige became minister.

As an elder statesman, Thompson was a moral voice and social critic. He never spared President Olusegun Obasanjo for reneging on the pre-election promise to deliver dividends of democracy to Nigerians. He decried the devaluation of progressive politicking and the lifestyle of new breed politicians who lived in opulence and promoted corruption in high places.

He was more vocal in his agitation for true federalism which he described as the bedrock of autonomy for the defunct regions, once in healthy competition in the pre- and independence years. He was also an advocate for convocation of Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to discuss the basis for peaceful co-existence.

Thompson was born in 1922. He was Assistant Secretary, Baptist Academy Old Students Association (1941), member, Trinity College Historical Society and its Library Committee (1947), and first African Secretary of Dublin Society (1947).

As secretary of the Association of Students of African Descent of Great Britain and Ireland, Dublin (1945-1948), he was a delegate at the pan-African congress in Manchester, England in 1945. Back at home, he became the Assistant Secretary, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) (1952-1958), National Patron, Baptist Academy Old Students Association (1995) and Secretary, Yoruba Tennis Club (1960-1963). He was also named ‘Central Figure’, the Trinity College Dublin Alumni Association, and member, Royal Commonwealth Society, London.

An Anglican, Thompson was Chorister, St. John Church, Aroloya, Lagos (1933-1938), first Chairman, Young Men Christian Union, St. Jude’s Church, Ebute-Metta (1941), member, Iloro Young Men Society, St. John Cathedral, Iloro, Ilesa, Patron of Boys and Girls Brigade, All Saints Church Jerico, Ibadan. His name was in the Roll of Honour for distinction service for the church in 1999. A holder of traditional chieftaincy titles of Lotun Aiyegunle of Ilesa (1982), Thompson bagged two other honorary chieftancy titles: Bagbimo of Owu Ijebu and Aare Bamofin of Ode-Remo.

A prolific writer of ‘Megaforce’ fame in the Nigerian Tribune and seasoned author, his publications include Philosophy of Freedom (1951), Invisible World (1966), Pound For Penny (1977), African Believes, Science or Superstition (1978), Philosophical Exercise (1982), the State and the Constitution (1982) and Manual for Justices of the Peace (1982).

Others are: A Treatise on war (1982), Biography for Dr J. C. Vaughan Reminiscence at the Bar (1991), Song of the Angel (1992), Favoured by the gods (1992), Black People of the World (1995), All Saints Sermons (1996) and Secrets of Secret Societies (1978).

Thompson was also an eloquent speaker at public forums and conferences. At the first pan-Africa Conference convened by Dr Kwame Nkrumah at Ghana in December 1953, he was given a standing ovation by delegates from across the globe after proposing the toast of Africa.

He drew the same accolade in 1982 when he wrote on the role of the bench as the arbiter. There, in the book titled: “The Practice of the Nigerian Constitution”, he wrote on the imperishable qualities of an honest jurist, who, he said, should give judgment without fear, favour, intimidation and timidity.

Thompson stated: “The correct principle illustrated by the hypothetical case of a Spartan judge sitting at the Thermopylae, surrounded by Persian arms, and yet giving his judgment according to the laws of Sparta with the full knowledge that he was about to die.”

The judge was initiated into free masonry at a ceremony performed by his Father in Lodge Academic No. 1150 (SC) Lagos, soon he climbed the ladder, emerging the District Grand Master of Nigeria (Scottish Constitution) (1983-1988), District Grand Secretary (1963-1970), Substitute Grand Master (1970-1973), and Deputy District Grand Master (1973-1978).

He was also an Honorary Grand Server warden of the grand lodge of Scotland, Edinburgh and member, Grand Lodge of the Royal Order of Scotland, Edinburgh.

He also attained high ranks under the Irish and English Constitutions. Following the release of his Masonic publications, Secrets of Secret Society, President J. J. Rawlings of Ghana reportedly shelved his plan to ban the Irish order in the country after reading the pamphlet.