This week continues the narrative on Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
In 1934, he, Vaughn, H.O. Davies and others became the leaders of the new Lagos Youth Movement (NYM), which in 1938 was renamed the Nigerian Youth Movement and came under the leadership of Dr. D.K. Abayomi. Three years later he was elected to the Legislative Council in Lagos, in a bitterly contested election in which he was opposed by Samuel Akinsanya (who later became the Odemo of Ishara). He was elected President of the NYM in 1943.
Meanwhile, from 1938 to 1944 he edited another newspaper, THE DAILY SERVICE, the NYM organ, with Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola. Chief Ikoli was re-elected to the Legislative Council as an Independent in 1946, because of the disqualification of his opponent; in 1947 he decided not to seek re-election again.
While Chief Ikoli’s active political life was short-lived, he is remembered by his former political colleagues as a foremost politician with a determined mind. One of these, a former political opponent who became a prominent traditional ruler, Oba Samuel Akinsanya, Odemo of Ishara, said of him in the first yearly Ernest Ikoli Memorial Lecture inaugurated by the Sunday Times of Nigeria in 1979: “I worked together with Ernest Ikoli for many years. We did many things together. We fought many things together. And I cannot remember any political agitation or representation to the colonial government in those days with which Chief Ikoli was not associated. In fact, he would be one of the foremost leaders.”
On 21 October 1960, three weeks after Nigeria became independent, Chief Ernest Ikoli died and was widely mourned. Dr. Clement Isong (April 20, 1920 – 29 May 2000) was the second Nigerian to be Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Dr. Isong was brilliant, industrious and highly talented, and excelled in various fields. He was a teacher, banker, economist, administrator and politician.
He was born on 20th April 1920 in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, to Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Isonguyo. He attended University College, Ibadan; Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, USA; and Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Science, where he obtained a Ph.D. in Economics. Dr. Isong taught Economics at the University of Ibadan. He joined the Central Bank of Nigeria as Secretary and later became Director of Research. He was seconded to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as an adviser in the African Department.
Dr. Isong served as the Governor of the CBN from 1967 to 1975 at a critical time in the history of Nigeria. After retirement, he joined politics. He was elected the first civilian Governor of Cross River State from 1979 to 1983. Having contributed to the growth of Nigeria, Dr. Isong was honoured with Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFR) in 1982. He died on 29th May 2000. Dr. Clement Isong’s portrait appears on the N1000 note. Sir Dennis Chukude Osadebay (29 June 1911 — 26 December 1994) was a former premier of the now-defunct Mid-Western Region of Nigeria, which now comprises Edo State and Delta State. He was one of the pioneering Nigerian poets who wrote in English. As a politician, he was said to have a detestation of party politics and tried to form unbiased opinions on important matters of the period. He was also a leader of the movement to create a Mid-Western Region during the Nigerian First Republic.
Chief Osadebay was born in Asaba, Delta State, to parents of mixed cultural backgrounds. He attended Asaba Government School at Asaba, the Sacred Heart School in Calabar and Hope Waddell Training Institute. He joined the labour force in 1930 as a customs officer working in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Calabar. He subsequently went to England to study Law during the 1940s. It was while studying that he started publishing poetic verses. He was then known as a newspaper poet, as most of his writings were published in the West African Pilot and a few other newspapers. In his writings, Chief Osadebay used both his personal life and public events as inspiration. In Africa Sings, a collection of poems, he delved into themes from a personal point of view, such as a sullen poem written about his 25th birthday and the coming of middle age. However, his best work in the volume were poems written from an impersonal viewpoint. In his adventurous poem “Black Man Troubles”, he used pidgin English to lament the status of black Africans in colonial Africa and injustice in the society. His poems were also notable for faithfully representing modern poetic rhythm.
Chief Osadebay was one of the founding members of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) in 1944. He left the country to read law a few years later. After completing his studies, he returned to Nigeria and established a law practice in Aba and was also made the legal adviser of the NCNC. In 1951, he contested and won a seat on the Western Region House of Assembly, which was dominated by the rival Action Group (AG). He soon became the leader of opposition in the region from 1954 to 1956 but gave the mantle to Adegoke Adelabu in 1956. After the death of Adegoke Adelabu, he took on his familiar oppositional role in 1958. In 1960, he became the Speaker in the Western Region and, upon the creation of the Mid-Western Region in 1963, became the pioneer premier of the newly created region. Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh (18 July 1912 – 15 January 1966) was the Finance Minister of Nigeria from 1957 to 1966 during the administration of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
He was born on 18 July 1912 in a town along the Benin River in the Niger Delta. He was educated at the Sapele Baptist School, and after a year as a municipal clerk, taught for several years.
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