Chief
Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo, GCFR (; 6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987), was a Nigerian nationalist and statesman who played a key role in Nigeria's independence movement, the First and Second Republics and the Civil War. He is most notable as the outstanding first premier of the Western Region but was also a successful federal commissioner for finance and vice president of the Federal Executive Council in the Civil War and was thrice a major contender for his country's highest office. A native of
Ikenne in
Ogun State of south-western Nigeria, he started his career, like some of his well-known contemporaries, as a nationalist in the
Nigerian Youth Movement in which he rose to become Western Provincial Secretary. Awolowo was responsible for much of the progressive social legislation that has made Nigeria a modern nation. He was the first Leader of Government Business and Minister of Local Government and Finance, and first
Premier of the
Western Region under Nigeria's
parliamentary system, from 1952 to 1959. He was the official
Leader of the Opposition in the federal parliament to the
Balewa government from 1959 to 1963. In recognition of all these, Awolowo was the first individual in the modern era to be named
Leader of the Yorubas (Yoruba:
Asiwaju Awon Yoruba or
Asiwaju Omo Oodua).