Adeyemo Alakija

Adeyemo Alakija
Born Placido Assumpcao
Nationality Nigerian
Occupation Businessman

Sir Adeyemo Alakija, KBE (25 May 1884 – 10 May, 1952) was a Nigerian lawyer, politician and businessman. He served as a member of the Nigerian legislative council for nine years starting in 1933. In 1942, he became a member of the governor's Executive Council. Alakija was president of Egbe Omo Oduduwa from 1948 until his death in 1952.

He held the chieftaincy titles of the Lisa of Egba and the Woje Ileri of Ile-Ife

Early life and education

Alakija was born to the family of Marculino sometimes called Elemeji and Maxmilliana Assumpcao; he was the youngest of the seven children in the family. His father was of Egba ancestry and his mother was the daughter of Alfa Cyprian Akinosho Tairu of Oyo. His eldest brother Maxwell Porphyrio Assumpcao-Alakija was a barrister in Bahia and father in-law of Olumuyiwa Jibowu and one of his brothers who became his law partner was Olayimika Alakija, a former member of the Nigerian Legislative Council. Alakija attended St Gregory's Catholic School[1] before moving to CMS Grammar School, Lagos,[2] and later studied at Oxford University in the early 1930s, and became an ardent proponent for the provision of tertiary education to Nigerians during the colonial period.

After finishing his secondary education, Alakija worked with the colonial government from 1900 to 1910.[1] He then proceeded to study Law in London earning his qualification in 1913 [1] and thereafter opened a law practice in Lagos. In 1913, Alakija and his siblings changed their last name from Assumpcao to Alakija. His law firm was successful but his foray into elective politics met opposition from Herbert Macaulay, a former friend of his but whose politics diverged as a result of the Lagos Eleko crisis.[1] Alakija was opposed to Eshugbayi Eleko, the Oba of Lagos and the Oba's supporters including the Jamat Muslims and Macaulay. He was a candidate in the 1923 legislative elections but lost. However, from 1933 to 1941, he was a nominated member representing Egba division.

Career

Sir Adeyemo Alakija was a newspaper entrepreneur who co-founded the Daily Times of Nigeria with Ernest Ikoli and Richard Barrow who was the president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce. The newspaper flourished with the support of adveritsing revenue from expatriate companies and despite its pro-government stance. Alakija assumed the chairmanship of the paper's publishing arm, the Nigerian Printing and Publishing Company. He was also a member of the governor's executive council and was president of the Nigerian Youth Movement.[3] He was heavily influenced by the tidal waves of cultural nationalism in Nigeria during the early twentieth century. It was this self-assertiveness that led his family to abandon their assimilated Portuguese name in favour of a native one, Alakija, in 1913. Towards the end of his life it culminated in his ascending to the aristocracy of his tribe, as he was created the Bariyun of the Ake Lineage of Egbaland and the Woje Ileri of Ile-Ife.[4] The Oloye Alakija, whose first name originally was Plasido, was of Afro-Brazilian descent like many freed slaves resident in Lagos. The groups were sometimes called Amaros. The Alakija family for a while were the most prominent Amaros in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, he embraced some traditional elements of Yoruba socio-political and religious history when he co-founded the reformed Ogboni society and became the Olori Oluwo, or "Lord of the Lords", of the brotherhood. As a member of the Ogboni confraternity, he introduced the use of masonic symbols inside the organization, such as the unblinking eye on an inverted V and three vertical shapes.[5]

Alakija died in the early hours of May 10, 1952. The night before he attended a dinner hosted by Mobolaji Bank Anthony.

Personal

Alakija married Christina Ayodele Geroge in 1907. Geroge died in 1938 and he later took on another wife, Lady Ayodele. Alakija sent most of his children from his first wife to Britain for education.[1] One of his sons, Babatunde was a British Public School High Jump champion and one of the first Africans to be enrolled for training as a pilot.[6] Another son, Oluwole Ayodele Alakija was former president of WASU in London and a member of Egbe Omo Oduduwa. Alakija was a founding member and president of the Island Club of Lagos and was a founding member and Vice President of the Nigeria Football Association in 1933.[7]

See also

Kojo Annan

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Nwoko, Greg. "Adeyemo Alakija". Greg Nwoko.
  2. ↑ Anibaba, Musliu Olaiya. A Lagosian of the 20th century: an autobiography. Tisons Limited. p. 89. ISBN 1623710405.
  3. ↑ Richard L. Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation, Africa World Press, 2004, p. 48. ISBN 1-59221-209-3
  4. ↑ Raph Uwechue and Various Others, Makers of Modern Africa: Profiles in History, Africa Books Ltd. Second Edition 1991, p. 47. ISBN 0-903274-18-3
  5. ↑ James Lorand Matory, Black Atlantic Religion: Tradition, Transnationalism, and Matriarchy in the Afro-Brazilian, Princeton University Press, pp. 46-50, 68-70. ISBN 0-691-05944-6
  6. ↑ The Crisis. (1941). Vol. 48, No. 3. March 1941. P. 82
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-06-04. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
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