Word: akintola
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...meet. As a result, the Azikiwe-Balewa compromise has failed and the "showdown" has come in a violent manner, precipitated by men who have grown tired of the broken promises of the politicians. The Sardauna and Sir Abubakar have been murdered, as has their ally, Chief Samuel Akintola, Premier of the West, and their friend Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, the incredibly rich Federal Finance Minister who held the key to the balance of power in the Midwestern Region. Only the Ibo East has not lost a major leader...
...most strategic holds was in Nigeria's Western region, where Chief Samuel Akintola's pro-North government faced apparently overwhelming opposition. Akintola himself had little popular support; he had been appointed Premier three years ago after a blatant power play that sent anti-North Chief Obafemi Awolowo to jail. But when regional assembly elections rolled around last month, Akintola showed that there was more than one way to win the West. To the surprise of hardly anyone, he rigged the elections...
...election officials were kidnaped, key opposition candidates kept off the ballots entirely. In heavy Awolowo precincts, polling places mysteriously ran out of ballots, and Akintola's party stalwarts stuffed the ballot boxes in others. "Men became pregnant with ballot papers," chortled one observer. All urns, of course, had to be shipped immediately to the regional capital at Ibadan for Akintola's "official" counting, and when it was all over, the only surprise was the size of his victory: 78 seats to 18. "The West has gone too far," said the nation's leading political commentator Peter Enahoro...
Faced with the threat of a major civil uprising, Northerners last week began to look for compromise. Nigeria's Chief Justice Adetokunbo Ademola sped off to Ibadan to try to hammer a coalition government under Akintola together. For Awolowo's cheated followers, coalition left much to be desired, but it would at least be better than nothing. "Any region that does not ally itself with the North will surely fade," said one realistic loser last week. "If we remain in the opposition for five more years, we shall be relegated to the burying grounds...
Smashed Mace. Chief Samuel L. Akintola, who became deputy leader of the Action Group and Western Region premier, last May rebelled against Awolowo's policies, was sacked as deputy leader and dismissed as the West's premier (he was later reinstated by court order). Awolowo's high-handed reprisals led to a chair-throwing melee in the Western Region assembly at Ibadan in which the ceremonial mace was shattered and the politicians subdued with tear...