Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo was a Nigerian nationalist, political leader, writer and a principal participant in the country’s struggle for independence. Obafemi Awolowo (commonly known as Awo and often referred to as ‘the sage’) was one of modern Nigeria's founding fathers. He is of one three National Heroes of the Nigerian nation (along with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Nnamdi Azikiwe).

Early Life and Education
Awolowo was born in the town of Ikenné, Western State (present day Ogun State), on March 6, 1909. His first name, Obafemi, means 'The king loves me' and his surname means 'The mystic, or mysticism, commands honour or respect'. His father was a farmer and sawyer who died when Obafemi was only seven years old. He received his early education at the mission schools of Ikenne, Abeokuta (also in Ogun State) and Ibadan (the capital of Oyo State) and became a teacher in Abeokuta, later qualifying as a shorthand typist. He subsequently served as a clerk at the famous Wesley College in Ibadan and as a correspondent for the Nigerian Times. He often worked at odd jobs to raise money for tuition fees and his entrepreneurial spirit continued to express itself in the various careers which he subsequently sampled, including working as a clerk, moneylender, taxi driver and produce broker. 
Despite his interest in business ventures, Awolowo wanted to continue his formal education. In 1944 he completed aUniversity of London correspondence course for a Bachelor of Commerce degree. His greatest ambition, however, was to study law, which he did in London from 1944 to 1946, after which he was called to the bar. Returning to Nigeria in 1947, he developed a thriving practice as a barrister in Ibadan.
He married Hannah Idowu Dideolu in 1937. They had two sons and three daughters.

Political Career
Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s organisational and political inclinations can be traced to his involvement in various unions, including the Nigerian Motor Transport Union, the Nigerian Produce Traders' Association and the Trades Union Congress of Nigeria. He organised most of these trade unions in his spare time while continuing to run his law firm. He was appointed secretary of the Nigerian Motor Transport Union and Western Provincial Secretary of the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM). By the early 1940s, he was active in the NYM, becoming the organisation’s Ibadan branch’s secretary in 1940. In 1942, he led a bout of civil disobedience that resulted in the reform of the Ibadan Native Authority Advisory Board. In 1944, he organised a mass protest against the ban on exporting palm kernel. It was this grassroots-level activism that did much to convince ordinary people that they could take on the British and win. Awolowo believed that the colonial system could be challenged in Africa as it had been in India, whose independence struggle inspired his civil disobedience tactics. 
During his stay in London, Awolowo moved to a position of prominence in the struggle for Nigerian independence. He founded the Action Group political party political party in 1951 and became its first president. The Action Group's platform called for the immediate termination of British rule in Nigeria and for the development of various public welfare programs including universal primary education, an increase of health services in rural areas, the diversification of the Western Regional economy and the democratization of local governments. He won the first Western Region elections in 1951 and was chosen to be Minister for Local Government Structure, a role in which he established elective councils. In 1954 he became the first premier of the Western Region, an achievement for which he was awarded an honorary chieftaincy. During his tenure as leader and premier, he held the regional ministerial portfolios of local government, finance and economic planning. He was also the chairman of the Regional Economic Planning Commission.
From 1954 to 1959 as Premier of the Western Region, Awolowo worked to improve education, social services and agricultural practices. He also tried to build the Action Group into an effective nationwide party by making alliances with ethnic groups in other regions.

However, the 1959 elections were to be an important turning point in Awolowo's career: after his resignation from the post of premier to run for a seat in the Federal House of Representatives, the Action Group was decisively defeated and Awolowo found himself the leader of the opposition in the Federal House of Representatives while the deputy leader of the Action Group, Chief SL Akintola, remained premier of the Western Region. This situation led to a power struggle within the party which ultimately erupted in 1962 in disturbances in the Western Region House of Assembly. The federal government intervened and suspended the regional constitution.

In 1963 Awolowo was found guilty of conspiring to overthrow the government of Nigeria and was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. However in 1966, a coup d'etat led to the suspension of Nigeria’s federal constitution and the empowerment of a military government. The coup led to Awolowo’s release in July 1966 and as a result of the confused events of the next year and after some indecision, he eventually threw his support behind the federal government against the south-eastern secessionist state of Biafra.
He was appointed the Federal Commissioner of Finance and Vice-President of the Federal Executive Council by Yakubu Gowon's military administration during the Civil War. In the mid-1970s he was the chancellor of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), which was the brainchild of the Action Group. He was also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
When the twelve-year ban on political activity was lifted in 1978 in preparation for a return to civilian rule, Awolowo emerged as the leader of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). He ran for president in the elections of 1979 and 1983 but was defeated both times by Shehu Shagari. As a result of another military coup at the end of 1983, political parties were once again banned and Chief Awolowo retired from politics.