Ògùn is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Created in 1976, it borders Lagos State to the south, Oyo and Osun states to the north, Ondo State to the east and the Republic of Benin to the west. Abeokuta is the capital and largest city in the state. The state’s nickname is “Gateway to Nigeria”. It was created in February 1976 from the former Western State. The 2006 census recorded a total population of 3,751,140 residents. The incumbent State Governor is Senator Ibikunle Amosu. May be many of you do not know that many prominent Nigerians hailed from the gateway state as it is fondly called. INFORMATION NIGERIA brings you 10 prominent Nigerians who hailed from Ogun state.
Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, MON (25 October 1900 Abeokuta, Nigeria – 13 April 1978 Lagos, Nigeria), born Francis Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas to Daniel Olumeyuwa Thomas and Lucretia Phyllis Omoyeni Adeosolu, was a teacher, political campaigner, women’s rights activist and traditional aristocrat. She served with distinction as one of the most prominent leaders of her generation. She was also the first woman in Nigeria to drive a car.
Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo (née Adelana; November 25, 1915 – September 19, 2015), popularly known as HID, was born to a modest family in the small Ikenne community of Ogun State in Nigeria. She was married to politician Obafemi Awolowo from December 26, 1937 to his death in 1987. He famously referred to her as his “jewel of inestimable value”. She was also a successful businesswoman and astute politician. She played an active role in the politics of Western Nigeria. She stood in for her husband in the alliance formed between the NCNC and the AG, called the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA), while he was tried and in jail.
Chief Idowu Sofola, SAN, MON (September 29, 1934) is a prominent Nigerian Jurist, Bencher and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association. He was formerly the Chairman of the Nigerian Body of Benchers.
Martins-Kuye was born on 16 August 1942 in Ago Iwoye, Ijebu constituency of Ogun State, he has a brother (Muraino Ademola Kuye). He studied sociology at the University of Ibadan (1965-1968) and then Economics at the Harvard University Business School, graduating in 1983. He gained qualifications as a Chartered Accountant.
Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, CFR (24 August 1937 – 7 July 1998), often referred to as M. K. O. Abiola, was a popular Nigerian Yoruba businessman, publisher, politician and aristocrat of the Yoruba Egba clan. He ran for the presidency in 1993, and is widely regarded as the presumed winner of the inconclusive election since no official final results were announced. He died in 1998, after being denied victory when the entire election results were dubiously annulled by the preceding military president Ibrahim Babangida because of alleged evidence that they were corrupt and unfair.
Dr. Oba Otudeko, CFR (born, August 18, 1943) is an astute and highly successful Nigerian investor and entrepreneur whose domestic and foreign interests cut across diverse sectors of the economy. Professionally, he is a Chartered Banker, Chartered Corporate Secretary and a Chartered Accountant.
MIKE ADENUGA
Mike Adenuga, Nigeria’s second richest man, built his fortune in telecom and oil production. His mobile phone network, Globacom, is the second largest operator in Nigeria with 32 million subscribers; it also has operations in Ghana and the Republic of Benin. A higher estimate of Globacom’s revenues led Forbes to increase the value we assign to it. His exploration outfit, Conoil Producing, operates 6 oil blocks in the Niger Delta. He also owns real estate firm Proline Investments, which has hundreds of properties throughout Nigeria. Adenuga studied in the United States, getting an MBA at Pace University in New York, where he worked as a taxi driver to support himself. He returned to Nigeria and made his first fortune trading lace and Coca-Cola. Along the way he made friends with Nigerian military bigwigs who awarded him lucrative state contracts.
Olusegun Mathew Okikiola Aremu Obasanjo, GCFR ; Yoruba: Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ born 5 March 1937 is a former Nigerian Army general who was President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007. A Nigerian of Yoruba descent, Obasanjo was a career soldier before serving twice as his nation’s head of state, as a military ruler from 13 February 1976 to 1 October 1979 and as a democratically elected president from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. From July 2004 to January 2006, Obasanjo also served as Chairperson of the African Union.
Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo, GCFR (Yoruba: Ọbáfẹ́mi Awólọ́wọ̀; 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.
Olawale Gladstone Emmanuel Rotimi, best known as Ola Rotimi (13 April 1938 – 18 August 2000), was one of Nigeria’s leading playwrights and theatre directors. He has been called “a complete man of the theatre – an actor, director, choreographer and designer – who created performance spaces, influenced by traditional architectural forms.
