Awolowo, Obafemi (ôbäfā`mē äwōlō`wō), 1909–87, Nigerian statesman, a Yoruba chief, commonly known as "Awo." In politics from 1940, he was one of the founders (1943) of the Nigerian Trades Union Congress. In 1950 he founded the Action Group, a new political party. Elected (1959) to Nigeria's house of representatives, he became leader of the opposition. Sentenced to 10 years for his party's attempted coup (1962), he was released in 1966. He was a leader against the Biafran secession and was federal Finance Minister until 1971. After military rule, he founded the United Party of Nigeria and placed second in the presidential elections of 1979 and 1982.

Awolowo, Obafemi

(born March 6, 1909, Ikenne, Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria—died May 9, 1987, Ikenne) Nigerian nationalist politician and leader of the Yoruba ethnic group. While studying law in London, he wrote the influential Path to Nigerian Freedom (1947) and laid the basis for the first Yoruba political party, the Action Group. As premier of Nigeria's Western Region (1954–59), he worked to improve education, social services, and agriculture. He remained a major figure in national politics but never won high elective office.