This rare 1963 photograph captures two prominent political figures of Nigeria’s First Republic—Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode, popularly known as “Fani-Power”, and Chief D.K. Olumofin—during a school inspection in Western Nigeria.
Chief Fani-Kayode, a Cambridge-trained lawyer, first rose to prominence as a fiery youth leader in the Action Group before defecting to the NCNC, where he became Leader of the Opposition in the Western House of Assembly. Amid the turbulence of the Western Region crisis, he forged an alliance with Chief S.L. Akintola that gave birth to the NNDP–NCNC coalition government, in which Fani-Kayode was appointed Deputy Premier of the Western Region.
Chief D.K. Olumofin, a senior NCNC statesman and three-time parliamentarian, had served as the party’s Parliamentary Secretary before taking on new responsibilities in the coalition government.
He was appointed Minister of Education and Economic Planning, where he played a significant role in shaping educational policy during a defining period in the region’s political history.
Together, their presence at this school visit symbolized not only their shared commitment to governance but also the uneasy yet transformative alliances that shaped Nigeria’s First Republic.
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