Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo (Yoruba: Ọbáfẹ́mi Awólọ́wọ̀; March 6, 1909 – May 9, 1987),commonly known as Awo and often referred to as the sage, was a Nigerian economist,lawyer,journalist and founding father. His first name,Obafemi,means 'The king loves me' and the surname,Awolowo, means 'The mystic, or mysticism, commands honour or respect'. A Yoruba and native of Ikenne in Ogun State of Nigeria, he started his career as a nationalist in the Nigerian Youth Movement like some of his pre-independence contemporaries and was responsible for many of the progressive social legislations that have made Nigeria a modern nation. He was an active journalist and trade unionist as a young man, editing The Nigerian Worker amongst other publications while also organizing the Nigerian Produce Traders Association and serving as secretary of the Nigerian Motor Transport Union. After earning a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Nigeria from a London University through correspondence, he went to the UK where he earned a law degree from London School of Economics.While there,he founded the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, a pan-Yoruba cultural society,which set the stage for the formation of the Action Group,a liberal and nationalist political party.As Leader of the Group,he represented the Western Region in all the constitutional conferences intended to advance Nigeria on the path to independence. He was the first Leader of Government Business and Minister of Local Government and Finance and first Premier of the Western Region under Nigeria's parliamentary system, from 1952 to 1959, and was the official Leader of the Opposition in the federal parliament to the Balewa government from 1959 to 1963. In addition to all these, Awolowo was the first individual in the modern era to be referred to as Leader of the Yorubas (Yoruba:Asiwaju Omo Oodua), a title which has come over time to be conventionally ascribed to his direct successors as the recognised political leader of the elders and young members of the Yoruba clans of Nigeria.
Ebenezer Obey (born 3 April 1942), nicknamed the "Chief Commander", is a Nigerian jùjú musician.
Obey, whose full name is Ebenezer Remilekun Aremu Olasupo Obey-Fabiyi, was born in Idogo, Ogun State, Nigeria of Egba–Yoruba ethnic background. He is of the Owu subgroup of the Egba.
He began his professional career in the mid-1950s after moving to Lagos. After tutelage under Fatai Rolling-Dollar's band, he formed a band called The International Brothers in 1964, playing highlife–jùjú fusion. The band later metamorphosed into Inter-Reformers in the early-1970s, with a long list of Juju album hits on the West African Decca musical label.
Obey began experimenting with Yoruba percussion style and expanding on the band by adding more drum kits, guitars and talking drums. Obey's musical strengths lie in weaving intricate Yoruba axioms into dance-floor compositions. As is characteristic of Nigerian Yoruba social-circle music, the Inter-Reformers band excel in praise-singing for rich Nigerian socialites and business tycoons. Obey, however, is also renowned for Christian spiritual themes in his music and has since the early-1990s retired into Nigerian gospel music ministry.