Adeyemo Alakija

Who was Adeyemo Alakija?

Sir Adeyemo Alakija, KBE was a Nigerian lawyer, politician and businessman. He was a newspaper entrepreneur who co-founded the Daily Times of Nigeria. He was also a member of the governor's executive council, the legislative council of Nigeria and was president of the Nigerian Youth Movement.

He was heavily influenced by the tidal waves of cultural nationalism in Nigeria during the early twentieth century. It was this self-assertiveness that led his family to abandon their assimilated Portuguese name in favour of a native one, Alakija, in 1913. Towards the end of his life it culminated in his ascending to the aristocracy of his tribe, as he was created the Bariyun of the Ake Lineage of Egbaland and the Woje Ileri of Ile-Ife.