Akintola was removed as premier through proper parliamentary procedures on 19th May, 1963. This took the federal government by shock…. Balewa had hoped that Akintola would effectively destroy Awolowo’s influence and then build a new leadership more friendly with the North…in which he could get the coalition government of all three major groups in the country.

This has also shocked Azikiwe who had desperately hoped that removal of Awolowo would make it easy for NCNC to capture the western region… at the time, talks were in place between Akintola and Fani Kayode… who was head of opposition in the western house to form a new party. They held secret meetings with Oba Akran as their intermediary. (unfortunately for the shortsighted ethnocentric Zik, Akintola hated Igbos with a passion and would eventually give a very deadly blow to threaten and destroy Igbo influence at the center when he joined the North to form the new NNA party)

Zik returned in haste to Lagos on 22dn May 1962 and Balewa put plans in place to reverse the situation…. On the 26th of May, Olubadan Akinyele called a meeting of both parties to help settle matters….. Balewa’s government advised Akintola not to honor it…. Next day… a few western Obas visited Balewa in Lagos…. They wanted the federal government to not get involved and let them resolve it…. Balewa however refused. what got him worried the most was that a new premier( Adegbenro) had been appointed and he was more loyal the AG manifesto….

After the meeting at the federal house, a state of emergency was declared and Majekodunmi was appointed interim administrator for western region for seven months. The sole mission is to destroy Awolowo’s influence in the western region at any cost. As such, one of his first edicts was to restrict Awolowo from any kind of regionwide tours. He placed him under house arrest at his hometown of Ikene on June 29, 1962 to restrict him from the regionwide tour he planned to rally his people…. The hope was that if he could not go around, he would soon fade in the hearts of the people ( If the government however read about Mandela who was kept away by the British for decades to destroy his rising fame, they would have understood that people never forget their heroes in a hurry).

His first visitors after hosue arrest was the Olubadan and TT Dada… Olubadan was secretly excited about what happned to Awolowo… Ibadan had a history of love hate towards Ijebu for the role the old kingdom played in frustrating Ibadan’s attempt to impose itself as the dominant power in the interiors of Yotrubaland…. Both parties told Awolowo to go and beg the sdaurna and Balewa…. They said it was foolish ( Iwa omugo patapata) for anyone to try to measure his strength with the government of the day….. he was advised to make amends because as of now, they are using ordinary whip to lashi him and would soon use lethal weapons if he remained stubborn…. Awolowo thanks then and walked them out of his house… in his words….’ Both of you have come here deliberately to insult me and outrage my feelings: leave my house quietly and never come near me agaiain whilst this crisis lasts.

The nexy day started the rude shock of Akintola and the federal government large groups of vistiors visited him at his home to show him solidarity…. Most of them jopurnbeying through rought terrains and dhattering large trucks… some of them with theirwives and kids…. He got an average of 12 visits paer day from then on.. with each visi porpulated by a large factions from different parts of Yorubaland. His wife and her maids spent all day cooking and receiving visitors.... on 6th June, large indiegenes from owode (Egbaland) visited him, led by AG chairman, Chief Lajiga,,,, they came in four lorries with women and children.

A Quote from the Sage’s journal regarding the visits:’ my wife did not tire of feeding large numbers of people everyday at Ikene…. We attributed to God our source of energy to cope with the extraordinary situation. There were days when the last groups of visitors did not leave until about eleven pm because they arrived at Ikenne late.. eveyr night, before going to bed, my wife and her friends along with her sister, Alhaja Awofeso, spent a lot of time to prepare for feeding people the next day.’…In one situation.. after they had retired to sleep a large group of bursts arrives at 2am in the dead of the night…. They came from Igbogbo at Ikorodu and har journed all night to tger there. The lorry had women and children as well. They reported how they ahd a flat tires… got stocked in the mud but still determined to make it to Ikenne to see the sage. Once again, his wife set to the kitchen with her friends to prepare them meals ( with the help of some women that came in the entourage)
These constant visits day and night got to the new protégé of Balewa appointed as administrator of the western region. The greatest shock was that large factions from various divisions at Oyo visited him at Ikene, this had surprised his enemies who had thought people of Oyo would side with Akintola.it became a thing of fashion for anyone who could boast of having visited Awolowo at Ikenne and people trooped to private houses of such people to hear what speech the Sage made during the visit. This greatly worried Akintola and Balewa and Akintola suggested that Awolowo needed to be put in house arrest in a more remote place where people of Yorubaland could not easily reach him.

The Sadaurna wanted Awolowo brought to Kaduna or Jos…. This would take him away from his people and placed him better under watch. However, Awolowo was very popular among Hausa people and in the Middlebelt, the Middlebelt people’s party and the middle belt congress were great coaltion partners with Awolowo.. their leutenants…. David Lot and Joseph Tarka were coaltion parties of AG and great armires of Awolowo…. The fear remained that if Awolowo was brought to Kaduna…. These people would visit him from different parts of the middle belt just as Yoruba people visited him at Ikenne and it could cost more harm than good… the decision then was to put him in a place not easily navigable and that was how the decision was made to send him to lekki.

At the time in the early 60’s, there was no navigable routes to Lekki. It was mostly swampy, filled with mosquitoes, always flooded in the rainy seasons and with very harsh terrains.… you could only get there by boats and took more determination to make such trips. Above all, as at the time, there was no electricity at Lekki. It was more or less a minor fishing village. The new edict to send him into exile at Lekki came on June 19, 1962.

They got the Lekki on 20th June, 1962…. When he first arrived, he was demoralized at the house he was forced to live in exile…. His wife and her friends however set to work to make it comfortable… they called on villagers and paid them to make a makeshift kitchen and shelters…. Her resilenece gave him some morale (little wonder he loved her so much…. how many ajebutter wives of today will follow their husbands to a makeshift mosquito infested remote island where theyc ant flaunt their Gucci bags in church on Sunday)… The next day, Awolowo bought a speedboat from Epe boat yard to run errands and bring provisions from the mainland.

Once again, the people got to know where he was and they came in droves to the remote island to see him….. thousands of people crossed the harsh terrains to visit him and once again his wive and her friends set to work to entertain them…. Awolowo constantly worried about news of boat visiting him capsizing and was grateful that no such casualty happened….. he mentioned a particular visit led by Chief Osibodu…. A prominent citizen of Ilishan he came along with his wives ( one of them had a nursing baby). After his entourage left…. There was a big rain and thunderstorm… he got worried about his safety at sea…. In the morning… he asked his PA ( names Biodun)… greatly overjoyed when Biodun came back and told him he was save at Ibadan. It was during his sojourn at Lekki that many of his friends deserted him and his party…. One of them ( which was most shocking to him) was Rotimi Williams….. it was believed this was one of the reasons he refused to be a part of the constitutional committee for the 1979 constitution because Rotimi Williams was the chairman. Another painful resignation to him was Chief Yemi Lawson.

When news got once again to Akintola and Lagos that the harsh terrains of Lekki did not stop daily influx of well-wishers, Akintola pressured the federal government that a much stronger accusation needs to be levelled against Awolowo… this would justify a stricter restriction against him….. Balewa decided to bring him to Lagos and set up a panel to prosecute him for corruption…..order was given to him on 18th July of 1962 to be moved to Lagos and restricted to Lagos Island….. in the intial order, he was restricted to the Island and allowed to move around freely within the radius…. Akintola once again was against this…. He told Balewa rhat it was dangerous to give Awolow such freedom. According to him, the federal government might as well pack their bags and leave Lagos before Awolowo’s arrival…..

As his entourage entered Lagos, from Shagamu, a Large crowd fileld the streets.. all the way to his destination at 7 Bell street at Ikoyi… large crowds fileld the streets and were filled with ectasy as his motorcade passed. …. Awolowo wrote in his journal that 22nd July was his triumphant entry into Lagos… the reception was huge beyond any he had imagined and the excitement as he passed was unprecedented enthusiasm.

At this point, Akintola, determined to get rid of Awolowo… even at the cost of his life…. Decided that he would find a more permanent means of getting Awolowo out of the way…. And this was how the conspiracy story of a coup from him built up.

make I Sidon 4 here

OP,if you know that what you're saying here is correct,pls carry on,but if otherwise,then pls desist.Shalom!

@FEMMYOJE, PLEASE HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU.