PS. This post, published in May 2020, turned out to be my most read medium story, and I still get notified of readers that check it daily. I want to repost it here, with one or two edits.
Two-paragraph context.
Obafemi Awolowo and Ladoke Akintola were two of Yoruba, Western Nigeria’s prominent politicians of the nationalist and first-era post-Independence periods, circa 1940s to 1966. Awolowo’s prominence lasted up till his death in 1987, so he had more political mileage than Akintola that got killed at the end of that period.
Few years before Nigeria’s Independence in 1960 and until 1966, Nigeria had regions as subnational political and administrative divisions. One of those regions was the Western region, majority populated by the Yoruba ethnic group. Awolowo happened to be first premier of the Western region as his party (Action Group, AG) had majority of the seats in the regional parliament. Akintola would become his deputy and successor when Awolowo moved up to the central government to be opposition leader. Awolowo remained the leader of AG; Akintola, the deputy leader, but premier of the region the party ruled.
So what was the fight about and how did they get themselves in the moon?
Both men fell out in the course of their respective stints as leaders of AG and premiers of Western region. History says both men had differing views about how the politics of the region should run, especially in respect to political alignments with other equally largely ethnic parties that ruled other regions, but had to be contended with in the political calculations of the Nigerian central government based in Lagos. We learned that Akintola wanted to align with the party that had the bigger stakes in the central government, Northern People’s Congress (NPC). Awolowo had other ideas.
Things got to a head when Akintola was suspended from the party through the machinations and influence of his boss, who obviously was more popular within their party. Akintola was also momentarily removed as premier, but he got his post back with the help of his central government allies. Akintola soon broke away from the AG, and formed his own party which would win a controversial regional election in the year 1965.
In the heat of the political imbroglio which birthed the notorious operation wetie (operation wet it) in which a lot of arson was committed by supporters of both politicians, there arose different urban legends about Awolowo and Akintola and how they were trying to outdo each other, even with the help of the extraterrestrials, in the supremacy battle.
One of such legends was the moon battle.
Because it appeared that two people were interlocked in the moon crescent, some people (most of them now parents, grandparents and great grandparents) ascribed the presumed two figures to be Awolowo and Akintola. It was said that both men had travelled there to combat each other. The legend definitely resonated with a lot of people in Southwest, many of whom were in awe of the larger-than-life postures of the two Yoruba political leaders. And curiously they passed on this incredible legend to generations after them.
What other urban legends or myths do you know about?
Tobi Idowu 