ADVENT OF NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS II: Obafemi Awolowo and the Tribune


Nigeria Independence was made possible by nationalism. One of the men who fought seriously for the liberation of Nigeria from colonial influence and domination was Obafemi Awolowo. Though a lawyer politician, he made extensive use of the media to reposition the Western Nigeria.

While Azikiwe dominated the Eastern press landscape, nationalist journalism in Western Nigeria found its champion in Obafemi Awolowo. In 1949, Awolowo established the Nigerian Tribune in Ibadan.


Awolowo became the first premier of Western Nigeria in 1954 and, later, leader of opposition in the federal parliament. Chief Awolowo was the proprietor of the Nigerian Tribune, a newspaper, which became an important media organ of his political party. 

This newspaper belonged to the Action Group party of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He was also the proprietor of the newspaper. He launched the newspaper on November 1949, through its publisher, the African Press Limited. The vernacular associate of the paper, Iwe Irohin Yoruba had been earlier set up in 1945 through the efforts of Awolowo’s deputy in the Action Group party founded in 1951. 

Awolowo and the Media

Awolowo’s greatest contribution to Nigeria media history was in 1959 when he established the Western Nigerian Broadcasting Service (WNBS) in Ibadan. The WNBS provided radio and televisionbroadcasting services. Chief Awolowo launched the first television station in Nigeria and indeed, the African continent, the Western Nigerian Television (WNTV) at Ibadan.

The station with the call signal, “WNTV, first in Africa” laid the pioneering foundation of television broadcasting in Nigeria. The WNTV, Ibadan, (new NTA, Ibadan) was commissioned by Chief Awolowo himself on 31 October, 1959. Awolowo who also featured prominently in the second Republic as leader of the Unity party of Nigeria died in 1987. 

 The Role of the Nigerian Tribune

The Nigerian Tribune aimed at adopting the stance of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s West African Pilot, which served the NNDP, NYM and Zik’s NCNC. In 1962, the crisis in the Action Group Party resulted in the party’s fractionalisation into two. Akintola, then premier of Western Nigeria whose faction was in power set up a pro-government newspaper, Daily sketch in 1964.

The Nigerian Tribune saw itself as rival to Dr. Azikiwe’s West African Pilot and its chain of newspapers, thereby polarizing the rivalry between the two Journalist leaders. The Tribune, as it is now called, is still a strong Ibadan-based national daily.

CONCLUSION 

Like the West African Pilot, the Nigerian Tribune became a political instrument this time aligned with the Action Group. Awolowo used the newspaper to articulate federalism, free education and regional development policies. The rivalry between Zik’s press empire and Awolowo’s Tribune reflected the broader ideological competition shaping Nigeria’s pre-independence politics.

However, both newspapers shared a common purpose: resisting colonial domination and mobilising citizens toward self-rule. If the Pilot was a torch lighting nationalist pathways in the East, the Tribune was a drumbeat rallying the West. Together, they institutionalised the Nigerian press as a central actor in political transformation.

The contributions of Obafemi Awolowo to the media history cannot be easily swept under the carpet. The solid foundation he laid for the Western Nigerian Television reflects in the Nigeria. This may also explain why the Tribune still hits the newspaper stand today. 

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