Ernest Sissei Ikoli (1893–1960) was a Nigerian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, nationalist and pioneering

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

; he was the first editor of the Daily Times. He was the president of the

Nigerian Youth Movement The Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) was Nigeria's first genuine nationalist organization, founded in Lagos at Stanley Orogun, with Professor Eyo Ita as the founding father and many others, including Samuel Akisanya. Ernest Ikoli, the first editor of t ...

and in 1942, represented Lagos in the Legislative Council.

Early life and career

He was born in Nembe in present-day

Bayelsa State Bayelsa is one of the states in the South-South region of Nigeria, located in the core of the Niger Delta region. Bayelsa State was created in 1996 and was carved out from Rivers State, making it one of the newest states in the federation. Yenag ...

and educated at Bonny Government School, Rivers State and

King's College, Lagos King's College, Lagos (KCL) is a secondary school in Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria. It was founded on 20 September 1909 with 10 students on its original site at Lagos Island, adjacent to Tafawa Balewa Square. The school admits only male students ...

. After completing his studies at King's College, he became a tutor at the school - a post which he left to pursue a career in journalism. He is remembered today as one of the pacesetters of Nigerian journalism and the independence struggle. For a period he worked at the ''Lagos Weekly Record'', a paper that has since disappeared.Toyin Falola, ''The History of Nigeria'', Greenwood Press (30 September 1999). He was the first editor of the ''

Daily Times of Nigeria ''The Daily Times'' is a newspaper with headquarters in Lagos. At its peak, in the 1970s, it was one of the most successful locally owned businesses in Africa. The paper went into decline after it was purchased by the government in 1975. What was ...

'', which was launched in June 1926 with

Adeyemo Alakija Oloye Sir Adeyemo Alakija, (25 May 1884 – 10 May 1952) was a Nigerian lawyer, politician and businessman. He served as a member of the Nigerian legislative council for nine years starting in 1933. In 1942, he became a member of the governor' ...

as chairman of the board. He later became publisher of the now defunct ''African Messenger''. In the 1930s he was one of the founders of the

and was once the movement's president. During this period, the movement was engaged in an intense power struggle with

Herbert Macaulay Olayinka Herbert Samuel Heelas Badmus Macaulay (14 November 1864 – 7 May 1946) was a Nigerian nationalist, politician, surveyor, engineer, architect, journalist, and musician and is considered by many Nigerians as the founder of Nige ...

's NNDP. His tenure in the print media business had a vast impact on Nigeria's road to independence from colonial rule. The media was one of the best ways that Nigerian nationalists could communicate with their colonial rulers at the time.

Nigerian Youth Movement

He started the Nigerian Youth Movement with other prominent Nigerians like Hezekiah Oladipo Davies,

James Churchill Vaughan James Churchill Omosanya Vaughan Jr., M.D. (30 May 1893 – 1937) was a Nigerian doctor and a prominent political activist. Birth and education Vaughan was born in Lagos on 30 May 1893, the son of James Wilson Vaughan, who descended from the 19t ...

and Oba

Samuel Akisanya Samuel Akisanya, (1 August 1898 – January 1985) was a Nigerian trade unionist and nationalist based in Lagos, Nigeria during the colonial era, one of the founders of the Nigerian Youth Movement. He was also the Oba of Isara, an office which ...

(aka General Saki). The movement originally started as the

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

youth movement, it was partly formed to voice concerns about the lackluster

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

policy. The movement was largely Lagos based but as varied members entered the

organization An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

, it metamorphosed to become the Nigerian Youth Movement; a political action group with a

nationalistic Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

flavor and outlook.

Nnamdi Azikiwe Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, (16 November 1904 – 11 May 1996), usually referred to as "Zik", was a Nigerian statesman and political leader who served as the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966. Considered a driving force behind the n ...

,joined the group in 1936. In 1941 Kofo Abayomi, a Lagos leader of the movement, resigned his position at the Legislative Council, forcing a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. A primary election was held among NYM members to select a candidate to contest the seat, in which Samuel Akisanya collated the most votes, with Ikoli in second place. However, with the support of H.O. Davis,

Obafemi Awolowo Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo (; 6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987) was a Yoruba nationalist and Nigerian statesman who played a key role in Nigeria's independence movement (1957-1960). Awolowo founded the Yoruba nationalist group Egbe Om ...

, Akintola and a few others, the party's central

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

, which had the right to review the results, chose him as the movement's candidate. Although Akisanya immediately congratulated him, he later reneged and contested the seat as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate with the support of his primary backer,

, although he lost to Ikoli. The loss of Akisanya in the election led to his exit from the movement, Azikiwe also left the movement, both took away most of their supporters. The resulting

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

is seen by some analysts as a contributing catalyst to the enmity that exist between the

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a ...

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also * ...

, and

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

ethnic groups in the

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

and also as a major focal point of electoral disputes and the ominous role they played in destabilizing the country. Although he lost his seat in another by-election in 1946, the result was overturned following a lawsuit and Ikoli regained his membership of the Legislative Council. He ran in the

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

the following year, but withdrew his candidacy shortly before the elections. In 1951, Ikoli, along with Awolowo and their allies formed the Action Group, which was dedicated to promoting Yoruba interests in the wake of Nigerian Independence. During this time he edited ''The Daily Service '', ''which voiced the party's agenda. This publication had a moderate leftist bent, which proved unpopular for Western readers, and distracted from the nationalistic message that he was trying to pursue.''Toyin Falola and Raphael Chijioke ''Igbo in the Atlantic World: African Origins and Diasporic Destinations'', Indiana University Press, Page 273 While his legacy remains slightly tarnished due to the tribalism that emerged from Nigerian Independence. It is important to note his role in achieving that independence. His vast print media career and political acumen helped transform Nigeria from a British colony, into an independent state.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikoli, Ernest 1893 births 1960 deaths People from Bayelsa State Nigerian Youth Movement politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Nigeria) Nigerian newspaper publishers (people) 19th-century Nigerian people 20th-century Nigerian politicians King's College, Lagos alumni Members of the Legislative Council of Nigeria Nigerian nationalists People of colonial Nigeria