Oni Akerele

Akerele was born in 1906 in Nigeria. He travelled to London to study medicine and qualified as a surgeon, becoming the first indigenous Nigerian to do so.^[2] His sister, Elizabeth Abimbola Awoliyi, was the first female physician practitioner in Nigeria and the first West African woman to earn a licence of Royal Surgeon in Dublin.^[3]

While living in London, in 1941 Akerele married Dorothy Jackson, who was of African, European and Native American descent, and they set up home in Kilburn, north London.^[4] Their home became a gathering place for prominent African leaders including Nnamdi Azikiwe, who became the first President of Nigeria, and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya.^[5]

In 1945, Akerele was one of the founders of the pan-Yoruba cultural society Egbe Omo Oduduwa in London and served as its first president. Other founding members included Obafemi Awolowo as Secretary, Akintola Williams, Saburi Biobaku and Ayo Rosiji.^[6] The Egbe Omo Oduduwa became a significant force in Yoruba political mobilisation and contributed to the formation of the Action Group political party.

After Nigerian independence in 1960, Akerele returned to Nigeria and became Medical Officer to the Western Region in Ibadan.^[7] During the Nigerian Civil War from 1967 to 1970, the family relocated to Lagos, where he established a private medical practice and clinic.^[8] He died in 1983.

His daughter Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele became a prominent Nigerian politician, serving as Deputy Governor of Lagos State under Governor Bola Tinubu from 1999 to 2002.^[9] His wife Dorothy lived on to the age of 93, dying in April 2007, at which point she was described as the oldest British national resident in Nigeria.^[10]