Chief Olabode Akanbi Thomas was a\u00a0Nigerian\u00a0lawyer, politician, statesman and traditional aristocrat. He was born in October 1919 to the family of Andrew Thomas, a wealthy trader and auctioneer who was originally from\u00a0Oyo\u00a0but migrated to Lagos. He attended\u00a0C.M.S. Grammar School. After completing his studies, he served as a junior clerk at the\u00a0Nigerian Railway Corporation\u00a0but towards the end of the year, he resigned his appointment and went to\u00a0London\u00a0to study law. He was called to the bar in 1942 and returned to Nigeria to establish what became a successful practice in Lagos.<\/p>\n
In 1948, together with Chief\u00a0Frederick Rotimi Williams and Chief\u00a0Remilekun Fani-Kayode\u00a0he set up the first indigenous Nigerian law firm, called “Thomas, Williams and Kayode”. Thomas served with distinction as both a colonial minister of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria and a\u00a0nobleman\u00a0and\u00a0privy counsellor\u00a0of the historic\u00a0Oyo\u00a0clan of Yorubaland at a time when his native country was just beginning the journey to its independence in the 1960s. He was Nigeria’s first Minister of Transportation.<\/p>\n
In 1946, he became the legal adviser of\u00a0Egbe Omo Oduduwa\u00a0and was one of the founding members of the\u00a0Action Group. Prior to joining Action Group, he was a successful\u00a0Lagos\u00a0lawyer\u00a0and was a member of the\u00a0Nigerian Youth Movement. He is credited as the first prominent Nigerian political elite during the\u00a0colonial\u00a0era to make strong interpretation for regional-based\u00a0political parties, which, he believed the parties will be equipped with the necessary knowledge to develop their regions and also forming a coalition at the center. He was also a leading advocate for the bringing of\u00a0tribal chiefs\u00a0and\u00a0kings\u00a0into the expanding fold of the Action Group.\u00a0To this policy, he undoubtedly gave much of his own experience as the Balogun of Oyo, a title he received in 1949.\u00a0The strategy later proved to be a potent framework for mass mobilization in some towns. The\u00a0Oloyes\u00a0Thomas and\u00a0Awolowo\u00a0sometimes had rival political thoughts, many of which were never settled before his death. Most of his ideas on regional parties which ended up becoming approximated with the early self-government political structure were never fully reconciled with Awolowo’s ideas, which were based on\u00a0federalism.<\/p>\n
In 1951, Thomas represented the\u00a0Western region\u00a0as Minister of Transport under the Mcpherson Constitution and an advocate for self-governance in Nigeria by 1956, he resigned from the portfolio during a constitutional crisis in March, 1953. He later became Minister of Works after a Constitutional Conference in London.<\/p>\n
Thomas was regarded as a brilliant but very arrogant man who had strained relationships with some of the local leaders like\u00a0Ahmadu Bello and Alaafin Aderemi II. He was said to have been rude to the\u00a0Alaafin\u00a0at an Oyo Divisional Council meeting because the Alaafin did not stand up in reverence to him (he was the chairman of the council while the Alaafin was a member).<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Oloye\u00a0Thomas married Lucretia Shobola Odunsi. Among his children are Eniola and Dapo. He was chancellor of the African Church of Nigeria and was an editorial board member of the Daily Service. He was sometimes outspoken and this made him incur enemies.<\/p>\n
On November 22, after returning from Oyo, Thomas became ill at his\u00a0Yaba, Lagos\u00a0home, he was later taken to Ijebu-Igbo for further treatment. He died in\u00a0Ijebu-Igbo\u00a0on November 23, 1953 which was his daughter’s second birthday.<\/p>\n