Michael Otedola
Michael Agbolade Otedola KSS was a Nigerian politician who served as governor of [Lagos State] during the Nigerian Third Republic.
He was born on the 16 July 1926 into a Muslim family at Odoragunsin, Epe Local Government Area of Lagos State. He died on 5 May 2014 at his residence in his home town of Epe, Lagos.
Early life
After moving to Lagos to pursue his education he won a scholarship to study Journalism at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London where he graduated in 1958.He began his career as a teacher before working as a reporter at the St. Pancras Chronicle, then as a reporter and later sub-editor at The Guardian and The Times in England.
Politics
On his return to Nigeria in 1959 he became an Information Officer in the Western Nigeria government, and while in this post he was appointed the Editor of the Western Nigeria Illustrated.In 1961 he moved into public relations, working for Western Nigeria Television/Western Broadcasting Service and Mobil Oil Group of Companies, continuing as a consultant to Mobil after leaving the company.
He was elected governor of Lagos State from 1992 to 1993 on the platform of the National Republican Convention, leaving office when General Sani Abacha came to power.
His administration facilitated establishing the Yaba College of Technology campus in Epe, his home town.
After leaving office, he continued his career as a writer, a consultant holding positions on the boards of various businesses, and a philanthropist.
In February 2010 ThisDay newspaper announced that he was among 15 eminent Nigerians who had won Lifetime Achievement Awards.
His son Femi Otedola became the billionaire owner of Nigerian oil giant Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited.
The Michael Otedola College of Primary Education was named after him after his demise.
As a former governor of Lagos State from 1992 to 1993 elected on the platform of the National Republican Convention, he is a successor of TOS Benson as a political opponent to the AG/ACN political movment to have been honored by an shared Eyo Festival the 27th dec. 2025.
He was one of the four famous Yoruba Lagosians to be honored by this EYO FESTIVAL for his short length involvement in Lagos Developtmnt as a governor. He is though an outsider among the past honored celebrities because his family was not originally from Lagos Island but from Epe Division. But it was the first time a non-Eko indigene and a political opponent to the AG/ACN movement was honored. In 2017, the Saros Lagosian TOS Benson former NCNC Federal ministry and opponent to O. Awolowo was already given an Eyo Festival. In 2025, it is a new opportunity after 8 years without Eyo Festival, for the ACN governor to bring all Lagosians together in the building of a Lagostatism identity, broader than an eko-yoruba identity only relevant for the ancient Eyo Festival before 1956 and politically relevant for the whole Lagos State from Badagry to Epe including Ikorodu ; the incubent Governor Sanwo-Olu and his godfather B. Tinubu want to build a new pan-Lagosian yoruba identity made of citizens from all political background to p^repare the next election to avoid a non Yoruba like Peter Obi duplicate his score of the last presidential first round election when he came first in the pools before the son of the state B. Tinubu. This political use of the Eyo Festival started with the Eyo for the NCNC TOS Benson, saros and anti-Awolowo policy and continue now with an NRC governor and the former first governor of Lagos State, Mobolaji Olufunsho Johnson.