Theophilus Owolabi Shobowale Benson and the Making of Modern Nigeria

Theophilus Owolabi Shobowale Benson, popularly known as TOS Benson, a prince from the Lasunwon Royal Family of Ikorodu, was one of the architects of modern Nigeria. A spirited nationalist, a pan–Nigerian nation builder, an inveterate antagonist of ethnic jingoism and a relentless crusader for the under–dog and the less privileged; TOS Benson made imperishable contributions to the growth and development of Nigerian politics and judiciary (law). This paper assesses the contribution of TOS Benson to the making of the Nigerian state right from September 1947 when he returned to the country from London where he had gone to read law. It points out that TOS Benson was a solid political bridgehead that held the ethnic groups in the country together and that, at the risk of incarceration and other forms of intimidation and harassment, he stood up against the colonial administration and certain policies and antics of the military junta following the incursion of the military into Nigerian politics. The paper concludes that the history of the making of modern Nigeria that does not give a prime of place to the contribution of TOS Benson will be riddled with noticeable gaps and embarrassing vacuum and that his sharing the February 13 death–date with General Murtala Ramat Mohammed – who, but for B.S. Dimka’s bullets, could have been Nigeria’s renaissance – is probably not a mere coincidence of history but a testimony of his imperishable contribution to the making of Nigeria.