In 1964, Chief Hubert Ogunde wrote and staged Yoruba Ronu, igniting one of the most defining confrontations between art and politics in post-independence Nigeria. A searing allegory about betrayal and division, the play mirrored the turbulence of the Western Region’s political crisis, and was swiftly banned by the government of Chief S. L. Akintola. Two years later, under the new military administration of Lt-Col. Francis Adekunle Fajuyi, the ban was lifted, restoring Ogunde’s right to perform and signalling a renewed respect for artistic freedom.
Yet the story did not end there. Among Nigeria’s most circulated cultural images is a photograph said to show Ogunde and Chief Obafemi Awolowo shaking hands after a “command performance” of Yoruba Ronu in Ibadan in 1966. The picture has come to symbolise reconciliation between artist and statesman, though historians caution that no primary record yet confirms the event.
This article examines both the documented facts and the legend that grew around them, tracing how Yoruba Ronu reshaped the dialogue between theatre, politics, and public conscience in the Western Region.
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The Play and Its Politics (1964)
Yoruba Ronu (“Yorubas, Think!”) was written and first performed by Chief Hubert Ogunde in 1964. The play was an allegorical political satire, a moral fable about betrayal, leadership, and civic responsibility. Its central conflict between a ruler and his disloyal deputy mirrored the Western Region political crisis that split the Action Group party into factions loyal to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola.
Although Ogunde used symbolic and traditional dramatic forms, audiences and political observers of the time immediately recognised its references to contemporary events. The play’s call for Yoruba unity, and its implicit criticism of internal division, made it one of the most politically charged works of post-independence Nigerian theatre.
Yoruba Ronu became one of the first Nigerian plays to face official censorship. The Western Region government interpreted the production as a political attack, and in 1964 Ogunde’s theatre company was banned from performing publicly within the Region.
This act of censorship, coming barely four years after Nigeria’s independence, signalled a defining moment in the tension between artistic freedom and state power.
The Ban and Its Revocation (1964–1966)
The ban on Ogunde’s troupe was imposed under Premier S. L. Akintola’s administration in 1964. It effectively excluded the Ogunde Theatre from performing anywhere in the Western Region.
Historical summaries agree that the ban remained in force until the aftermath of Nigeria’s January 1966 military coup, when Lt-Col. Francis Adekunle Fajuyi, the new Military Governor of the Western Region, lifted the restriction. According to biographical sources such as the ZODML archive, the formal revocation occurred on 4 February 1966.
This administrative act went beyond bureaucratic correction; it was interpreted by many as a symbolic reconciliation between political authority and cultural expression. For Ogunde, it marked a restoration of legitimacy and artistic freedom.
Cultural Role of Ogunde After the Ban
Following the lifting of the ban, Ogunde rapidly regained national prominence. His troupe resumed touring major cities, performing plays that combined traditional Yoruba performance forms, choral music, and moral allegory with modern political commentary.
By the mid-1960s, his stature as a national artist had been re-established. In 1967, Ogunde was selected to represent Nigeria at the World Exposition (Expo 67) in Montreal, a testament to his restored reputation and to the recognition of theatre as a medium of national identity.
His later productions, Aiye, Ayanmo, Aropin n’Tenia, among others, continued to explore ethical and political themes. Ogunde’s enduring achievement was his synthesis of indigenous Yoruba drama and contemporary social critique, establishing him as the father of modern Nigerian theatre.
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Obafemi Awolowo: Statesmanship and Symbolism
Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909–1987) stands as one of Nigeria’s most influential twentieth-century statesmen. As Premier of the Western Region (1954–1959), his government introduced free primary education (1955) and founded Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) in 1959, the first television service in Africa.
Awolowo’s subsequent political career was turbulent: he was convicted on treason charges in 1963, imprisoned, and later released following the 1966 coup. By late 1966, he had re-emerged as a respected national figure whose political legacy and moral authority remained powerful.
Any symbolic reunion between Awolowo and Ogunde, whose 1964 play was once seen as a satire of the political rupture that divided their region, would therefore have carried profound public resonance.
The 1966 Encounter
A widely circulated photograph, reproduced on cultural websites and social media pages, depicts Chief Hubert Ogunde and Chief Obafemi Awolowo shaking hands after what is described as a “command performance” of Yoruba Ronu at the British Council Hall, Ibadan, on 28 September 1966.
These captions appear consistently in later museum and digital archives, including the Ogunde Museum Online Gallery, and in multiple cultural posts and reproductions. However, no contemporaneous evidence, such as 1966 press reports, official British Council programmes, or Western Region records, has been located to verify the event.
Thus, while a meeting between the two men in 1966 is plausible, the specific photograph and date must be treated as unverified secondary claims. They represent collective memory and cultural storytelling, not an authenticated archival record.
Interpretation Within Evidentiary Limits
Yoruba Ronu was written and performed in 1964 and was interpreted as political commentary on Western Region divisions.
The play was banned that same year by the S. L. Akintola government, a notable instance of early post-independence censorship.
The ban was formally lifted on 4 February 1966 by Lt-Col. F. A. Fajuyi, enabling Ogunde to resume public performances.
Ogunde subsequently represented Nigeria internationally and remained a leading national cultural figure.
Conversely, the oft-repeated narrative of a “historic handshake” at the British Council Hall on 28 September 1966 remains unverified by primary sources and should be cited only as a popular but unconfirmed account.
Author’s Note
Hubert Ogunde’s Yoruba Ronu endures as a pivotal work in Nigerian theatre, a bold artistic intervention that exposed the fault lines between politics, morality, and public conscience. Its 1964 ban and 1966 reinstatement captured the fragile balance between cultural freedom and political authority in post-independence Nigeria. Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s political stature and Ogunde’s artistic influence made any reconciliation between them deeply symbolic of the Western Region’s divided past and its search for unity. Yet, while the 1966 handshake has become part of Nigeria’s cultural memory, it remains a story without primary documentation.
References:
ZODML, “Hubert Ogunde: Biography and Theatre Contributions.”
The Nation (Nigeria), “A Parable of the West.”
The Guardian (Nigeria), “Ogunde’s Message on Bribery and Corruption.”
Ogunde Museum Online Gallery (secondary visual source).
Facebook Cultural Archives (secondary image reproductions).
