Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

Sunday Afolabi () (1931 – 10 May 2004) was a Nigerian politician who served in the cabinet of President

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo (; ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian former army general, politician and statesman who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 200 ...

as Minister of Internal Affairs from 1999 to 2003. He also served as Minister of Education in the cabinet of President

Shehu Shagari Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari (; 25 February 1925 – 28 December 2018) was a Nigerian politician who was the first democratically elected president of Nigeria, after the transfer of power by Military Head of State of Nigeria, military head of sta ...

from 1982 to 1983. He previously served as deputy governor of Oyo State from 1979 to 1982 under Governor

Bola Ige Chief James Ajibola Idowu Ige ( ; 13 September 1930 – 23 December 2001), popularly known as Bola Ige, was a Nigerian lawyer and politician. He served as Federal Minister of Justice of Nigeria from January 2000 until his assassination in De ...

Background

Sunday Afolabi was born in Iree,

Osun State Osun (; ), is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states for 84 km and for 78 km respectively, to the north by Kwara State for 73 km, to the south by Ogun State for 84 km and to the wes ...

, of Yoruba origin. His traditional titles are Oloye Bada of Ile-Ife and Oloye Asiwaju Apesin of

Oshogbo Osogbo (also known as ''Oṣogbo'', and seldomly as ''Oshogbo'') is a city in Nigeria. It became the capital city of Osun State in 1991. Osogbo city seats the Headquarters of both Osogbo Local Government Area (situated at Oke-Baale Area of th ...

., Afolabi attended Offa Grammar School in Kwara State (1948–1950) and Baptist Boys High School,

Abeokuta Abeokuta is the capital city of Ogun State located at the south western part of Nigeria. It is situated on the east bank of the Ogun River, near a group of rocky outcrops in a wooded savanna; north of Lagos by railway, or by water. , Abeokut ...

(1951–1953). He became an Accounts Clerk at United African Company (1953–1954), then worked at Bank of British West Africa, later called Standard Bank and now

First Bank of Nigeria First Bank of Nigeria is a multinational bank and financial services company with headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. First Bank was founded in 1894 by Sir Alfred Jones and is currently owned by First HoldCo PLC, which in itself has diversified own ...

(1954–1961). He was Chief Accountant at the

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public university located in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Initially founded as the University College Ibadan in 1948, it maintained its affiliation with the University of London. In 1962, it became an independe ...

(1961–1978).

Early political career

Afolabi became a member and leader of the Action Group, Osun Division. In the

Nigerian Second Republic The Second Nigerian Republic was a brief formation of the Nigerian state which succeeded the military governments formed after the overthrow of the first republic. Background Contested elections and political turbulence in the Western region ...

(1979–1983) Afolabi was a member of Chief

Obafemi Awolowo Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo (6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987) was a Nigerian politician who served as the first Premier of the Western region of Nigeria. He was known as one of the key figure towards Nigeria's independence movement from 1957 ...

Unity Party of Nigeria The Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) was a Nigerian political party that was dominant in western Nigeria during the second republic (1978–1983). The party revolved around the political leadership of Obafemi Awolowo, a sometimes polemical politicia ...

(UPN). He served as deputy governor of

Oyo State Oyo is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Its capital is Ibadan, the List of Nigerian cities by population, third most populous city in the country and formerly the second most populous city in Africa. Oyo ...

when

was governor. Later he moved over to the

National Party of Nigeria The National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was the dominant political party in Nigeria during the Second Republic (1979–1983). History Formation The party's beginning could be traced to private and sometimes secret meetings among key Northern Nigeri ...

(NPN), and became Minister of Education in the

government. Afolabi was a member of the defunct

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

in the lead-up to the abortive

Third Nigerian Republic The Third Republic was the planned republican government of Nigeria in 1992 which was to be governed by the Third Republican constitution. In the Third Republic, there were to be state governors, state assemblies, and the National Assembly, a ...

(1989–1993), and the Peoples Democratic Movement led by

Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Shehu Musa Yar'Adua (; 5 March 1943 – 8 December 1997) was a Nigerian general and politician who was the ''de facto'' vice president of Nigeria as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters when Nigeria was under military rule from 1976 to 1979. H ...

. He became a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998 in the lead up to the

Fourth Nigerian Republic The Fourth Republic is the current republican government of Nigeria. Since 1999, it has governed the country according to the fourth republican constitution. Nigeria adopted the constitution of the Fourth Republic on 29 May 1999. Founding Foll ...

Fourth Republic

Afolabi backed

's successful bid for presidency in 1999. He was appointed Minister of the Interior in June 1999. He said he did not beg to serve in the government, but the president voluntarily asked "me to pick any ministry of my choice". However, his appointment may have been because he was one of the few Yoruba supporters of Obasanjo. He worked with Bola Ige to create the pro-Obasanjo Yoruba Council of Elders to support Obasanjo's bid for reelection in 2003. As Minister of Interior, Afolabi reported that the government allocated NGN2.4 billion for prison reforms in 2001. He was strong proponent of the National Identity Card project, to be used for the 2003 Federal and State elections. The

Independent Corrupt Practices Commission The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) is a Nigerian agency that was inaugurated on 29 September 2000 following the recommendation of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The mandate is to receive and investigate ...

(ICPC) arrested Afolabi on 5 December 2003 during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. In December 2003 Afolabi stood trial along with his successor as Internal Affairs minister Mohammed Shata, former Labour Minister Hussaini Akwanga and others on charges that they had sought bribes worth some $2m from the French firm, Sagem in connection with the $214m contract to produce identity cards. He and the other accused were granted bail on 31 December 2003. Afolabi died of a kidney related illness in London in May 2004 at the age of 73. In June 2004, the court dropped all charges against him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afolabi, Sunday 1931 births 2004 deaths Yoruba politicians People from Osun State Unity Party of Nigeria politicians National Party of Nigeria politicians Social Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians Peoples Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians Education ministers of Nigeria Federal ministers of Nigeria