Adunni Oluwole was a prominent Nigerian female leader in the decade prior to independence, who held a unitarist and anti-independence stance. Despite her small stature, she was known for her fearlessness and colorful personality. 

Adunni held the belief that Nigeria was not yet ready to attain independence in 1956, and worked to delay the British departure. 

Born in 1905 into the family of an Ibadan warrior, Adunni’s upbringing was spent with Bishop Howells, the vicar of St. John’s church Aroloya, Lagos. She grew up in Mushin and was regarded as a difficult child.

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As a young girl, she wrote a successful play for the Girl’s Guild of St. John’s Church, which was directed by Nigerian nationalist, Herbert Macaulay. Later, she became the only female founder of a professional theater company in West Nigeria.

During the workers’ general strike of 1945, Adunni mobilized women to support the striking workers and gave money to their union for coping strategies. In the same year, she founded the Nigerian Commoner’s Party, which had a large majority of male members, and won a seat in Ikirun, Osun North of the Western Region in the 1954 House of Representatives regional election. 

She defeated larger parties such as the NCNC and the Action Group of Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, respectively. 

Adunni’s party was opposed to the rapid transfer of power to Nigerians at the price of ‘dictatorship’ of some over others. Her message resonated well among rural people who were already complaining about heavy taxation.

The group came to be known among Yoruba-speaking groups as “Egbe Koyinbo Mailo” or “The White Man Must Not Go”. However, due to inadequate funding after her death, the party did not last long.

On August 25th, 1955, Adunni took her campaign to the palace of the Olubadan, where she was accosted by Ibadan politician, Adelabu Adegoke, who insulted her and threatened her with broomsticks. After her banishment from Ibadan, Adunni took her message to Akure. 

She tied ropes around her waist and had two strong men pull her through the streets, while she made speeches denouncing the Nigerian political class. She claimed they would become cheaters of the common people she represented. Adunni died of whitlow in 1957.

Although Adunni’s stance appeared reactionary at the time, events in Nigeria over the past 60 years have shown the wisdom of her cautionary views against independence.