Aare Afe Babalola*
INTRODUCTION
I consider it an exceptionally great honour for me to receive the 2018 Chief Obafemi Awólowo prize for leadership. I thank the Governing Council and Board of Trustees of the Foundation for finding me worthy of this monumental honour, and for the privilege to join the two eminent past recipients of this Award, namely, Professor Wole Soyinka in 2012 and Thabo Mbeki in 2014. It is one of the greatest joys of my life that I am associated with an award named after an accomplished leader of men, iconic pan-Africanist, resolute nationalist, astute administrator, consummate family man, preeminent statesman, bridge builder, revered leader of the Yoruba people, Nigeria’s foremost federalist, one of the greatest African leaders of all time, and an epitome of the good life, Chief Jeremiah Oyeniyi Obafemi Awolowo, GCFR
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v10i1.7
* Text of a keynote lecture delivered on 6 March 2019 by the 2018 Recipient of the prestigious Chief Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership, Aare Afe Babalola, OFR, CON, SAN, LL.D (Lond.), FNAILS, FNSE FCI.Arb, President Emeritus and Founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti.