Isaac Babalola Akinyele

Isaac Babalola Akinyele, KBE (18 April 1882 – 30 May 1964) was the first educated Olubadan (non-hereditary traditional ruler) of Ibadan, and the second Christian to ascend the throne.

Bolude, a pagan Ibadan warrior and herbalist of repute in the years of Ibadan militocracy, had Josiah Akinyele as his first son. Josiah was one of the early converts under the auspices of David Hinderer, the German leader of the Church Mission Society (CMS) and his team of six missionaries that first brought Christianity to Ibadan in 1851. Josiah Akinyele took Abigail Lapeno, the daughter of Kukomi, another powerful Ibadan pagan warrior, who also was converted to Christianity through Hinderer; as his second wife in 1870. In 1875, she gave birth to her first son; Alexander Babatunde Akinyele, the first Anglican Diocesan Bishop of Ibadan. Several years later on 18 April 1882, she gave birth to the second son, Isaac Babalola Akinyele.

He followed in his brother's footsteps and excelled academically. With the example of the Akinyele brothers, Ibadan people started to take the issue of the education seriously to the extent that in 1910, a proclamation was made by the ruler; that made it compulsory for every household to send at least one child to school or pay a fine of five pounds. Since the Pax Britannica of 1893, the Ibadan had started to settle down to civil life occasioning cocoa farming; introduced by the CMS around 1890, and other agricultural and business enterprises. Isaac Akinyele worked for a time as a civil servant, entering government services in the junior ranks to which Nigerians were confined in those days, becoming a customs inspector for the Ibadan District Council in 1903. He rose through the ranks, later becoming chief judge of the native court. He was also a very successful entrepreneur; establishing cocoa plantations throughout Ibadan and its environs.

...
Wikipedia