T.O.S. Benson

T. O. S. Benson
Benson in Berlin on 21 June 1963
Born	Theophilus Owolabi Shobowale Benson (1917-07-23)23 July 1917 Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria
Died	12 February 2008(2008-02-12) (aged 90) Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria
Nationality	Nigerian
Occupation	Lawyer
Known for	Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Culture

Theophilus Owolabi Shobowale Benson (23 July 1917 – 13 February 2008), commonly known as "TOS" Benson, was a Nigerian lawyer who became one of the most prominent Yoruba politicians in the period leading up to Nigerian independence in 1960. He served as the Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Culture in the first post-independence government. Benson was imprisoned for several months after the first military coup of 1966. He returned to practice as a barrister, and was recognised as a prominent Yoruba chief.

Theophilus Owolabi Shobowale Benson was born on 23 July 1917 in Ikorodu, Lagos. He was of Yoruba origin. His younger brother was the future musician Bobby Benson. He attended the CMS Grammar School, Lagos. When he was 20 he joined the customs service. In 1943 he moved to London, where he studied law at Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar in 1947. That year he returned to Nigeria and joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). He supported his younger brother, Bobby, who was running a touring theatrical group. He thought the group should have an orchestra, and in 1948 bought the band-set popularly called the "Jam-Session Orchestra".

In 1950 Benson was elected to the Lagos Town Council, and later became the Deputy Mayor of Lagos. Benson owed his political success to the support of the cosmopolitan electorate of Lagos. Benson's Lagos constituency was one in which Ibos formed the largest ethnic group, but in the pre-independence period he won election easily despite being Yoruba since the NCNC was broadly supported. In the 1951 election Benson was chosen as one of the NCNC candidates for the five Lagos seats in the Western House of Assembly, the others being Nnamdi Azikiwe, Adeleke Adedoyin, A. B. Olorunnimbe and the trade unionist H. P. Adebola. The five candidates easily defeated their opponents from the Action Group. Benson became a national officer in the NCNC.

Benson was a participant in the constitutional conferences in London in 1953, 1957, 1958 and 1960 that led up to Nigeria's independence in 1960. He was elected to various positions on the NCNC platform between 1950 and 1959. In 1954–55 Benson was chairman of the Western Regional Organization Committee. In May 1957 he was National Financial Secretary of the NCNC. He accompanied Nnamdi Azikiwe, Premier of Eastern Nigeria and President of the NCNC, to London for the Nigeria Constitutional Conference at Lancaster House. In 1958 he was National Financial Secretary and a member of the NCNC Strategic Committee. He was also NCNC Chief Whip in the House of Representatives and Chairman of the Lagos branch. In 1959 he was Chairman of the Western Working Committee, having been elected to replace Salami Agbaje, and mediated in a dispute between the factions of Adeoye Adisa and Agbaje in the NCNC. He mostly ruled in favour of the Agbaje faction, resulting in the Adisa faction leaving the NCNC and contesting the elections independently.