29/12/2023
Late Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin, 1st Executive Governor of Ondo State
CHIEF MICHAEL ADEKUNLE AJAS1N, Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR), BA (Durham) Dip. Ed (London), DCL (Sierra Leone) LLD (OSU), LLD (FUTA), Teacher, Headmaster, Principal of Imade College, Owo, Proprietor and Principal of Owo High School, Councilor, Council Chairman. Member of the Federal House of Representatives, Governor of old Ondo State, the Asiwaju of Owo, Leader of the Yorubas, Chairman and Leader of Afenifere, Peoples Consultative Forum and National Democratic Coalition was bom in Owo to Peter and Deborah Ajasin on November 28, 1908. The eldest of five children, two of whom survived him - Mrs Rachael Morenike Ojomo and Mrs Mary Ajibola Aiyegbusi.
Education and Early Life
He attended St. James's School, Owo, St. Paul's (later Oloyede Memorial School) and entered St. Andrew's College, Oyo in 1923. He passed out of the College in December 1927 following a brilliant and enviable record. The CMS authority (who were his sponsor) subsequently posted him first to St. Andrew's School, Warri and later to St. Luke's School, Sapele, where he remained as Headmaster until 1943 when he left for Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone in the heat of the second World War. He graduated in July 1946 and proceeded to the University of London for a Post Graduate Diploma in Education.
He returned to Owo in 1947 to become the Principal of Imade College, (a member of the Aionian Group of Schools) and one of the best schools in Western Nigeria, where he stamped his personality of high discipline, hard work, athletic disposition and academic brilliance on the thousands of pupils who passed through him and who are leaders in the Country today. He founded Owo High School in 1963 and within a short span of time the school has also produced a number of highly placed Nigerians in various spheres of endeavour.
Politics and Public Service
All his life, he was involved in political affairs of the people.