[4] At a young age, the family moved to Minna and he was briefly educated at a Church Missionary Society school in the city.

[7] In 1945, he opposed the general strike led by Azikiwe's NCNC and Michael Imoudu, earning the distrust of politicians like Chief Anthony Enahoro.

[9] After he was trained as a lawyer in the United Kingdom Ladoke Akintola returned to Nigeria in 1949 and teamed up with other educated Nigerians from the Western Region to form the Action Group (AG) under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

As the deputy leader of the AG party, he did not serve in the Western Region Government headed by the premier Awolowo but was the Action Group Parliamentary Leader/Leader of Opposition in the House of Representatives of Nigeria.

[17] The AG party broke into two factions leading to several crises in the Western Region House of Assembly that led the central/federal government, headed by the prime minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa to declare State of Emergency rule in the region and Chief (Dr.) M.A Majekodunmi, the Federal Minister of Health was appointed as administrator.

[18] Eventually Akintola was restored to power (even though he had lost the legal battle with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, then Nigeria's highest tribunal)[19] as Premier in 1963.

Akintola was assassinated in Ibadan, the capital of Western Region,[20] on the day of Nigeria's first military coup of 15 January 1966—which terminated the First Republic.

While popularly believed, there is no verifiable evidence that Awolowo ever initiated or suggested the establishment of the University of Ife, which was renamed in his honour.

On 16 January 1966 a military coup brought Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi to power, terminating the first period of democratic rule.