James Ajibola Idowu Adegoke Ige was born in Esa Oke, Osun State in the South Western part of Nigeria on 13 September 1930.

[5][6] Uncommonly, Ige spoke all the three major Nigerian languages, Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa fluently.

[9] Ige was a Commissioner for Agriculture in the now-defunct Western Region of Nigeria (1967–70) under the military government of General Yakubu Gowon.

[8] In the early 1970s, during the first period of military rule, he devoted his time to the anti-racism campaign of the World Council of Churches.

[3] Towards the end of the 1970s he joined the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), the successor to the Action Group.

However, Olunloyo lost the seat three months later to a coup staged by Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon.

Although critical of the military rule of General Sani Abacha, Ige avoided political difficulties during this period.

[11] He was not able to make significant improvements to service provided by the monopolistic National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).

[1] The government of President Olusegun Obasanjo deployed troops in south-western Nigeria to try to prevent a violent reaction to the murder.