In post-war politics the conservative People's Union was not a serious competitor to the more radical Nigerian National Democratic Party.
[2] Randle's birthplace of Regent, Sierra Leone was a settlement of liberated slaves from various parts of West Africa and as far afield as Mozambique.
He was angry that as an African he was given about half the salary of a European with the same training, and that he was being required to serve as a doctor in locations far from Lagos.
[3] Randle was dismissed from the service in September 1893 for his persistent refusal to make tours of duty to the British military outpost at Ijebu Ode.
[4] Randle acquired large landholdings in Lagos and a significant shareholding in the Bank of British West Africa.
[6] In 1890 Randle was a member of a committee that invited the pan-Africanist educator, journalist and politician Edward Wilmot Blyden to Lagos to support them in their dispute over the Niger Mission, where most African ministers had recently been suspended on openly racist grounds.
[7] On 2 January 1891, at a meeting attended by Governor Cornelius Alfred Moloney, Blyden proposed an independent African Church with Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther as its head.
[4] In 1908 Randle and Dr. Orisadipe Obasa founded the People's Union, open to Lagos residents of all religious and ethnic backgrounds.
In 1911 People's Union members toured Yorubaland to agitate against the proposal by Governor Frederick Lugard to declare all land to be the property of the government.
[14] Before World War I (1914–18) Randle was approached by Richard Akinwande Savage and Casely Hayford about holding a West African conference.
In 1915 Lugard again tried to introduce the Water Rate in Lagos, and accused the People's Union of sedition and of "threats of agitation.
"[14] The Chief Imam (Lemomu) of Lagos supported the water rate, as did Alli Balogun, a wealthy Muslim who was associated with Randle.
[15] The Pan-African conference was held in Accra in 1920 and launched the National Council of British West Africa (NCBWA).
[15] Herbert Macaulay founded the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) in 1922 with the support of leading nationalists such as John Payne Jackson.
Although the People's Union favored gradual introduction of reforms while the NNDP was radical, both drew their membership from the Lagos elite.