Tai Solarin

Tai Solarin was born in Ikenne, Ogun State, in Western Nigeria on 20 August 1916, the first child in a set of twins born to Daniel Solarin and Rebecca Okufule Solarin. His twin sister, Caroline Kehinde Solarin died in 1991 at about 69 years. He and his sister were the only children of their parents. He attended Wesley College Ibadan. Solarin was inspired by the writings of Nnamdi Azikiwe who encouraged young people to travel abroad for study. His initial attempt to gain a passport fell through but he later enlisted in the British Air Force and served with the Royal Air Force as a navigator in the Second World War. He remained in Britain, studying at University of Manchester, and then at the University of London. Tai Solarin married English-born Sheila Mary Tuer in 1951. Solarin returned to Nigeria and became a tutor at Molusi College, which was supported by the community and Christians in Ijebu-Igbo. In 1952, he was appointed the school's principal succeeding Stephen Awokoya who had just been appointed the regional Minister for Education. Solarin, a humanist had a mission to 're-educate' the community and decided to make some changes. He removed morning prayers and religious studies as a subject in the school. However, some of the changes found opposition within the local community where his brother was a reverend. He decided to quit and found his own school with the approval of Awokoya the former Principal. He established Mayflower school on 27 January 1956. The Mayflower campus, which he established, is made up of hundreds of hectares of land, based in Tai Solarin's birthplace, Ikenne, Ogun State. Approximately 15,000 students are in attendance. The campus includes classrooms, administration buildings, small houses for many of the teachers, dormitory accommodations for about 5,000 boarders, and a farm. The school is noted for very high academic achievement. Tai Solarin is one of the post-Independence civil rights critics and activists in his native Nigeria; some others were Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (musician) Beko Ransome-Kuti, Wole Soyinka ( Nobel Laureate), Ayodele Awojobi, Dele Giwa, Gani Fawehinmi (lawyer), and Ken Saro-Wiwa. He was an avowed atheist and a socialist. He died of prostate cancer on 27 July 1994 at the age of 77.