Successor to Abayomi for Lagos; first Ijaw member of the Legislative Council. Editor of the African Messenger.
The Clifford Constitution (1922) replaced Lugard's advisory Nigerian Council with a true Legislative Council of 46 members, including — for the first time anywhere in British West Africa — four elected African seats (three for Lagos, one for Calabar). The Richards (1947), Macpherson (1951) and Lyttleton (1954) constitutions successively expanded suffrage, brought in Northern representatives (1947), introduced regional Houses (1951), and federalised the system (1954) into a Federal House of Representatives plus three Regional Houses.