Olabode Thomas was a London-trained barrister, a founder of the Action Group, and by 1951 one of the first Nigerians to serve as a central minister. A Surulere street carries his name.
In 1953, as deputy chairman of the Oyo council, he is said to have stayed seated when the Alaafin, Adeyemi II, entered — and to have greeted him in a voice the elders heard as a bark.
He fell ill within days and died at 34. People say he barked until the end. Where he died — Ijebu-Igbo or Lagos — the sources still disagree.
The Alaafin was suspended in 1954. Whether the two are linked is still argued in Oyo today.