Joseph Inaolaji Äjala”Popoola was born in 1920 to Pa Emmanuel Alao Popoola and Madam Idowu Abeke Popoola of Kuti Compound, Ilora. His father, Emanuel, was a local farmer who had been converted to Christianity in an era when European and American missionaries and colonialists were established in Nigeria in the post-First World War phase of the great scramble for Africa. As the first child of his parents, Joseph picked up leadership skills in life early as he helped his father in the farm and helped to take care of his younger siblings and cousins.

At a time when many children worked full time in the farm with their parents and did not go to school, Joseph started primary school at the First Baptist Day School, Ilora, and finished at First Baptist Day School, Awe. The practice in those days was to go through middle school in Ilora and then finish at Awe at a senior school approved for the Standard Six Leaving Certificate Examination.

In 1940,, motivated by his quest for higher learning, Joseph enrolled at the Iwo Baptist College, one of the most prestigious teacher training colleges in Nigeria at the time. He graduated in 1943, and was immediately posted to First Baptist Day School, Ara as the headmaster. Following the death of his beloved mother in 1944, Joseph transferred back to Ilora to be closer to his family. Shortly after returning to Ilora, Joseph met Grace Ebun Akinrinola, a young, athletic school teacher that would later become his wife. In December 1948, he married Grace and in the following year, the two had their first child, Oladapo.

Shortly after the Second World War, Britain began to loosen its colonial grip and world dominance. In anticipation of Nigeria’s inevitable independence, Britain helped establish the University College Ibadan, the first great institution of higher learning in Nigeria. In 1948, Joseph promptly applied to the newly established institution and was among the first set of students admitted to the University. Upon graduating from the institution, he was employed as a senior tutor at the Baptist Boys’ High School, Oyo (now Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo). Joseph and Grace also continued to raise their family during this period, and in the early to mid-1950s had their second and third children, Arinola and Adetayo.

But raising a family would not stop Joseph from pursuing higher learning. In 1956, Joseph travelled to England and enrolled at the University of Southampton for further studies. Shortly after, Grace went to join him and to pursue her own quest for higher learning leaving their then three children in Nigeria with relatives. After successfully finishing their studies in England, Joseph and Grace returned to Nigeria in 1959. Upon their return from the white man’s land, the Ilora town people planned and executed a heroic welcome for their son and daughter, complete with talking drums, singing and a 21-gun salute. It was one of the family’s proudest moments.

Joseph and Grace’s returned from England coincided with the period when British colonial rule was waning and independence movements were prominent in several colonies, including Nigeria. Joseph and Grace came back ready and well equipped for nation building. In 1959, upon his return, Joseph took up a teaching appointment at Baptist Boys’ High School, Oyo as a senior teacher. After teaching at the school for a few years, Joseph started working with other Ilora leaders to establish a secondary school in the town. At the time, there was no secondary school in Ilora and anyone wishing to pursue higher education beyond primary school had to travel, sometimes on foot, to other towns near and far. The Wester Region government approved the secondary school, and in January 1963, Ilora Grammar School was founded and Joseph became its first principal.

Ilora Grammar School had a very humble beginning. Its initial classrooms were borrowed, first from First Baptist Day School not too far from its present location, and thereafter from the then Modern School across the town. Its entire staff consisted of Joseph and Grace as the only two teachers, a bursar, a Clark typist and a gardener. But notwithstanding its humble beginning, Ilora Grammar School, under the tutelage and leadership of Joseph, was a rising star in the Western Region. In 1967, the first graduating class of the school attained 100% passage in the national high school certificate examination, the only high school with a perfect passage rate in the district.

In the mid to late 1960’s, Joseph and Grace would be blessed with two more children, Adewale and Oluwatoyin. In 1973, the then Baale of Ilora, Chief Oparinde awarded the chieftaincy title of Balogun of Ilora to Joseph in recognition of his immense contribution to the town.

Joseph served as principal of the high schools in Oyo State including Iseyin Grammar School, Fiditi Grammar School and Olivet Baptist High School from where he retired as principal in 1982. He served as President of the Oyo State Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools and later as President of the Association of the National Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools.

Joseph was very socially and professionally active in the community. He was the church organist at Okediji Memorial Baptist Church for several years. He is survived by five children and nine grandchildren.