Reginald Akinlabi
Reginald Akinlabi | |
|---|---|
 Akinlabi in 2020 | |
| President of Tiwura | |
| Assumed office 8th December 2018 | |
| Vice President | Okezie Achebe |
| Preceded by | Enyinayya Akabueze |
| Vice-President of Tiwura | |
| In office 8th December 2014 – 8th December 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Bob Suswam |
| Succeeded by | Okezie Achebe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 20, 1948 Odokekere, Okun |
| Political party | National Unity Party (2009-present) |
| Spouse | Lisa Yemisi |
| Children | 1 |
| Residence | Presidential Palace |
| Alma mater | University of Morwall |
Reginald Akinlabi (born February 20, 1948) is a Tiwuran politician and has served as the President of Tiwura since 2018. He also served as the Vice-President of Tiwura from 2014 to 2018 under Enyinayya Akabueze. Akinlabi is one of the founding members of the National Unity Party. Prior to his political career with the NUP Akinlabi worked as a lawyer in Isowo City.
Akinlabi was born to a wealthy Gundaya family in Odokekere in 1948, and lived there throughout most of his life. In 1968 he would flee Tiwura with most of his family to Estmere and study at the University of Morwall during his time there. In 1973 he would finish his schooling and live in Estmere for another two years. After returning to Tiwura he would become a lawyer and become one of the most well-known in the country. He would flee once more in 1987 to Rwizikuru after the rise of Kibwe Chipo due to fears that his family would be targeted by Chipo. In Rwizikuru he was very welcomed and was able to make a substantial living as a lawyer once more. This wealth allowed him to send money to different family members in Tiwura during this period. Akinlabi's nephew would join TAPA in 1992 during the civil war, to whom Akinlabi would send money during his time in Rwizikuru.
He would return in 1999 under Mowiya Sekoni and befriended former soldier Enyinayya Akabueze in Isowo City. The two both shared similar ideals and rejected the rule of Mowiya Sekoni. Akabueze was a supporter of anti-Sekoni Mwo activist Nicholas Chukwudi. Akinlabi would return to his profession as a laywer in Isowo City. He would gain notoriety once again during the Sabambe Case, when he was hired by activist James Sabambe. This case put him in the political sphere and helped fuel the eventual resignation of Sekoni. He would support the newly formed Tiwuran Democratic Party in the nation's first democratic elections. Akinlabi remained in his position until 2009 he joined Akabueze in forming a new political party against the TDP. The reasons for this were political differences between Akinlabi and the TDP government's recent actions.
The National Unity Party was created to go against the continued policy of economic liberalism in the TDP, which the NUP blamed for all of Tiwura's prior disasters and that Chukwudi seemed to mirror the policies of Reese Ndulu. The party also existed to counteract the power of the United Movement of the People, which Akinlabi calls "extreme". The NUP would rise to popularity in Gundayaland due to these beliefs and quickly took over other regions. Akabueze and Akinlabi would run in 2011 against Aondowase Nenge and the TDP and lose, but would capture the Tiwuran senate in the process. Akinlabi would continually attack Nenge and his regime, calling him a "puppet to Ndulu, Chinwe, and Chipo". This rhetoric of comparing the TDP to the previous leaders of Tiwura would pay off in 2014 when Nenge resigned and an emergency election was held. The NUP would win in a very slim margin, and Akabueze and Akinlabi rose to power. The role of Tiwura's VP had often been held to being useless, but would change under Akinlabi as he would play more of a role in internal and external affairs. Akinlabi would visit Keisi, Senria in 2015 to sign Tiwura into COMDEV.