Who Will Bury Mr. Taiwo?
It took the Nigerian government 51 years to formally honour Taiwo Akinkunmi, the man who designed the Nigerian flag. Now, months after his death, his body remains in a morgue as his family awaits a state burial.
‘This is where my grandfather is buried,’ Akinwunmi Akinkunmi said, pointing to a grave. It was earlier this year, in March, we were on Oketedo Street in Ibadan, and I peered at the grave through the afternoon sun. I could make out the name, John Makinde Akinkunmi, inscribed on the grey headstone. The headstone also indicated that he died in 1952—six years before his son and Akinwunmi’s father, Taiwo Akinkunmi, designed the Nigerian flag.
‘Beside my grandfather are the graves of my great-grandfather and great-grandmother,’ Akinwunmi said. The inscriptions on their headstones had faded so I could barely make out their names; but I saw they had died in 1926 and 1924 respectively. The patriarch lay in the middle, on a higher platform, his headstone slightly taller than his son’s. Unlike the graves belonging to the two men, which had a fancy web-edged cross, on top of each headstone, the matriarch’s grave only had a short slab for a headstone.
‘And your father?’ I asked, though I done some research already and anticipated his response. ‘His body is still in a morgue. We have not buried him yet.’ Mr. Taiwo had designed Nigeria’s flag in 1958, two years before Nigeria gained independence. Until 1960, as a British colony, Nigeria had used the British Union Jack. After Mr. Taiwo returned to Ibadan in 1963, he joined the agricultural department of the regional civil service. He lived and worked quietly, unnoticed and uncelebrated, until 2010, when he was recognized as one of 50 distinguished Nigerians during Nigeria’s golden jubilee celebrations. When Mr. Taiwo died in August 2023, the government promised the Akinkunmi family a state burial to be held by December 2023; but as of March 2024, after I had reached out to Akinwunmi to confirm the status of the burial, the burial seemed to be on hold. I discussed with Akinwunmi over several weeks, but our conversations left me with even more questions about his father, his family, the flag and the burial. To find answers, I decided to take a train from Lagos to Ibadan; and that afternoon on Oketedo Street, the atmosphere was solemn, though the front yard bustled, alive with business. For a moment, Akinwunmi and I stared at the three graves in silence....
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