It has been a pleasure doing this because the story of Chief Folake Solanke (SAN) is what every Nigerian should be familiar with. Chief Solanke is the first lady commissioner in the Western State of Nigeria. She was appointed in 1972 as Commissioner in the Governor’s office and Chairman of the then Western Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation. She is also the first lady Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). She took the silk in 1981. She is also the first Governor of Zontal International (district Africa 1982) and to crown it all, she is also the first non-Caucasian lady to be elected president of Zontal International in 1992. She, in this position, was one of the prime movers from the non-governmental organisations’ side of the 1995, United Nations Beijing Declaration on Women, which for the first time advised all national governments to reserve at least 30 per cent of administrative and political offices for women. Chief Solanke’s story epitomises the dictum that "Morning shows the day as Childhood shows Manhood".

She was born into the famous J. S. Odulate family, popularly known as "Blessed Jacob" of Abeokuta. Her father was what one will call a Chemist or Pharmacist, who acquired the skill by practice and experimentation. He was able to prepare generic medicaments under the rubric of Alabukun Medicines for all kinds of ailments afflicting people in the tropics. He was successful at this and he built a three storey mansion in Abeokuta, appropriately named "The Blessed Jacob Mansion". He also had other imposing buildings in Ikorodu, his native town and in Yaba Lagos. He was a widely travelled man, and published a yearly almanac called "Alabukun Almanac" from 1923 till 1948 when it was rested, following the death of his first son, Dr. Albert Olukoya Odulate, in a ghastly motor accident, two weeks after returning from abroad as a qualified medical practitioner, while on his way for thanksgiving service arranged by his father in Abeokuta.

Chief Folake Solanke lost her mother when she was two years old. She has an older uterine sister and was brought up in the warmth and love of her father, step mothers and siblings in a large polygamous family, where apparently there was little discrimination by the wives against other wives’ children. Because of the loss of her mother, Chief Folake Solanke’s father doted on her and the love was reciprocated by the young Folake, who loved her father almost to the point of worshiping him. As a child, she lived with her grandmother for sometimes in Abeokuta where Chief Folake Solanke’s mother hailed from. So, she can be appropriately described as IJEGBA with roots and ancestry in Ikorodu and Abeokuta.

To underscore this, one of her favourite songs remains the Egba National Anthem:

Chief Folake Solanke was a brilliant pupil in primary school, skipping one or two classes and entering Methodist Girls High School Lagos, from standard five instead of standard six and beginning secondary school not in Form one but in Form two in 1945.

In spite of this, she finished school in 1949 with distinction and a grade one certificate which was highly regarded and valued in those days. Her father always advised her to be the best she can be and to reach for the stars, an advice which forms the title of her autobiography. Chief J. S. Odulate was totally committed to western education for his children and he made arrangement to train them both in Nigeria and abroad. The two older children went to University of Durham, Newcastle on Tyne. The older boy read Medicine while the younger lady graduated in Liberal Arts and acquired Post Graduate Certificate in Education. Other siblings including Chief Folake Solanke soon followed in 1951 to the extent that King’s College in the University soon became the preferred college of the Odulates.

Before Folake Solanke left Nigeria in 1951 something happened, which was to affect her throughout her life. Her patriotic father felt that it will be most appropriate for the young Folake to be betrothed to the rising political star in Ikorodu and Nigeria, the 37 years old lawyer and politician Theophilus O. Sobowale Benson (TOS Benson). Folake Solanke would have nothing to do with this. In spite of her love for her father, she made it quite clear that betrothal to a married man with children was not one of her aims in life. Apparently the old man hoped that his adorable daughter will change her view as she grew up, but this was not to be. While in England, Folake met a young dashing tall medical student in person of Toriola Solanke whom she married in October 1956. This was after she had spent five years in England and graduated with a combined degree in English and Mathematics with Latin as a subsidiary. She was very happy with herself and she had hoped that she would live happily thereafter but this was not to be. Nigeria was by this time involved in negotiating with Great Britain the process of her independence. Because of this several delegations of politicians visited great Britain between 1948 and 1959 and in one of these visits Chief T. O. S. Benson who was a minister in the central government and chief whip of the National Council of Nigeria Citizens (NCNC) previously National Council of the Nigeria and the Cameroons decided to throw his weight around and to force himself on Folake, the young lady whom he claimed had been betrothed to him by her father.