Last week, the Ijebu of South-West Nigeria rolled out the drums to celebrate Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, as he celebrated his 90th birthday and 64th anniversary as the Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland.
Everyone, royalty, nobility, the well-heeled and plebeian, came out to salute a man of courage, wisdom and statecraft. Even President Bola Tinubu, who joined the revelry, conferred the award of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger on the Awujale.
In addition, the President upgraded the Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona College of Governance to an affiliate of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos, in Plateau State. While revealing this gesture, Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, added that permanent secretaries in the service of Ogun State would be the first set of enrollees of the newly upgraded school.
The idea of Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona College of Governance grew out of the endowment of the Oba Sikiru Kayode Professorial Chair in Governance at the Department of Political Science of Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ago Iwoye, Ogun State.
Earlier in 2022, Governor Abiodun had renamed Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu-Ajose, to Sikiru Adetona College of Education, Science and Technology, an educational institution dedicated to grooming middle-level teachers for Ogun State and the rest of Nigeria.
Before now, Awujale had received the honorary degree of Doctor of Law from the Federal University of Technology ( now Modibbo Adama University of Technology) Yola, where he was Chancellor. Also, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law at Olabisi Onabanjo University.
Oba Adetona, born on May 10, 1934, was installed Awujale of Ijebuland on April 2, 1960, barely one month to marking his 26th birthday. He had been recalled from London, England, after his dad, Omo-oba Rufai Adetona Adeleke, yielded his right to the throne to him.
Omo-Oba Rufai, an “abidagba,” a prince born to a reigning Awujale, was the son of Awujale Adeleke, Ogbagba Agbotewole I, who reigned between 1895 and 1906. Awujale Ogbagba I traced his ancestry to Awujale Anikilaya Figbajoye Agboogunsa I. Oba Adetona’s mother was Ajibabi from the illustrious Onashile family of Ijebu Igbo.
As soon as Oba Adetona was installed as Awujale, he was sworn in as a member of the Western Nigeria House of Chiefs, the upper chamber of Western Nigeria Parliament. Also, he was appointed a minister without portfolio and a member of the Western Nigeria Executive Council (the cabinet led by the Premier of Western Nigeria).
When Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who was the first Premier of Western Nigeria, and his successor, Ladoke Akintola, were placed under house restriction after the 1962 crisis, Oba Adetona was appointed as a commissioner (equivalent of a minister) without portfolio when Dr Koye Majekodunmi was appointed Administrator of Western Nigeria by Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
Oba Adetona’s reign was not without some turbulence. But he overcame what some described as a conspiracy. In a quote credited to him after his triumph over his adversities, he declared, “When (one) considers the threat and politically induced plot to depose me in 1981, the victory is the highest testimony of my reign.”
But the more steely aspect of his character was to be revealed in the public domain when the regime of military President Ibrahim Babangida cruelly annulled the June 12, 1993, presidential election, presumed to have been won by Bashorun MKO Abiola, for no apparent reason.
Awujale had told the world that, “In June 1993, the (presidential) elections finally held, and apparently against all IBB’s calculations… the results pointed in the direction of one winner– Chief MKO Abiola…
“IBB was the one who printed the ballot papers, fixed and changed the election dates several times. Then, of his own volition again, he called for an election and people voted. Now, instead of promoting chaos and crisis, (IBB) should go…”
When the then General Olusegun Obasanjo (retd.) came to him as IBB’s emissary to pitch the idea of an interim government as an alternative to disannulling MKO Abiola’s election as President, Awujale made a profound suggestion.
He offered: “If a substantive government was to be formed… it was Abiola, who had won the election, who should head it. But if, on the other hand, an interim government was the preferred option, that would still not disqualify Abiola from heading the interim government.”
It was on this tough and dangerous mission to reinstate the presidential mandate of MKO Abiola that the National Democratic Coalition was formed. Tinubu was a formidable member of this group. It was on the quest of NADECO to restore MKO Abiola’s mandate that Awujale, who was nicknamed “NADECO Oba,” met and formed a lifelong alliance with Tinubu.
After the maxim ruler, General Sani Abacha sidelined the interim government headed by Ernest Shonekan, the Awujale told him off. He reported in his autobiography, “I issued a statement against the military government (headed by Gen Abacha)… I said that since Chief Abiola had won the election, the new dispensation should have been headed by a Yoruba man.”
In an op-ed in The Guardian Newspaper, Columnist Dare Babarinsa disclosed that after leading traditional rulers in Nigeria were summoned to watch the so-called video (of General Oladipo Diya’s confession of a coup against General Abacha), a drama ensued.
Babarinsa said, “At the end of the show, the Awujale was handed a statement. He was asked to read it to the pressmen who were waiting outside. Awujale glanced at the paper and handed it back to Abacha. ‘Ah! Your Excellency… I did not come with my reading glasses!’”
That was more than a tactical indication that the Awujale was not disposed to reading the damning document that would likely endorse the prosecution and death sentence placed on Gen Diya and thus compromise his integrity and cause a backlash against him amongst the Ijebu, the Yoruba, those who want the actualisation of the June 12 mandate and the exit of the military.
On the home front, Oba Adetona has blended the modern with the ancient in the Ijebu kingdom. He introduced novel ways of doing old things. For example, he turned the “Regberegbe” age grade system into an instrument for social cohesion and channelled the energies of Ijebu sons and daughters to achieve greater things.
He brought pomp, pageantry and order into the annual Ojude Oba durbar, a grand display of horse-riding skills, music, and dance, by the Balogun, war leaders, and other horseriding families in Ijebu Ode. The Ojude Oba durbar takes place two days after the Moslem eid-el-kabir.
He went a little further, by encouraging the governor and members of Ogun State House of Assembly to pass a law that allows deceased monarchs in Ogun State to be buried according to their religious beliefs and practice.
The remarkable life and reign of this monarch, a man of destiny, has run its course side-by-side with the post-colonial political history of Nigeria– in its turns and twists. It is no surprise that the Awujale is deeply involved in the political and social engineering of the destiny of Nigeria.
Long may Alayeluwa, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, Awujale of Ijebuland, reign on the throne of his forefathers, in peace, good health and prosperity.
