....if I travel the whole world and all her seas Akure will still be mine as the only community that is mine, my life and my home. - Fayanju Kehinde AKURE I will advise you all not to fritter away your precious and non-recoverable time bellowing into empty spaces hoping there is someone up there who is capable of delivering all your requests. There is no such one anymore or anywhere; God is dead, for if God were alive, the world would not have come to such a miserable, deplorable and sorry state it has. And when we talk about religious beliefs and traditional values;; they are the promoters of slavish morality that is pervading the world today. These are the words of a minister of God who is very gifted in the area of breaking bad and undesirable news. But when misfortune befell with all its excruciating strength; he recanted. I remember I once said something close to this in import on the 12th of December 1986 when my brother AJibola Collins Fayanju died in a road accident weeks after he celebrated his 27th birthday. In my agony, i pleaded to God to put an immediate and permanent closure to all things in existence because I knew I would never be happy again. I also knew I would never forget the day and I have not forgotten for a day, but never thought I could ever recover; nevertheless, time spread its calming layers of dust on my frail being and I eventually recovered. Jibola’s death shook a house that was full of fun to its foundation; the house has not fully recovered from the suddenness of his passing which has apparently disrupted the family business, plans and aspirations of every individual in it so enormously. Jibola was a superb painter and prolific graphic artist and as a convener of people, his death struck so heavily that his friends never gathered together again. He died and took music and other forms of creative art away from our house. Although he died young; he left behind a consolatory trademark that is inherent in most geniuses who silently breeze into the world, demonstrate signs and hurriedly leave before the ovation is loudest. Jibola made us proud as much as his death caused us pain. He was like a giant cockerel waiting to crow at dawn, but the dawn never came and the cockerel never crowed. If you say that is my family problem; you are entitled to your opinion and you may be right after all. There were many talented musicians in the South west in the sixties and the early seventies but Wale Glorious was evidently a little ahead of his contemporaries in the music industry in terms of style, musical composition, lyrical expertise, sense of instrumentation and delivery of entertainment in general. I could not have known him for I was only three years and some months old when he died; even as young as I was, I remember faintly a day that people were trooping towards the New Central Hotel to catch a glimpse at him perform. I remember as well with mixed feelings of happiness and sadness the near ethereal pieces of sound of music filtering out of the hotel as I was listening in my father’s shop on the other side of the road. However I grew a little older before I realized my people lost a priceless jewel the day he passed away. Please do not be surprised as I am that there is no single monument; whether a statue, cenotaph or ceremony in honour of the man who has beaten others to the propagation of the image of Akure and her people to the farthest ends of the earth. Is it not sad that no single individual has risen to his height till today amongst us, he left with music and the social light of Akure shone down with him? We are here relishing pounded yam and vegetable soup while the resourcefulness of Wale is being celebrated all around the world. An Indian music enthusiast brought Wale’s work to light in a musical exhibition in faraway Stockholm in the late nineties. This definitely as you can see; is not my family problem. How would I be surprised if Akure people could have forgotten Banji Adegboro so easily, because it has become an integral feature of my people to forget their heroes as though they never lived? We might be right to forget a human right activist, because they are often seen and labelled in our very warped mantality as extremists, anti-institution, militants, radicals and stuff like that. The deceitful politicians will never allow the gullible masses to realize that the radicals who are never celebrated as revolutionaries are the creators of the democratic podium they are wantonly desecrating. I only knew Tamale from a distance as a student activist and nothing more, until recently when a person I have always revered as the most cerebral character in my generation clearly pointed it out that Banji Adegboro was the most brilliant person he had ever come in contact with. He went further to say his intelligent quotient could rank in the level of the Einsteins, Platos and Newtons of this world. It is a fact that the history of activism will remain incomplete if Tamale’s name is not given adequate mention. If it is true that Banji was an advocate of emancipation of the body and soul of humanity, then he must have felt the same about Akure, his home town and place of birth. So, if we as people fail to acknowledge his intrepidity; the heavens will surely celebrate the perspicacious spirit that inhabited the human vessel known as Banji Adegboro. It is a first-hand fact that is not subjected to social or academic debate that Akure is the largest and most developed city in Ondo state. And in terms of oldness of existence, the area or pieces of land that is known as Akure Kingdom today has been the native soil of a group of rationally minded people for more than five thousand years, in favour of this inference are rock engravings dating back to the middle stone age in this area. There are monumental evidence that have reinforced the outstanding time of life of the land and people occupying it. One of which is the discovery of the oldest human fossil in West Africa in Isarun, a suburb of Akure. Oral tradition has it that the city was transformed from a mere village or scantily arranged houses by one Omoremi Omoluabi a direct son of Ekun who himself happened to be a direct grandson of Oduduwa and blood brother of Owa Obokun. Omoremi who was also known as Asodeboyede, is believed to have met a group of economically viable, but defenceless people in Akure. He was accommodated and discovered after spiritual examination to have possessed the needed royal features that would transform their lives and thereby made him King over themselves. The way Omoluabi was accommodated has become conventional as the way visitors are housed and given enabling atmosphere to grow well, flourish, prosper and blossom without hindrance in their chosen trade in Akure. This noble act was also propagated by Oba Afunbiowo Adesida I, the King, every son and daughter of Akure gladly makes reference to as our father because of his generous leadership style, wise and wide consultative prowess. And his successor too, Oba Ademuagun Adesida II who happened to be the first Lawyer to be enthroned a king in the whole of Africa. He was a very successful lawyer and a peace loving and obliging royal father who personally sheltered the Igbos in his palace and fed them with his substances throughout the thirty months of the Nigerian civil war. It appears as though the people have been trained to readily render hospitality for strangers and visitors. The story of the first Olisa is an indication that Akure people are very pleasant and responsive to the needs of their visitors which has over the years yielded positive results for the natives and the land in so many ways, although these benefits have not been carefully harnessed. Moreover it has become a song in every mouth that if there is a difference of opinions or quarrel between a native of Akure and a non-native, another Akure man would ask his fellow man to realise that the non-native is a stranger and must be accorded the respect and hospitality due unto strangers. But the equal and opposite of this is identified with a Kingdom very close to us. An average indigene of this town would readily stand up and defend his kinfolk in the presence of an outsider, though he may subsequently proceed to rebuke his brother in private, but definitely not in the open. Nevertheless this people are not known to be as accommodating as Akure people are, yet they are steadily finding their rhythm as a result of the common unity they have struck. They have discovered their problems long ago and have come out with result yielding solutions that have effectively paid off: moreover the present governor of the state is from this Kingdom. But an average Akure man is too radically, he would in the course of delivering justice castigate his fellow man before a stranger and at the end the stranger whose cause was being upheld would ultimately rubbish the judge and the judged altogether. He has performed wonders for other people to derive benefit from, but the names of his wards are not found in the list of the beneficiaries of his benevolent acts. It is natural that every good or bad action must be followed either directly or indirectly by equivalent and deserving outcome, so, to what can we attribute our incapability of harnessing the benefits providence has conferred on us? I really do not want to believe it is appropriate to state in the affirmative that most of the things we pride ourselves in as inheritance are gotten by divine intervention and neither by force of influence nor by the sweat of our collective struggles; but this insinuations might be true to some extent and from whatever plane it is observed the greatest thing we must have done in the past or still doing now that might have turned the pleasant side of fate on us cannot be divorced from our hospitable characteristic. This singular attribute can then be said to be the foundation of the place of pride we are today. Nevertheless we must remind ourselves on the one hand that hospitableness is golden but on the other hand, do we readily extend this courteousness to our own brothers and sisters. The answer to this question is the solution to whatever we view or know as constituting impediment to our communal and developmental growth. People who are acquainted with the Bible would recall how a nation sought the service of a sorcerer to bewitch the Israelites; can we have been operating under similar bewitchment? But then, our fathers have since embraced the service of the true God and bequeathed the same unto us, so it is unlikely we are bewitched. If it is logically understandable to believe we are not bewitched; All the same, is it not hard to believe we are not? So what is happening to us as a people? How come the best of us are dropping dead like poultry? What are the things we are not supposed to be doing that we have done and what are the things we have left undone? There remain two major politicians of worth in Akure today who have marched through the murky waters of politics without a scandal to their records, they are Chief Fashoranti and Chief Falae and these eminent personalities are by human reasoning and numerical value of years closer to the sky than to the earth. Whereas the one and only person who could have been trusted to step into their shoes and uphold the tenets of these colossi was Alex Adedipe, but unfortunately for us, he too died before he could perform the assignment providence placed on his shoulders. Alex Adedipe was a man of many parts; so one is right to say he could mean so many things to so many people, but whatever is said about Aleco must conform to everything virtue embodies. As a Lawyer, his blend of forthrightness and refinement was characterized by in the free legal services he rendered for the poor and the oppressed. And as a principled politician, he remained steadfast in the progressive ideals he chose from the beginning of his partisan career. And as an honourable public servant, he selflessly defended Akure traditional values and her people with all he had in life. His absence could be attributed to the management crisis and resultant lack of direction that has enveloped the political atmosphere of Akure Kingdom which could still have had a modicum of decorum if Aleco were alive. As a matter of fact, majority of the people who parade themselves as politicians in Akure today are there for pecuniary motives as it is apparent they lack the motivation and the willpower to withstand the rigours of human management, so they quake effortlessly in the presence of common trials. Alex Adedipe was a true leader of the people who would march through the fire and swim the deepest ocean to procure and protect the rights of the people he represented. How can we ever count our losses to the cold hands of death which snatched Alex Adedipe away from us just like a bat out of hell? Where did we get it wrong? Are we all going to be dying like this without fulfilling our destinies? The incompetence of language is seen when circumstances arise and spoken words cannot thoroughly express to meet thoughts, hence, when we try to report, analyse, narrate or describe such circumstances; we most of the time either understate or exaggerate them, so to say there are so many incommunicable attributes of God is an understatement, because it reverses every logical, geometrical and scientific principles to employ finite methodology to explore the infinite. Our God has his own ways of calming us down when we are agitated or sad whether as a result of undesirable information or unpleasant occurrence. Consequently, it is not enough to resign to fate or wait until the judgement day; we know not when it comes; when logical reasoning based on sound investigation or spiritual enquiry or combination of both can be employed to determine the cause of a difficult or complicated issue. You may say what I am crying myself hoarse and dry about is an issue that is not uncommon to other communities; I will answer you that who feels it knows it all, because I am expressing my pains as it’s affecting me and if I travel the whole world and all her seas Akure will still be mine as the only community that is mine, my life and my home. Akure is a land of princes and princesses, we all are linked to that palace that is located in the heart of the city by one way or by another. I was not as close to Bayo Adesida as he wanted me to, but I know he loved me like one would a brother and how did I know this? After all the times we met was about ten times and all these times he accorded me with the treatment of friendliness and of care which I know I could not have deserved primarily, so I enquired from somebody who knew him not very closely, and to my surprise the person told me how Bayo treated him which is not different from my own experience, thereof I knew I was not the only one he treated with love and respect, because goodness is the name of the currency he brought into the world and he spent it for everyone he came in contact with. As Socrates is said to have taken the task of seeking out disapproval to the pronouncement of the Apollo oracle at Delphi as a serious business, i took it upon myself before penning down this piece, to find out whether anyone would make an uncomplimentary comment on Bayo, though I am not surprised not a single soul did. In point of fact, I am not saying Bayo was a saint, for he enjoyed his life like every rationally-minded, hardworking and successful man would within the acceptable limit of who can be called pedigree; what I am saying is he was a good and pleasant personality whose friends cut across the rich, poor, common and unimportant people. His assassination sounds to me like the nearest definition of a collective tragedy. Nonetheless, the assassins could not assassinate his charisma, pleasant appearance, magnetism and reputation. Whether as friends or as family members or as a community in whole; we all owe the spirit of Prince Bayo Adesida the service of exposing the identity of the perpetrators of the brutal act of his murder. As it is not too late to launch a comprehensive investigative approach to unravel the circumstances surrounding his murder and perhaps explore any fair means to track down those who carried out the wicked act. We must learn to accept the fact that God would only do for man what man can never do for himself, so leaving knotty problems that are within the reach of mortals for God to solve is not the best way to deter perpetrators of evil. Whenever the name of Adegoroye is mentioned in Nigerian today; it is the picture of Prince Demola Adegoroye that will readily come to mind; moreover, not so many people remember that his father Barrister Adedeji Adegororoye was a thoroughbred politician and gubernatorial candidate of the defunct Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) in Ondo state in 1979. The name of Adegoroye is a household name in Akure kingdom and not a few of the descendants of this royal house are regarded with admiration and deep respect in their professional fields of acquaintance. But that is their family business; my own business is about a member of the family who was a very good friend of mine and whose name is Adewale Adegoroye. Who am I to blame God lest I become like the man of God that denounced his Creator in the days of adversity. And who am I to query Him, Who only is wise? Wale made us happy as much as his death made us sorrowful, miserable and heartbroken. Although we were aware that Wale had a genetic disorder known as sickle cell anaemia, all the same, we thought he would cheat death a little longer somehow. He was a fearless rebel of whatever cause he believed in. If you say Wale is my business; I cannot deny he was. Why I am including him in this list is as a result of his genuine love for the development of Akure land and the people living on it, He once told me he wished Akure could be like Lagos and I believe if he had the chance he would make Akure become like Lagos. But how would he accomplish that tall dream when death suddenly cut short his dreams. I am using this write-up to make a call to all who were his friends to gather together and give him a befitting remembrance. After all, God is not dead I have been young, now I am old; I have never heard or seen a rising sun go down at the velocity of a setting sun. A rising sun ordinarily, signifies promising future, potentials, possibilities and stuff like that. While a setting sun signifies achievement, fulfilment and accomplishment. In my search I find out not so many people have enjoyed a career as great as Dr. Olusegun Agagu’s. He was once a resourceful academic who became a deputy governor, then a two time federal minister before he was elected a state governor. Is there a better way to define fulfilment? If you have been wondering what bearing has this got to do with Akure people and her problems? That is the unpleasant point we have arriving at. There are raging accusations and counter accusations between the Government of Ondo state and the Family of Agagus as to which party chattered the ill-fated aircraft that was conveying the corpse of Dr Agagu in which Deji Falae lost his life. The issue of Deji Falae is one of the major reasons I have decided to make this urgent appeal to my people and I want them to reason along with me perhaps we can find answers to the questions of why would an upcoming Akure son like Deji Falae die with an Ikale man who He has come, seen and conquered life in all dimensions. This to me appears like a nonphysical sacrifice, as in ancient Egypt where innocent people were slain as part of human ritual sacrifice to accompany the corpse of a Pharaoh to the next world. Deji, like all other departed souls mentioned in this write up had a selfless vision for himself as well as for Akure community they proudly associated themselves with. But all these aspirations and resultant effect would like not outlive them unless we rise up in common objectives and make their dreams come true. There have been seven civilizations before this present one, and none of the laws sustaining nature has deviated from its ordained path. Likewise, one is not likely to encounter new results when things are done over and over in the same order. If we must rise into the realities of the present age we therefore have to recourse to the past to seek solutions to our future quest? A people that readily forget their fallen heroes will undergo what the seven civilisations underwent. Self -annihilation as a result of communal ignorance. Moreover, I am not in the least claiming to have solutions to the problems we are experiencing as a people but I do believe the solutions will emerge if these suggestions are followed. It is time we had Akure Development Commission, a non-partisan organization that will look into the societal needs of all that is Akure Kingdom. As it is said, one who wears a shoe knows where it pinches. No Governor or Senator who is not a native of Akure can understand or identify our pains as much as we do. It is we that would present to our representatives at all levels these are our collective resolution The Commission will gather our request and negotiate with Government on all levels in the areas of infrastructural development, public services and maximisation of human capacity and capital. The commission will further have associations of professionals of Akure indigenes for example: Association of Akure Indigene Civil Engineers, Surveyors, Legal and Medical Practitioners and so on. The members of the associations are to make meaningful professional contributions to the human and infrastructural development of the Kingdom. There are several other propositions and recommendations I have drawn to help us find our rhythm as a people which I consider unsuitable for a public podium like this. This write-up was on its way to the publisher when the unpleasant news of the passing away of the Deji Oba Adebiyi Adesida Afunbiowo the 2nd filtered in like a vicious adversary and it has left the whole community and the nation more devastated than all the tragedies that have befallen us in the recent past. Oba Adebiyi Adesida had within his short period of influence given us the profound leadership that has restored the hopes and aspirations of every son and daughter of Akure about coming home to build the land of their birth. But that perennial foe who visits leaving sorrows behind struck and spoiled our party. It was a day of joy we would forever remember you were made King; we marched out in the best of our attires with pump and pageantry and we celebrated as we did not forget to give glory to God. Joy filled our hearts because we were happy that the King we used to call Brother Biyi became our Father, Our traditional father. But little did we know that joy that inflated our heart would in next to no time be deflated. Death struck when our party had just begun to gather its rhythm. What is this again? When is our fun going to be full? Kilo n sele wonyi? I don’t want to believe that Kabiyesi was killed, on the contrary, He was bursting in salubrity before He went to bed. As it is, nothing is more evident that something sneaky, dishonest, happened to Kabiyesi. He may have been killed. Though not as tangibly as can be explained and definitely not as the law could establish. But as we Africans are familiar with that is different from the western order of reasoning. So to put an end to all suspicions and deadly rumours spiritual investigation must be employed to unravel the circumstances surrounding his demise. Otherwise the very people that committed this regicidal act would mount the throne. I am troubled as much as I am drawn to tears. Aanu Akure ma semi o! Temi s’ Olorun. - By FAYANJU KEHINDE.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 07:26:54 +0000