Today, Saturday, January 13, chosen by His Imperial Majesty, Iku Baba Yeye Oba (Dr) Lamidi Olayiwola III (JP), the Alaafin of Oyo, to install Otunba (Dr) Gani Adams, as the 15th Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, will make it exactly 30 years (less than 10 days though) that Oba Adeyemi installed Otunba Adam’s immediate predecessor, the late Basorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO) the 14th Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land.
I congratulate Otunba Adams, the National Coordinator of O’odua Peoples Congress (OPC), on the well-earned title. He is, with respect to his new office, my dear brother and compatriot in the noble causes for the advancement of Yoruba tradition, culture and progress, Nigerians’ liberty and abundance and the freedom and dignity of the black race in peaceful and equable world.
Whereas the title of this piece states my intention to attend Otunba Adam’s installation as a mark of honour to the late Basorun Abiola, also known as MKO, it begets the fact that I am also grateful and honouring the kind act of Kabiyesi, the Alaafin, for extending a formal invitation to the ceremony to my humble self. The reason for singling out MKO, Nigeria’s undeclared winner of the 1993 Presidential election, will manifest soon in this article.
On Saturday, January 23, 1988, 30 years ago, Oba Adeyemi III installed the late Basorun Abiola as the 14th Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land in his palace at Oyo. That installation met with storms in various quarters, including a civil suit calling for an injunction to restrain the Alaafin from installing Basorun Abiola. The suit was dismissed and Oba Adeyemi III carried out his royal duty, eventually in 1988.
A fallout of Basorun Abiola’s installation as Aare Ona Kakanfo was his fury at the non-attendance of the traditional ceremony by the sitting governors of the Old Oyo State (the present Oyo and Osun states), Ogun, Ondo and Lagos states.
It piqued MKO so much so that he berated the military governors and described them as “eaglet governors”. His utterance drew flanks not only from governments, federal and states, but the general public.
As the Press Secretary to the (affected) Military Governor of the then Old Oyo State, now–retired Brigadier Adetunji Idowu Olurin–it was my duty to respond to Basorun Abiola’s spite, and clear the air on his (and colleagues) absence from the installation ceremony in Oyo town. Issuing my press statement on the Aare Ona Kakanfo palaver, as it were, was one of my most difficult assignments as Press Secretary to four (one civilian and three military) Governors of the Old Oyo State from 1983 to 1989.
Why? It was public knowledge that Basorun Abiola was my role model and financier, who, despite the age gap between us, always referred to me as, “Lekan is my friend from Ibadan”. But, duty called and I chose professionalism and loyalty over and above other considerations (primordial, pecuniary etc) by issuing the following press statement on February 8, 1988.
Thirty years after MKO installation imbroglio, let me today restate emphatically the neither the military governors of the Old Oyo State nor any of his colleagues was formally invited to the installation ceremony in Oyo town. All well that ends well. MKO, a great man with a large heart did not hold a grudge against me till he died, neither does Iku Baba Yeye.
After a “cold war” or better still, “hide and seek” between Basorun Abiola and I for over a year, after I had issued the above press statement, fate brought us, unavoidably, face to face again at the 25th foundation anniversary lecture/luncheon of the now-defunct Sketch Press Limited, Ibadan in November 1989, where he (Abiola) was the Special Guest of Honour and I, a former staff of Sketch from 1973 to 1978, an invited guest.
At the re-union, Basorun Abiola publicly said he was more than proud of me because I acted with professionalism, loyalty and discretion, over my response to his “eaglet governors” comment. He said he expected any Press Secretary worth his/her salt to do the same.
Our friendship, from that day, continued to grow by leaps and bounds until he died in mysterious circumstances on July 7, 1998, while being held in illegal detention by the late General Sani Abacha-led jackboot military government.
With the foregoing, I believe my dear readers will give their nods to my intention to attend Otunba Adam’s installation as the immediate successor of MKO, my late mentor, leader and friend.
Meanwhile, I wish Otunba Adams a dynamic, remarkable and long reign as the 15th Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land.
Alabi was Chief Press Secretary to former Military Governor of Old Oyo State, Brigadier Adetunji Idowu Olurin
