Among Oba Adeniran’s children, Lamidi Adeyemi was his favourite. He had seen at Lamidi’s birth, on October 15, 1938, the lacerations on his left breast and the spots on his legs, which were on the same spots as those on Lamidi Olayiwola, as tell tale signs of future royalty.
Destiny has an uncanning hand in the conduct and affairs of men. In the Yoruba pantheon, it could be likened to ori, literally meaning “head”; that is, a person’s spiritual intuition. It is often personified as an orisha in its own rights. It foretells the human essence and consciousness. Whatever one becomes or whatever happens in one’s life, according to Yoruba myth, is as destined by his ori.
Man’s unalterable destiny is usually a navigated journey of an unseen hand. In the course of that journey, the navigator charts the course and directs the route, and such is the life and times of Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi and his biological son, Alaafin Lamidi Olayiwola Atanda Adeyemi.
As an interface, between the reigns of Adeniran Adeyemi and Lamidi Adeyemi, was a reigning mornach, Alaafin Bello Gbadegesin Ladigbolu, who succeeded Adeniran Adeyemi in 1955 and who Lamidi Adeyemi also succeeded, on November 19, 1970.
Destiny Certainly Leads To Human Destination
Among Oba Adeniran’s children, Lamidi Adeyemi was his favourite. He had seen at Lamidi’s birth, on October 15, 1938, the lacerations on his left breast and the spots on his legs, which were on the same spots as those on Lamidi Olayiwola, as tell tale signs of future royalty. This observation, endeared Lamidi’s mother, Olori Ibironke of Epo Gingin Compound, Oke Afin, Oyo, to Adeniran Adeyemi. Unfortunately, Olori Ibironke died at an early age when Lamidi was still an infant.
In parentheses, Oba Titus Martins Adesoji Tadenianwo Aderemi was born on November 15, 1889, every inch a king, to the family of Osundeyi Gbadebo and Adekunmbi Itiola, his 19th and last wife and a native of Ipetumodu. On the day of Adesoji’s birth, his father, Prince Gbadegbo Osundeyi had just arrived from a war expedition and as a gifted seer, Prince Osundeyi carried the baby into his laps, gazed intently into his face and was happy at what he saw.
He instructed Adekunbi to search for red beads, which was presented to this special baby, pronouncing him an Ooni, a future Ooni, who is however an ancestor Ooni, who had come back through their family. Prince Osundeyi named this unusual baby, Tadeniawo Ayinla Aderemi, who took his first footsteps at seven months and thereafter started walking. As a restless spirit, everything about Aderemi was quick and fast.
Oba Siyanbola Ladigbolu I was Alaafin of Oyo between 1911 to 1945 and was succeeded in 1945 by Adeniran Adeyemi. Shinyanbola Ladigbolu was a very powerful monarch and strong ally of the British Resident, Captain W.A. Ross. Adeniran Adeyemi succeeded Ladigbolu as Alaafin and was on the throne till 1955, when he was sent on exile by the Western Region Government.
In preparation for royalty, the young Lamidi had a brief training in Quranic knowledge in Iseyin and also lived under the tutelage of Pa Olatoregun, an Anglican school teacher and headmaster of St. Andrews Primary School, Oyo, who was also a disciplinarian, all in the effort for the young Lamidi to learn the ropes of traditional kingship, statesmanship and dignifying royalty. Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, in this preparation for royalty, was at an early age, sent to Abeokuta to live with Oba Adedapo Ademola, and he had some part of his early education in Ake Palace Elementary School, hence his fluency in the Egba dialect till date.
Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, at a later date in his adolescence, also lived with a Lagos aristocrat and friend of his father, Sir (Dr.) Kofo Abayomi and his wife, Lady Oyinkan Abayomi. He equally attended St. Gregory’s College, Lagos, a Catholic mission school, during this period.
The young Lamidi Adeyemi lived with Oba Samuel Oladapo Ademola II, the Alake of Egbaland, in the Ake palace, between 1947 and 1948, when the Egba Women’s Union, led by Mrs Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, protested against the payment of taxes without representation.
Mrs. Ransome Kuti, who had earlier in 1943, organised the Abeokuta “great weep” was becoming a big thorn in the flesh of Oba Oladapo II at that period, which was was regarded as a “hell of a time”. In the streets, the market places, before the Alake’s palace, thousands of Abeokuta women, went about shedding tears. The Alake and the authorities could do nothing to stop this, and therefore gave way to the women’s demands.
On his first appearance in Council, after being appointed chairman, all the members stood up to welcome him in deference to his position, except Oba Adeniran Adeyemi II, who for cultural reasons, could not show submission to anyone in public. Bode Thomas rudely shouted at the King, for having the temerity and audacity to disrespect him, “Why were you sitting when I walked in. You don’t know how to show respect?”
Mrs. Ransome Kuti picked up the gauntlet again in 1948, when the Alake sanctioned the taxing of Abeokuta women.
The Egba Women’s Union was a well organised and disciplined group. The women’s refusal to pay abnormal taxes, bolstered by enormous protests, which were put together under the guise of picnics and festivals, was a guise to beat the security of the British colonisers, who teamed up with the local lackeys, to subdue the women. At one protest, the agents of power brought out the “Oro” stick – a symbolic artefact of the secretive male cult of the Ogbonis, supposedly imbibed with great powers, and the women were instructed to go home, before evil spirits overcame them. When the women shrank back in fear, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti grabbed the stick, waved it around, signifying that the women then had the power, before taking it with her and displaying it prominently in her home. This action gave her a reputation of fearlessness and courage, which led 20,000 women to follow her to the home of Alake of Egbaland (Oba Ademola). As the women protested outside the king’s palace, they sang in Yoruba:
“Alake, for a long time, you have used your penis as mark of authority, that you are our husband, today we shall reverse the order and use our vagina, to play the role of husband.”
With this unified action and song, they chased him out of the palace, condemning him to exile on the threat of castration and this resulted in the king’s abdication and his exile to Osogbo.
Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was a teacher, a political campaigner, women’s rights activists and traditional aristocrat, who was described by the West African Pilot newspaper as the “Lioness of Lisabi.” She was the first woman to ride a car, and also the mother of Afro beat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Her amiable consort in this crusade was Eniola Soyinka, her sister-in-law and mother of the future Nobel Laureate in Literature, Professor Wole Soyinka.
It is interesting to note that Oba Oladapo Ademola II was accompanied to exile by Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, who was then living with him and witnessed the intriguing drama.
As a result of the Macpherson Constitution of 1952, which then gave immense powers to the political elite, as against traditional institutions, the powers of the traditional monarchs, with regards to the political control of their domains, ceased. Chief Bode Thomas then became the first chairman of the Oyo Divisional Council in 1953, while the Alaafin of Oyo became a mere member of the authority.
On his first appearance in Council, after being appointed chairman, all the members stood up to welcome him in deference to his position, except Oba Adeniran Adeyemi II, who for cultural reasons, could not show submission to anyone in public. Bode Thomas rudely shouted at the King, for having the temerity and audacity to disrespect him, “Why were you sitting when I walked in. You don’t know how to show respect?”
At that time, Bode Thomas was 35 years old and Oba Adeniran Adeyemi was in his 80s. The Alaafin felt very insulted and nonplussed; he thus retorted: “se emi lon gbomo baun” (is it me you are barking at like that?)” For emphasis, Oba Adeniran Adeyemi II was father of the incumbent Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III.
The confrontation happened on November 22, 1953. Subsequently, Bode Thomas returned home and started barking! He barked and barked like a dog all night until he died in the early morning of November 23, 1953. His promising career had been cut short.
Before the Alaafin’s deposition, around the middle of 1955, the Western Regional Government set up the Floyd Commission of enquiry, to look into the causes of persistent unrest in Oyoland. A few months after the Commission concluded its enquiries and submitted its findings, the bomb shell fell.
The ex-Alaafin always had about 30 odd wives at a time with him in Lagos. These 30 from the pool of 200 wives, would come at once and spend all the time they could afford with their ex-royal husband and go back to Oyo, making space for another 30 to come and take over from them, until the number was rounded up and rotated again.
At the tottering age of 84, Adeniran Adeyemi was told by the Regional Government to pack his kit and take a walk from the palace, in a journey into the unknown, which ended with his demise on February 14, 1960.
From Iwo-Oke to Ilesha and then to Egerton lane in Lagos, the ex Alaafin, Alhaji Adeniran Adeyemi, certainly saw the other side of life after the palace. Alhaji N.B Soule, a rich Dahomian (now in the Republic of Benin), who came to Lagos in 1929, offered Adeniran the needed succour and encouragement at that trying period.
He offered him and his entourage bed and lodgings in the name of Allah and in allegiance to the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). The NCNC as a party which the Alaafin loved, fought for his reinstatement, with various petitions sent to the colonial secretary, whie engaging in parliamentary warfare on the floor of the Western House of Assembly.
Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi once rhapsodised: “I was sent away by Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group government because of my unflinching support for the cause of the NCNC… I am not angry with Chief Awolowo, in fact I am not angry with any one person or group of persons or organisations, I am only angry with destiny, in that it has chosen to push me out of my palace and stool, to face the uncertainities of life at my old age. The £210 from the regional government was cut off.”
In exile in Lagos, at the No. 31 Egerton Lane, Lagos, thousands of men and women flocked the residence, to pay their respect and obeisance to the 88 year old ex monarch. In retrospect and appreciation, Oba Adeyemi once stated: “these people are very kind and their daily respects to me reminds me of my palace at Oyo. And there were many people in that palace during my time. I had over 200 wives and many children and of course, I was receiving a stipend of £210 every month from the regional government. This, together with the gifts many of my subjects were making me, was enough to support my household. What you see here, though the best of the worst, is not like home – home is still the best.”
The ex-Alaafin always had about 30 odd wives at a time with him in Lagos. These 30 from the pool of 200 wives, would come at once and spend all the time they could afford with their ex-royal husband and go back to Oyo, making space for another 30 to come and take over from them, until the number was rounded up and rotated again.
But to Alhaji Adeniran Adeyemi, it was not all merry. He lost his crown prince, Aremo Adeyemi, in a ghastly motor accident, on his way to Ilesha to visit him. Certainly, the mishmash of the life of Egerton lane could not be compared with the royal revelry, elegance and candour of the Oyo Royal Palace.
Sometime in early 1960, Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi secured admission to study law in the United Kingdom. He got a loan through Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, his father’s friend, from the African Continental Bank (ACB) Yaba, Lagos and was to proceed to the United Kingdom when, unfortunately, his father, Alhaji Adeniran Adeyemi, died, just 48 hours to the London trip, on February 14, 1960. The late Oba passed at the age of 88 years.
This death truncated his desired legal training in the United Kingdom. He later became an insurance executive with the Royal Exchange Assurance Limited, Marina, Lagos, where he rose steadily.
In the course of his career in the insurance industry, an incidence happened at the Iga Idunganran palace of the Eleko, Adeyinka Oyekan II, who was installed the Oba of Lagos in 1965.
Some burglars invaded the Iga Idunganran palace and carted away various items like air conditioners and all other sorts. Luckily, those items were insured by the royal exchange assurance. Lamidi Adeyemi was asked by his employer, as a loss adjuster, to visit the palace and recommend the appropriate payments, to cater for the loss.
He was Alaafin at 32 and is still Alaafin at 80, hence Oba Lamidi Adeyemi has beaten the records of his forebears, Alaafin Adeyemi Alowodu I, who reigned between 1876 and 1905, and his father, Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi II, who reigned between 1945 and 1955. As Alaafin Adeyemi III, he has now reigned for 47 years as His Imperial Majesty, a quintessential monarch…
As a prince of Oyo, Lamidi Adeyemi introduced himself to the Lagos monarch, and that as a future Alaafin, he was only in the palace to extend traditional courtesies and not to ask questions about the incidence. He nevertheless recommended handsome payments to the monarch, which were quickly made by the Royal Exchange Assurance. In an attempt to repair the leaking roof of a rented apartment in Lagos, Lamidi Adeyemi discovered some iron metals needed by the Railway Corporation on the roof top of the apartment. The Railway Corporation bought these from him and even requested for more of such. Hence, at an impressionable age, he was able to buy his first house in Lagos, with the proceeds from this “manna” from heaven, which eventually prepared him for the throne, after the death of Alaafin Ladigbolu, who succeeded his father and who he also succeeded. Alaafin Gbadegesin Ladigbolu was the one who made S.L.A Akintola the Aare Ona Kankanfo of Yorubaland. On his part, Oba Adeyemi has installed two Aare Ona Kakanfos, since being on the throne – M.K.O. Abiola and Ganiyu Adams.
The stool of the Alaafin had become vacant in 1968, following the exit of Oba Bello Gbadegesin Ladigbolu, who joined his ancestors after 12 years on the throne. He hailed from the Ag
unloye ruling house and thus it was the turn of the Adeyemi Alowolodo Ruling house to produce the Alaafin. As aftermath of Adeniran’s exile, Lamidi’s ascension to the throne was almost a near miss.
Lamidi Adeyemi contested with 10 other princes for the coveted throne of the Alaafin, in a keen competition that started in 1968 and did not end until November 18, 1970, when he was officially pronounced the Alaafin of Oyo by the Western Region Government of Colonel Robert Adeyinka Adebayo, at the age of about 32 years. He was crowned on January 14, 1971, when he started the epochal journey of an Alaafin,
to greatness and stardom.
Before his ascension to the throne, he had married two wives, Alhaja Olori Habibat Adeyemi (Iya Dodo) and Alhaja Olori Rahamat Adeyemi (Iya Ile Koto).
He is now blessed with other wives and children. He was Alaafin at 32 and is still Alaafin at 80, hence Oba Lamidi Adeyemi has beaten the records of his forebears, Alaafin Adeyemi Alowodu I, who reigned between 1876 and 1905, and his father, Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi II, who reigned between 1945 and 1955. As Alaafin Adeyemi III, he has now reigned for 47 years as His Imperial Majesty, a quintessential
monarch, not only with wit, but with candour, panache and a deep sense of wisdom.
Oyo Empire had once existed for an uninterrupted period of 600 years and at the apogee of its powers, its suzerainty extended to Togo, Dahomey (now Republic of Benin) and Ghana. Parakoyi was its ambassador along the coastal region of Dohomey, whilst Timi Agbele was its inland commander in Ede. Alimi manned the northern military post in Ilorin.
Alaafin at 80 remains a boxing enthusiast and pugilist who trains regularly at the Liberty stadium Ibadan – a 25,000 sitter capacity stadium and the first in Africa, which was patterned after the Wembley Stadium in London. The stadium hosted the first world boxing title fight in Africa, when Nigeria’s Dick Tiger defeated Gene Fulmer, to win the World Middle Weight title in 1962.
Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Atanda Adeyemi III has, in about 50 years, bestrode the Yoruba nation and the traditional institution of the Alaafin as a colossus. He had gleefully predicted in 1968 in a newspaper article that: “I shall be great”, and furthermore, “I shall be the next Alaafin”.
He was elected a week thereafter by the Oyo Mesi, who did the selection exercise three times, and he still emerged on all three occasions as the Alaafin-elect.
During that period, Dr. Victor Omololu Olunloyo was the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in the government of the Western Region. He assisted immensely in ensuring fair play, justice and equity, which eventually led to the coronation of Lamidi Adeyemi as the Alaafin of Oyo on January 14, 1971. Victor Olunloyo was encouraged in the task by the support and endorsement of the then Ooni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Aderemi. That epochal journey that started in November 1970 still continues, to the improvement and well being of the Yoruba nation and mankind.
Kaabiyesi Iku Baba Yeye!
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Femi Kehinde, a former member of the House of Representatives, is principal partner is a Ibadan-based law firm.
The article first appeared on Premium Times on October 20, 2018.
