Oba Lamidi Atanda Olayiwola Adeyemi III was feared even before he became Alaafin of Oyo. He was every inch his father, Oba Adeniran Adeyemi II. Unarguably, a chip off the old block.
Perhaps, the reason his ascension to the throne was turbulent, stormy and explosive. It was packed full of booby traps; heavily laced with land mines. He scaled all of them. No stone was left unturned. What a great feat!
Dr Victor Omololu Olunloyo, former governor of old Oyo State, testified as much. It was during a seven-hour “encounter” I had with him at his Malete, Ibadan residence. The interview appeared in Daily Sun, Friday, October 23, 2019.
He was greatly influential to Adeyemi’s installation. He did not pretend and he refused to hide anything. He laid bare the intrigues, manipulations and “politricks” that nearly marred Adeyemi’s ascension.
How did he make it happen? Olunloyo’s exact words, so exciting:
“There are three stages in what is called a ruling house chieftaincy. There is the nomination, which is done by the family whose turn it is to provide candidate(s). There is the appointment, which is done by kingmakers. And finally the approval by the government.
“The vacancy occurred on January 26, 1968, but it was not filled until January 13, 1971. The cabinet was reshuffled on January 5, 1970. I came in as Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. I solved the problem by January 1971.
“The head of the family had his own son as a candidate and the declaration allowed more than one candidate. But what he did was always to remove the names of all the other applicants, except his son. He would then forward it to the kingmakers. The declaration demanded through the head of the princes without reservation, but he had put in reservation.
“The first round of confusion was that the nomination was interfered with by the government in a very complicated and painful way. Each time they held a meeting and they nominated more than one candidate, the chairman put forward only one candidate.
“The confusion was so great that the government set up a commission of enquiry. The late Chief Magistrate Obileye was put in charge. He came to the conclusion, very strange, that there was only one candidate validly nominated. That was odd.
“The light at the end of the tunnel was provided by the late Justice Michael Ogundare. He was the counsel to that Obileye Enquiry. He recommended, as a minority voice, that the thing should be cancelled.
“The government decided to make an edict to say that only one candidate was lawfully nominated. The next thing was that they placed that single candidate before the kingmakers and the kingmakers rejected it two times.
“The third time, they put in the name of Lamidi Adeyemi, who was not even placed before them. The kingmakers were then brought to Ibadan and intimidated. They were led by the late Chief Esuola Akano, who was an exemplary person.
“Akano told (the then Col. Adeyinka) Adebayo (Military Governor, defunct Western State) that they were ready to die and, if they should kill them, they requested that their bodies should be released to their families. That they were not going to do anything wanted by (Chief Obafemi) Awolowo and Adebayo, and that is all! Awolowo backed the other man.
“At that stage, the governor introduced another round of confusion. They dismissed the Oyo Mesis (the kingmakers), seven of them. When the seven Oyo Mesis voted, two voted for the government candidate and five voted against him.
“In reconstituting the replacement, they chose village chiefs, Elepe of Iseke, Aguo of Oyo and others. This was an insult on the tradition and the people of Oyo.
“The new kingmakers were immorally constituted in that the two who voted for Ladepo were included and five who voted against were thrown out. The seven (new Oyo Mesis) met. Within 10 minutes, they had appointed Ladepo, Aranlola’s son, as the Alaafin of Oyo.
“The last stage was the application of Section 21, which was the approval. That approval, however, never came.
“Section 21, more or less, says: ‘Notwithstanding the fact that this appointment has been made in accordance with the law and approved and registered declaration, the government may, nevertheless, approve or, nevertheless, set aside the said appointment, in the interest of peace, order and good governance.’
“When I took over, that nomination and appointment had taken place waiting for approval. After several months of study, I brought out a new approach to the subject and showed that a serious mistake had been made.
“And for this serious mistake, the involvement of an organisation called Oyo Multipurpose, for this mistake, everything they had done was a nullity. You cannot put something on nothing, it will not stand.
“After a long and extensive debate with the Attorney-General, I wrote him a one-page letter, and he replied with a seven-page (letter). It was unsatisfactory for me. I took it to the executive council, and it was overruled. That the thing was legally incorrect. That appointment was then nullified.
“Then we began another process by allowing the man whose appointment was nullified to re-contest, as well as all other candidates. We took steps to make sure all candidates were put on a level playing field.
“That was how Lamidi Adeyemi got in. On September 4, 1969, very desperate things were done. Oba Lamidi Adeyemi got in there after about three years of struggling.”
Olunloyo’s succinct account agreed with what Alaafin told me earlier in an interview. It was published in Daily Sun, October 14, 2017, a day to his 79th birthday. Excerpts: “My appointment could be described as the proverbial elephant passing through the eye of the needle. Even after my ascension, the intrigues still continued in different forms.
“One of these was the political conspiracy to demean the status of the Alaafin in one way or the other. The relentless squabbles between the Alaafin and the Ooni of Ife, the late Oba Okunade Sijuade, Olubuse II, was the attempt of the people in power to hide from the public well documented historical facts, that is, the archival materials in the archives of the old Western Region Government and the Federal Ministry of Information, dating back to pre-colonial era.
“Whenever I make such documents available to members of the public, those in government become peeved, rattled and unsettled. I have lived under various governments of the defunct Western Region to the old Oyo State before Osun State was carved out from it.”
He agreed struggle for the throne was not for boys. It was fierce and protracted: “Yes, it was indeed. There were some reasons for that. The first was the heat surrounding the deposition of my late father, Oba Adeniran Adeyemi II, on trumped-up charges by the powers that be at that time.”
“That was after a political riot between supporters of the ruling Action Group (AG) and the opposition National Council for Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC), on September 5, 1954, at the Akesan Market. What irked the government was the refusal of my father to stop the NCNC from holding its planned rally.
“As part of the premeditated design to get rid of the Alaafin by all crooked means, government even neglected the recommendation of its commission of inquiry under Crown Counsel, Mr R.E Lloyds. Both my father and the Aremo were subjected to all kinds of unimaginable humiliations. The malice was to be extended to me with a view to disinheriting the Alowolodu dynasty.
“But the people of Oyo in total unison resisted that ignoble move. Even on assumption of the exalted title, they still went on with their malice by doing everything within their powers to demystify the influence of Alaafin in Yoruba land.
“It is, however, instructive that for me, I hold no grudge against anybody. I met them in the characteristic paternity of Alaafin with open arms. It took them some time before they relaxed though not totally against the institution of the Alaafin.
“In a nutshell, what gave me an edge was the common resolve of the Oyo people nay well-meaning Yoruba people to redress the injustice done to my father.
“I do not allow any prejudice to blindfold me against denying the achievements of Awolowo. The same goes for my acknowledgment of Bola Ige’s free education in the old Oyo State.
“All I have to say is to thank Oyo people who stood stoutly by my father during his travails. From them, I drew a lot of courage and inspiration even before my appointment.
“I was already worthy to be called a cult hero within and outside Oyo. How could I forget late Chief Emmanuel Oyedele Ashamu, the late wealthy business mogul of Oke-Afa Farms in Lagos and late Chief Shittu Olopoeniyan of Okeho, etc.
“But most importantly the duo of Adebayo and Olunloyo. Olunloyo impressed and continues to impress me as a quintessential man of this universe. He graduated with honours from one of the oldest universities in Scotland at the age of 21.”
Should Atanda, the firstborn of Adeniran, care to look back? He proudly would raise his shoulders high and beat his chest. And like a delighted lizard, nod his head in total satisfaction.
Why? Lamidi came, saw and conquered. His was a fulfilled life.
Yes, from start-to-finish!