On Friday, 18 October, Ado-Ekiti, under the leadership of our baba, His Majesty, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejuyigbe, Aladesanmi III, rolled out the drums to celebrate the first Afe Babalola Day. This was to honour Aare Afe Babalola, the city’s famous son, who is the Founder/Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD).
For many decades now, Babalola, 95 on 30 October, has been the most dominant force for the social engineering of Ado-Ekiti and his potent relevance and perversive influence remains unignorable. Senator Femi Ojudu, hero of our struggle against military rule and a denizen of Ado, said Babalola needs to be celebrated with Afe Babalola Day because he is a living example of the old-time ethos of Ekiti for dignity and self-worth.
There is no doubt that Baba Afe has succeeded spectacularly in building himself up. The first time he travelled to Ibadan, there were no tarred roads between Ado and Ibadan and when he landed at Ogunpa motor park, he looked like an alien from the red planet. The journey had taken a day and a night and everyone was covered with red dust. He shook himself up and was determined to challenge destiny into a dance. Today, the university he founded barely 15 years ago, is almost as famous as its legendary chancellor. He had learnt the lesson of always returning home, to nurture the land of his ancestors and give meaning to their sacrifices. Now, he is being honoured as a living ancestor.
You cannot be with Baba Afe without learning life lessons. In 1983, as a young reporter, I was posted to Akure as the Chief Correspondent of the National Concord. Even then, Afe’s name resonated in the air as a leading political and social figure. He was the chairman of the Federal Polytechnic, Akure, which was then moving to Ado-Ekiti through his singular effort. The old premises vacated by the polytechnic was taken over by the new Federal University of Technology, Akure. The Ondo State Government under Governor Adekunle Ajasin had also opened its new university, Obafemi Awolowo University, in Ado-Ekiti (now known as the Ekiti State University). Suddenly, two tertiary institutions were fighting for space in the Ekiti heartland. The Ekiti citizens welcomed the development heartily. Afe Babalola donated the first building of the new Federal Polytechnic.
It is clear today that Afe Babalola’s prayers have been answered. He started his life as a teacher and ended up building a university. His parents were farmers and today, he is the biggest farmer in Ekiti and one of the biggest in Nigeria. He travelled to England to study Law and today, his law firm is one of the most successful in the country. He is a Senior Advocate and his son is also a Senior Advocate. Afe is tireless in the pursuit of good things for his people and good things are also steadfastly pursuing him. What do you say about a 95-year-old still going to work every day, including Sunday, in apparent good health and good spirit? Baba Afe is living the good life. He has paid his dues and young people of today have a lot of lessons to learn from this humble giant.
Few years ago, I was in his office when the ABUAD Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof. Smaranda Olarinde, led a young man in. The university has decided to employ him as a lecturer and the VC said the new man needed to see the Chancellor. He was an old student of ABUAD who had gone to South Africa for further studies and has now returned to his alma mater to contribute his quota. He animatedly told his story. When he was in ABUAD, he had lost his father and his mother did what mothers of old used to do: she sold her jewelleries, auctioned her car and starved herself to ensure that her son graduated.
Then he secured a scholarship to go to South Africa, got a part-time job and when he could raise enough money to buy a car, did not. Instead, he sent the money to his mother so that she can buy a car. It was a story that got Afe Babalola teary. He wiped his eyes repeatedly. He explained later that the story made him to remember the sacrifices of his late mother who did everything possible to enable him complete his studies in primary school. That was the only formal school he attended. It was after that he became a man. Since then, he has been changing his own corner of God’s earth.
One old man too who change our world is General Yakubu Gowon, who marked his 90th birthday on Saturday, 19 October 2024. He was 33 when Major Kaduna Nzeogwu struck and brought to an abrupt end the ill-fated First Republic. When the storm cleared, all senior military officers of Northern Nigeria extraction were dead, and to create a semblance of balance, the new military ruler, Major-General J.T.U. Aguiyi Ironsi, picked Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon to become the new Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Army. Gowon’s predecessor in that office, then Colonel Adeyinka Adebayo, was several years Gowon’s senior. Six months later, Ironsi was killed in the counter-coup and Gowon at 33, was catapulted to power. He was a bachelor, still searching for his future. Barely 15 years earlier, he was a secondary school student in Zaria where his father was an Anglican catechist.
Gowon spent nine years in power, becoming the longest reigning Nigerian ruler. He prosecuted and won a bitter civil war. He was a humane victor. He used Nigerian oil money to embark on a comprehensive infrastructural rebuilding of the country. It is a pity that the 12-state federal structure he created had not endured and we now have a plethora of 36 states. I believe the 12-state structure would have served Nigeria better.
Almost all his successors have worked under Gowon or have fallen under his influence. Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo were divisional commanders under him. Shehu Shagari was his Federal Commissioner (Minister) for Finance. Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha were subalterns when Gowon was Commander-in-Chief. Abdulsalami Abubakar was also a young officer under him. Umar Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Bola Tinubu; all served in the National Youths Service Corps that Gowon created. His has been a consequential life. Now that he is 90, I hope that he would be willing to publish his life story. I understand a manuscript had been ready for the past 10 years.
For His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Eniitan Ogunwuyi, Ojaja II, the Ooni of Ife, his story is just beginning. On 17 October, Kabiyesi celebrated his 50th birthday. It is not just a day of celebration for many activities, covering many days, were rolled out to celebrate the Arole Oduduwa of the Yoruba people. Ogunwusi had been many things before ascending the throne. He trained as an accountant and learnt the art of making money early. Nine years ago, when he emerged from the forest of Ifewara with the sacred Aare crown, the Ife people knew he had become the latest member of the Continuum, who would appropriate the essence of the eternal truth of the Yoruba people.
The Ooni is the only Oba that sits on the throne of Oduduwa, the progenitor of the Yoruba race. When Oduduwa descended from heaven, he came with the mandate to preside over the affairs of the earth. He is to receive counsel from the deities and Wise Ones of ancient Ile-Ife who are regarded as messengers or aides of Olodumare, the Most High. After hundreds of years, the old abode, Ife Odaaye, was destroyed by the deluge, but the settlement survived and took on the name Ife Ooye. When Oduduwa left, he gave the divine instruction that his Arole must always sits on the throne. His children, each armed with the bearded crown and other sacred objects, were mandated to move out and establish other settlements and kingdoms. Today, every Oba is merely an Arole for the first prince who got the mandate to establish the kingdom.
The Arole principle as at the heart of the Yoruba obaship system. Every Oba is the Arole of the first prince to wear the crown of his domain. No matter how fortunes smiles or frown at him, this can hardly change. Because of this, the hierarchy among Yoruba Obas is rigidly followed and every prince is conscious of when his ancestor left Ile-Ife with the bearded crown. Modernity may have eaten into the system, but the senior Obas, who are very much aware and sensitive about that ancient journey when their ancestors first wore the crown, guard their precedence jealously. They are the Arole of their ancestors and would not stand idly by while anyone tries to rewrite history.
For the Ifes, only the Chosen One can become the Ooni. Therefore, when Adeyeye first wore the Aare crown, his new life begun. For the Ooni, his birthday celebration is also a moment of becoming. At 50, he has reached a threshold of fullness on the throne. His experience in office must have revealed to him the immensity of his special job. Since ascending the throne, he has carried out his assignment with vitality and creativity. The future beckons to him to do more and more.
I wish Kabiyesi greater years ahead full of achievements and glory.
Babarinsa is Chairman of Gaskia Media Limited
