The Passage of a Sage
By Kazeem Akintunde
Monday, May 05, 2008
The death of Abraham Adesanya, April 27, leaves a vacuum in the House of Oduduwa
My wish is that in my lifetime, the Yoruba race will never be subjugated because in the history of the Yoruba, it was never conquered." That was the statement made by Abraham Adesanya shortly after he emerged the leader of the Yoruba at the Premier Hotel, Ibadan, Oyo State on August 8, 1998. After 10 years in the saddle, Adesanya breathed his last April 27. His prayer that the Yoruba race should not be subjugated in his life time seems to have been answered but it is a known fact that he left the Yoruba race more divided than he met it.
The inordinate ambition of prominent sons and daughters of Oduduwa has been identified as the main cause of the division in the Yoruba race. For now, the pre-occupation of many of the followers of the late Obafemi Awolowo is to give the departed Adesanya a befitting burial after which the struggle to find a suitable replacement for him would begin.
Yinka Odumakin, national publicity secretary of Afenifere, Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, told Newswatch that given Adesanya a befitting burial is their major concern for now but after his burial, the search for a credible leader for the group would begin.
Already, Gbenga Daniel, governor of Ogun State has said that he and his colleagues in the South-West would give the departed Afenifere leader a state burial. "He is a leader of the Yoruba and the Nigerian nation and nothing short of a state burial would be acceptable," Daniel said. The state governors and the Adesanya family have not announced a date for the burial of Adesanya, but sources said it could happen on any day between May 23 and June 30. He would be buried in Ijebu-Igbo, his home town in Ogun State.
Adesanya, 85, passed on April 27, at his Apapa, Lagos residence shortly after his breakfast. Since then, his house has been turned to a Mecca of sort as Nigerians from all works of life throng the place to condole Arinola, widow of the late Yoruba leader and her children.
Goodluck Jonathan, vice-president led the federal government delegation which included John Odey, minister of Information and Sarafa Ishola, minister of Power and Steel to deliver President Umaru Yar'Adua's condolence letter to the family. President Yar'Adua described Adesanya as a father and a leader who was an icon, a patriot and someone who put his life on the line for the country. Indeed, on January 14, 1997, while Adesanya's car was trying to negotiate its way out of Simpson Street in Lagos, a car zoomed close to his and an occupant of the other car fired shots at his Mercedes Benz. The shot pierced through the rear windshield of his Mercedes Benz and passed through the front one. However, Adesanya was lucky. He and his driver, Kehinde Shoneye, were unhurt. Barnabas Jabilla (Sergeant Rogers), member of the dreaded strike force during the regime of the late Sani Abacha, claimed that his group was asked to eliminate Adesanya and other leaders of the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, by the regime of Sani Abacha.
For escaping the assassin's bullets in a mysterious way, Adesanya was given the appellation of Apamaku (one who refused to die). Before the assassination attempt, the former senator had emerged as one of the leading voices seeking the revalidation of the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election which was annulled by the regime of former President Ibrahim Babangida.
An unrepentant advocate of the advancement of the Yoruba nation in the scheme of things in Nigeria, Adesanya was unmistakable in his rejection of anti-Yoruba moves, especially during the military era. He spared no one in his condemnation of military rule and its apologists while he spent most of his time campaigning for true federalism in the country. To him, the root cause of Nigeria's numerous problems was the failure to practice true federalism as espoused by Awolowo.
After the return to democratic rule in 1999, Afenifere and the Yoruba nation was polarised into two camp as some of the state governors that emerged in the South-West insisted that it was time to separate the group-Afenifere from the Alliance for Democracy, AD, on whose platform they were elected into office. But Adesanya, on several occasions, insisted that Afenifere was AD and AD was Afeniefere.
The way the late Bola Ige, deputy leader of the group was treated by many of his colleagues during the selection of a presidential candidate of the party at which Olu Falae emerged as the presidential candidate of AD also did a terrible damage to the group under Adesanya. Ige believed that after he enquired from Adesanya whether he was interested in the presidential race and he said no, he should have throw his weight behind him as his deputy instead of voting for Falae who emerged the candidate of the party. For that singular issue, Ige never forgave many of his colleagues and in order to get his own pound of flesh, picked up a ministerial job under a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, government.
Ige also went ahead to create the Yoruba Council of Elders, YCE. Both Afenifere and the Yoruba nation are still suffering the consequences of that action.
The worsening health condition of Adesanya shortly after the 2003 general election also led to his inability to effectively lead the organisation. While a group recognised Rueben Fasoranti as the acting leader, another group recognised Ayo Fasanmi.
The Fasanmi group argued that there was no provision for the position of acting leader in the constitution of the Afenifere since Adesanya had a deputy. Not even moves by Yoruba Retreat Group to bring the two groups of Afenifere leaders together yielded any desired result.
Recently, Kayode Esho, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, was also mandated to proffers solutions to the crisis in the house of Oduwuwa.
Odumakin, however, hoped that the death of Adesanya would bring about the much desired unity in the Yoruba race. "It is time for us to put our differences aside and work towards the growth and development of the race. It is time for our leaders to consider the well-being of many Yoruba indigenes, whose condition of living has deteriorated," Odumakin said.
Born on July 24, 1922, to a herbalist and a polygamist, Adesanya studied law at the famous Holborn College of Law, United Kingdom after graduating from Ijebu-Igbo Grammar School in 1944 Adesanya returned to Nigeria soon after qualifying as a lawyer and joined politics.
He was selected to the Western House of Assembly as a parliamentarian representing Ijebu-Igbo constituency in 1959. An Awoist to the core in his political career, he was a member of the committee of friends that transformed into Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, led by Awolowo. Adesanya was elected a senator on the platform of UPN in 1979 and 1983.
Additional report by Peter Ochai.
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