Late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona and Late Former President, Muhammad Buhari, goodnight to two great men
Death is a necessary end,it will come when it will come says William Shakespeare.
The Holy Book also says …To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
A time to be born,and a time to die..Ecclesiastical 3:1-2
What a coincidence that two titans in Nigeria’s history choose same day to answer the ultimate call of which all of us must answer .
What a loss for the country in politics and tradition!
But then, since God, the ultimate owner of all mortals alone decree time and season, no question of his Almighy. He does as He Wills.
Like a local musician Ayinla Omowura sang..Bi iku ba de,ko si lawyer ti yoo gboju se..meaning .. when Death comes,no lawyer can rise up in defence.
Nevertheless, the demise of the two titans has joined Nigerians in politics and tradition to mourn the passage same day but different hour of the duo.
What a Death and what a day!
Though the duo are old in age ,their death has left a vacuum difficult to be filed both in Nigerias politics and traditional institution.
The ‘Messiah ‘In Buhari
Since he joined politics in 1998 during the transition to civil rule organised by the military government led by one of his colleagues, Abdulsalam Abubakar, General Muhammadu Buhari, has remained a ‘Messiah’ of sort especially to the Northern masses and the Talakawas who regarded him as answer to their deliverance from poverty and bad leadership.
Not necessarily that he possesed what no other leader before him had, but perhaps for his reign as military head of state between 1984 and 1985 when he with the late Babatunde Idiagbon terminated the reign of the late Alhaji Shehu Shagari,President of Nigeria’s second republic .
Together with tough -talking and no- nonsense Idiagbon, often regarded as the action man of the regime, he has remained an Icon of sort-at least among his followers.
Even when his government was overthrown by self- styled General Ibrahim Babangida after 20 months in power, he returned to his Daura base the love for him by the Northern masses never wane while he was in political ‘Siberia’.
The Northern masses undying love for Buhari was demonstrated three times he contested but failed for the nation’s Presidency between 2003 and 2011.
That he contested three times and adorned the ‘Soroye’ -(one who saw the throne but never wore it),title during the twelve year period did not diminish the love for him.
However,his story and fortune changed in 2015 when he contested for the fourth time.
It is on record that In all the three elections he contested and lost,he garnered 12 million votes from the Norths 24 million registered voters.
But then, that did not make him President .
However, heaven smiled on his ambition when he dropped his regional toga and combined his political foot soldiers in Congress for Progressive Change,CPC, with incumbent President Bola Tinubu’s,Action Congress of Nigeria,ACN to berth the All Peoples Congress,APC which delivered the elusive South West votes for him to achieve his ambition and reach his destiny.
For Buhari, God and Tinubu made a change in his life just as the undying love of the Northern Talakawa helped in no small way to make him realise his life-long ambition.
While the impact of his eight- year rule is a subject of another discussion, the fact that he remains a ‘Messiah’ for the Norths proletariat and Talakawas till he breathe his last Sunday July 13 at a ripe age of 83 is incontestible.
It is a statement of fact to say that he came,saw and conquered.
That he remained steadfast and focused till he realized his ambition is also not in doubt.
What will be left for students of contemporary history is to examine whether he was able to translate his dreams in the mind and activities of his inner caucus and those he trusted with power during his eight year rule.
Revelations of alleged fraud in high places and among his core closet lieutenants while his rule lasted will left for history to record.
Was he able to use his disciples especially those who called the shots in his eight year rule to improve the lives of Nigerians who entrusted him with power and daily yearn for improved standard of living.?
Could we say that he was able to divulge his religiosity and ethnic chauvinism from efforts to reign in his religious and ethnic followers who transformed into bandits and terrorists making life difficult for those who religiously follow him and entrust him with their voting power?.
Now, the question remains, who steps into the larger than life ‘messianic’ shoes left behind by Buhari especially in the North West moslem dominated states of Nigeria where he had a chunk of his unflinching 12 million voters.?
Could any of his followers and other politicians from the North command the same ‘messianic ‘ following that could replicate another Buhari.
There is no doubt that the North West of Nigeria has the largest voting population,could anybody among the politicians of today attract same followership which the political leadership of the core- North has used to corner power and resources for themselves and not the masses they claim to represent?
Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona:
Since he mounted the throne sixty five years ago, he has remained a monarch in his own class.
A monarch with panache and about the most educated and urbane among those who preceded him.
Having mounted the throne in his late 20’s,Oba Adetona,Ogbagba 11 was an uncommon monarch who reigned and ruled with modernity and enjoyed the support of both the rich, elite and the educated who made his tenure not only the longest in the period of the ancient towns monarchy but made the Ijebus a proud people who thrived in education, commerce and culture.
That during the reign of Oba Adetona, he elevated the yearly Ojude- Oba festival into a world class event which redefined, albeit in a modern way, the rich culture of his people and elevated their business acumen and industry second to none in Yorubaland.
But for the brief face -off he had with the civilian government during the second republic when politicians use traditionalists to draw a wedge between him and his state government, Adetona protected and defended the political rights of his people and indeed whole of Yoruba, South West.
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As one of the leading lights who fought for the entrhonement of democracy,he hosted both traditional and political leaders to several meetings in his majestic palace to fight for the deannulment of the historic June 12 Presidential election.
He stood by and with the symbol of the election, the late Bashorun Moshood Abiola,until the later died in detention.
Among all monarch of his over six decades,he neither double speak on issues, and his position on Nigeria’s structural problems and need to restructure it are well known.
It is on record that Adetona’s reign witnessed the thriving of commerce and industry for which the Ijebu people are noted.
Perhaps one fitting legacy which he fought for is the creation of Ijebu State.
During his last visit to President Bola Tinubu,he renewed his call for the creation of the state adding that the old Ijebu Province remains the only one in the Old Western Region yet to be upgraded into a state.
But in spite of his cultivation of political power,Oba Awujale declared during the celebration of his birthday some years ago that his succession should not be politicized.
He was reacting to surreptitious moves to politicize ascendant to his throne after his demise among the ruling houses in the Ijebu kingdom.
With his passage same day with Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, he has joined the later in leaving behind a big shoe(difficult) to be filled by his successor.
Will the Ijebu traditional institution divulge itself of politics and allow a worthy successor to step into the larger than life shoes of this uncommon monarch.
Time will Tell
