I take liberty of my long friendship with the late Kabiyesi in writing this tribute from across the Oceans in New York.
Engineer Kayode Oluwatuyi was the First well educated Osolo in all of Akure History
His prestigious title like that of the Iralepo of Isinkan as Quarter Chiefs for the 60 years of my grandfather Deji Afunbiowo Adesida’s tenure on the throne and for the 32 years combined of my Uncle Deji Ademuagun Adesida the Second (1957-1973) and Deji Adelegan Adesida (1975-1991)
Those were the years when the predecessors of the Osolo and the Iralepo were contented in being recognized as different from the “Iwarafa” Mefa Group of Chiefs in Akure and they answered the title of High Chiefs in Akure.
They never openly challenged Deji Afunbiowo or two of his sons who succeeded him. They clearly learned some lessons from Alara Adamu of Ilara Mokin and the price he had paid for openly deciding to wear the crown during the colonial Era when only few prominent royal fathers in Yoruba land were allowed by Yoruba tradition to wear the crown.
Even the Olubadan despite the size of his domain was not permitted to wear the crown.
The Osolo and the Iralepo never openly nursed the ambition to wear the crown outside their residential Quarters or Palaces or beyond the days when they celebrated their annual festivals called Owayoko in Isolo and the Supreme Deity festival in Isinkan where the Iralepo is the big boss.
All that “status quo” gradually began to change once Nigerian politicians came to power replacing the British Colonial Administrators who could not imagine any nobility in the UK claiming the right to wear the crown like the King and the Queen of England. So they fully understand the import of not allowing every Dick and Harry in the UK to wear the crown but our Nigerian politicians do not think like them. Proliferation of the power to wear the crown means nothing to them. They are therefore open and willing to allow a village head to wear the crown like the Oonirisa Arole Oodua and the great Alaafin of Oyo. The proliferation has been so bastardized today that some of the powerful Obas like Oonirisa Sijuade and Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi we’re refusing to join the mad rush to wear the crown unless it is absolutely necessary or mandatory
The quest to wear the crown intensified during the tenure of Osolo Omoliki and Iralepo Ojo both of whom were a bit educated and they now began to nurse the ambition to be recognized as traditional rulers in their own right and because they claimed they were traditional rulers in their former domains before they sought to merge their domains with Akure metropolis to avoid being wiped out by more dominant warriors in the inter tribal wars that were very common at the time but they also pledged to surrender their sovereignty or subjugate it to that of the Deji as the paramount ruler of Akure Kingdom.
But once Nigerian politicians completely took over after Independence strange things began to happen.
The Iralepo and the Osolo saw an opening with the politicians and they began to ask for recognition to wear the crown and their domains to be recognized as a separate and independent entity from Akure.
The quest to be recognized as crown-wearing Obas had intensified the more when very rich and highly educated Engineer Kayode Oluwatuyi was installed the Osolo and he very quickly teamed up with Iralepo Ojo to aggressively fight their case and to involve politicians and Government in so doing, and they were both successful but the Deji and the Akure Council of Chiefs opposed their move and it became a Court case.
The two chiefs had won in the lower Court but in a brief filed for Akure by lawyer Gabriel Omodara Falowo at the Appeal Court the Deji had won but the two Chiefs took their case to the Supreme Court.
While the case was still pending in the Supreme Court Governor Akeredolu based on the recommendations of a Commission of Enquiry headed by a High Court Judge had decided to recognize the two Chiefs as Grade B Obas without any more allegiance to the Deji as their prescribed authority.
That was the beginning of trouble and the the crux of the matter as the Deji of Akure viewed the move as an encroachment on his traditional power and authority but Governor Akeredolu could care less. He had responded to the Deji by threatening and intimidating him so the poor man had to pipe down. The Deji did not complain or tell anybody but we all knew he reserved the right to feel the way he felt because Isinkan and Isolo have always been part and parcel of Akure from time immemorial but Akeredolu as Governor feels the decision has to be forced down the throat of the Deji and Akure Council of Chiefs.
The simmering drama and offensive took a different turn when Lawyer Ojo the son of Iralepo Ojo was picked to succeed his father and he refused to settle for anything less than recognizing him as a full fledged traditional ruler of Isinkan and he had the ears and the cooperation of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu who decided to back him up fully.
Once the case of the Iralepo was settled the same right and privilege had to be extended mutatis mutandi to the new Osolo who initially agreed to bear the title of High Chief
Osolo before his title was now changed to Oba Osolo. Osolo Kolawole had stoop to conquer unlike Larry Idowu who insisted he would not accept the title of High Chief and he lost out, sad to say. He would have been the incumbent Osolo today if he had listened to advice. I apologize for the little digression.
Osolo Oluwatuyi arguably the richest man ever crowned the Osolo in the entire History of Akure had played a big role in having the title upgraded but the gentleman who finished the job was the current Iralepo and he deserved the respect and the gratitude of the current Osolo without any iota of doubt.
I tell the truth and I call it like I see it as a Historian who writes for Posterity and not just for today.
I don’t care what anyone may say. I tell the truth as I know it and I damn the consequence.
I am not here to please anybody or to take side. Somebody has to speak up for the truth.
Oba Kayode Oluwatuyi had used his limitless wealth and affluence to keep the Osolo and the Iralepo titles in Akure in the forefront of publicity and recognition by joining hands with Oba Iralepo Ojo to have Isolo and Isinkan carved out from Akure to be separate domains presided over by each of them as royal fathers with full right to wear the crown on the authority of the Ondo State Government and by the special permission of Governor Odunayo Oluwarotimi Akeredolu SAN who simply decided to put an end to the endless struggle of the two Obas to be recognized as traditional rulers within Akure South Local Government along with so many titles of the same pedigree in Ondo State.
He, the Governor had chosen to elevate the two titles based on the recommendations of the Chieftaincy Commission he had set up.
Myself as a retired top Administrator in the Federal Civil Service cannot fault the Governor for what he had done.
I think he did the right and he followed the usual Civil Service protocol in doing it.
What I question or challenge is the way he had done it by making the Deji look redundant and totally helpless and powerless.
I don’t like that and most Akure people I speak to don’t like it as well.
If the Governor is bent on changing the “ status quo” he must do so with decorum and diplomacy is my point.
All of the ancestors and predecessors on the Iralepo and Osolo have always pled allegiance to the Deji -in-Council as the paramount ruler of Akure and their Superior and not just as their “Primus inter Pares” like the Iralepo is now arrogantly suggesting. Akure must in good conscience reject that.
The Deji is not First among equals compared to Osolo and the Iralepo as some revisionists in Isolo and Isinkan are now suggesting as they now want the two Obas to claim parity with the Deji.
If that is their goal or intent, they are wrong in Law and Common sense.
The Deji is not in the same league with the Osolo and the Iralepo.
If a stark illiterate is crowned the Deji tomorrow, he would still remain the paramount of ruler just like Kabiyesi Olowo Ogunoye the Second has remained the paramount ruler at Owo where the Governor comes from. The Olowo is never in the same league with the King of Ijebu Owo and neither is the Owa Ale of Ikare in the same league with the Olukare of Ikare. We all need to put the records straight
I strongly believe Governor Akeredolu has made his move in a manner to spite the Deji in particular and the Akure Council of Chiefs in general .
But I agree there is no legal way to fault the Governor for what he had done.
I will be the first to admit that, but he ought to warn the two title holders not to disrespect the Deji and to give peace a chance in Akure.
I don’t know if Governor Akeredolu had done that or not but that is what I would have done if I were in his shoes.
I write this tribute to put the record straight and to state that the Osolo and the Iralepo were traditional rulers where they came from before the Deji of Akure had allowed them to settle in his domain and where the two communities still reside until now.
Two wrongs don’t make a right
The two titles were never part of the Iwarafa Mefa Group of Chiefs in Akure.
I have said it before in all of my writings and I would say it again that the two titles deserve their special recognition as such but the recognition should have been offered them by Government in a way that does not compromise or disrespect the Deji as an institution.
The way Governor Akeredolu has handled their recognition and their elevation could easily have made the Iralepo and the Osolo very arrogant and insolent but that is something that Osolo Oluwatuyi would not have done or condoned because I know him.
He has always considered himself as an Akure original and an Isolo man and he had wanted peace to reign supreme in both communities.
I believe the Iralepo also want peace for Akure and Isikan from all I know about him.
I hear he is a gentleman too but a great fighter.
I bear no malice for him and I know that the symbiosis between him and Osolo Oluwatuyi would have been as good as the symbiosis between Oba Oluwatuyi and his father who was another gentleman and an Akure original, I might add.
I respect the two title holders and I wish them the best of luck.
I know that Osolo Oluwatuyi had always stood up for peace in Akure and would not wish for any civil strife that may cause the kind of lawlessness and Brigandage that Akure had suffered on August 16, 1983 when some illustrious Akure sons like High Chief Sashere Robert Akesogie Agbayewa, Honorable Olaiya Fagbamigbe, lawyer Agunbiade from Oda, Alagbede Aroye Chief Ijekiti of Isolo and Chief Akogun Oluyede of Akure and few others were all murdered in cold blood in Akure due to Political vendetta in the aftermath of Omoboriowo election rigging of the Governorship elections in 1983.
Kabiyesi Oluwatuyi was a man of Peace who wanted Isolo and Akure to grow and develop together.
He actively participated and promoted that development by building and owning close to 50 Houses in Akure by the time he made his transition into glory roughly ten years ago.
I know that Oba Kayode Oluwatuyi as the pioneer President of the Ajapada Social Circle of Akure to which I belong, had canvassed for peace and progress in Akure as Kabiyesi the great Osolo of Isolo as recorded and as noted by all Akure Historians myself included.
His Rainbow Hotel in Akure at Oluwatuyi Quarters was a landmark Hotel in Akure.
All the stories now being peddled around that the Iralepo had brought his crown from Ile, has not been validated by any research I have done on Ile Ife and Akure History.
I therefore cannot vouch for its authenticity or accuracy but it appears to me that Governor Akeredolu and his Government would appear to have swallowed those stories hook line and sinker.
People tell all kinds of stories when they are out to do mischief or mislead the Public.
I recall how the Alaiyede of Aiyede Ogbese Professor Peter Oluyede once made the same claim that he brought his crown from Ile Ife. That was a big lie and I told him to his face even though I held him in high esteem as an academic giant and a gentle man.
It was my grandfather Deji Afunbiowo who had chosen Pa Oluyede their Patriarch as the pioneer Baale of Aiyede Ogbese.
The family did not come from any royal lineage before then.
Deji Afunbiowo offered him the title because Prince Adelegan Adesida who later became the Deji in 1975 had married one of Pa Oluyede’s daughters.
My grandfather had made a similar offer to Pa Alekete Falae to become the pioneer Baale of Ago Abo which has now been renamed as Ilu Abo by Oba Oluyemi Falae the current Oluabo. Pa Alakete Falae’s grand mother who married Elemo Adedipe the First was one of the daughters of Deji Osupa the First.
That much I know and can confirm.
To the eternal credit of Osolo Oluwatuyi, the grandson of Osolo Abibiri and his forebears in Isolo are yet to trace their own origin to Ile Ife as the new Iralepo has clearly done by even suggesting that the Iralepo and his ancestors were the first settlers of Akure Land and Isinkan.
If you believe that fabrication, you will believe anything.
The position of Oba Oluwatuyi which I totally endorse and respect is that the Osolo and the Iralepo were Obas from where they came from and ought to be accorded that recognition without necessarily trampling on or undermining the authority of the Deji as their prescribed authority and paramount ruler of Akure Kingdom.
Osolo Kayode Oluwatuyi was born a King from the cradle and he acted and behaved like one from his Primary School days and up to his years at the great Aquinas College where he graduated from before proceeding to London to graduate as an Engineer and before joining the Federal Civil Service to rise to the top in his chosen profession.
He was crowned the Osolo of Isolo by acclamation and consensus many years later because his father Pa Sibesibe Oluwatuyi was the direct son of Osolo Abibiri.
I have nothing but praise and adulation for his tenure as the Osolo when he singlehandedly built the new ultra modern Palace for himself and for all future Osolos.
It takes a good man to want to invest his personal wealth on a public property like a Palace that none of his survivors can claim as their own when he is no longer around.
He has definitely left Isolo a thousand times better than he had met it.
He has touched the lives of many Oba Ile and Isolo and Akure people he has turned into millionaires by either employing them into his very successful Company or by turning them into big contractors and showing them the way to become rich like him.
One of them that I know very well was late Mr. Abidakun of Oba Ile and Isolo.
Another is the former Chief Omolaare of Akure, Mr. Josie Abegunde, a good childhood friend of mine with whom I grew up in the Deji’s Palace.
Josie had told me with his own mouth that Osolo Kayode Oluwatuyi had single-handedly turned his life around to become everything he had become in life.
Josie is still alive to confirm the veracity of this statement.
The last and not the least out of many is the man popularly known as Chief Omotayo a,k. a. WM 1313 who became a big contractor thru the influence and the generosity of Osolo Kayode Oluwatuyi.
The man got so rich and so prosperous in life that Kayode Oluwatuyi graciously conferred on him the title of High Chief Olisa of Isolo and the man is still alive today and can testify to this statement.
Osolo Oluwatuyi was a great blessing and asset to Akure in many profound ways.
He made sure that his close friend and classmate at Aquinas College late Engineer James Raymond Olusoga. a former Commissioner for Works in Ondo State who was his Deputy at the Ajapada Social Club of Akure also rose to become High Chief “Olisa of Akure and the second in command to the Deji of Akure before his death in a motor accident a few years ago.
Late Oba Kayode Oluwatuyi was a priceless jewel of inestimable value in Akure Community and he would be remembered for Eternity as a great patriot and one of the greatest sons of Akure without any scintilla of doubt.
I cannot help but remember him with some nostalgia as an embodiment and epitome of humility and decency and a gentleman to the core and one of the greatest human beings to ever walk the surface of the Earth from all I know about him.
“Kawo. Kabiyesi Eegun Nla to nkehin Igbale
Omo Osolo Abibiri, Erinlakatabu Omo Oloba o rin jeule. Omo Olokelisa Ibi eo sopo sI. O ma ri sowo, e s’aje woti ona Okelisa.
Omo Oligi sowo Ona Usolo. O da Umesi sile ke Ebi mo ba p’omo Oba ke e bo.
Upalefa gbo na t’Eru t’Omo poyiyi Ona Okelisa,
Omo a y’Ugbo Ebo m’Osupa jiere bo.
Ale I le ki Omo Oba m’orin tugbi Osan li Soro.
Odudu gbemu gbemu O l’Omi sira bi Aboyun.
Odidimade o pa bi Eleja. Omo a mu Abere gun yan ki Ado Igberigbe mo mo. Omo ou nini Aso
Omo Irin ke e se bi Eji Omo Elehinkule atowire.
Ogiso Otolu Apaara O ko Eyin Ori Ogun seje.
Alaiye gbede gbede bi oni layin Omo Orisa jimi la ki mi ri bi Olule yi. Sugbon ku o ri bi Olule yi, ku e l’adin be sI kon?
Omo Okun kanre kanre. Kabiyesi Ekun tan ni Keremu, Agbogbomoja, o gbo m’oni buruku ori. O tori Ileke d’Oluku Oyo, Omi nini Eiye mu.
Ma j’Okun me j’Ekolo. Ohun ti won ba nje l’ajule Orun ni ko ba won je.
Omo Olule Oroke Ke e ri afopin Eiye. Firi firi bala bala, O jo yere abi o j’o Iba re. Saki Ekun
O darinako, O
d’Oju Ala. Alukunrin Eiye Umojo Mi kari jo ko da, O dege murin Omo Umole ko ma ri d’ele oni sugbon ko ri ale Ule fin
Ooooooodio”
Eternal rest grant our beloved friend and father Kabiyesi till we meet to part no more.
Omo Oba Dr. Wumi Akintide
Oyemekun Terrace
New York
Sent from my iPhone
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