*Photo: The late Chief Busari Adelakun*
Historically, Oyo State is the key centre of Southwest politics. Ibadan, the capital city, was the political laboratory where the legendary Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the first Premier of Western Region in Nigeria’s First Republic (1963 to 1966) and the leader of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the Second Republic (1979 to 1983), incubated, tested and saw to fruition many of his revolutionary human development ideas.
Chief Awolowo worked with a vast network of heterogeneous associates and they created different platforms, such as the UPN, for fulfilling his different social visions. Chief Adebisi Akande, who later became the Secretary to the Oyo State Government and thereafter Deputy Governor of the state, recalled: “At a meeting of the then Oyo State Committee of Friends (an organisation created by Chief Obafemi Awolowo which metamorphosed into Unity Party of Nigeria) in Okeho sometime in 1978, at whose election of officers I presided as the Returning Officer, Alhaji [Busari Oloyede] Adelakun was elected the Treasurer.”
Alhaji Adelakun, who passed away on 3 July, 1986, forty years ago, was a farmer, a school teacher, a tax officer, a businessman and a politician. He was also a farmers union President, a Local Government Councillor, and a Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs (and later for Health) in the cabinet of Oyo State’s Governor Bola Ige from 1979 – 1983. Chief Adelakun was, in addition, honoured with the Islamic religious title of Bashorun Musulumi [‘Defender of Muslims’] of Oyo State and he held the traditional chieftaincy title of Jagun Balogun [‘War Commander’] of Ibadanland, and he had joined the ascending line of prospective occupants of the Olubadan royal stool.
Probably conscious of his own educational limitations, with his highest academic qualification being a Standard 6 Certificate, Chief Adelakun made great efforts to give his children solid education. His investments in the children’s education yielded remarkable dividends, and they have acquired degrees or professional qualifications in Law, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Midwifery, Agricultural Economics, Education and Library Studies, among others.
One of his daughters, Dr. Jadesinmi Mohammed, a former Nigerian polytechnic Chief Lecturer of Law, a former Chief Magistrate in the Oyo State Judiciary and now an Associate Professor in the Nigerian university system, noted that Chief Adelakun was an efficient manager of his polygamous home who created so much harmony, camaraderie and mutual support that she remarked: “One is sometimes tempted to believe that polygyny’s advantages outweigh its disadvantages.”
She further noted: “[He] consciously pursued equity as much as humanly possible among wives and children alike … For example, there were children from six wives in the household, and some had to go abroad for studies. He balanced the interest by arranging for others (whose full brothers or sisters were not schooling abroad) to go for holidays [outside Nigeria].” Dr. Mohammed also remarked that all of his four wives (along with his eldest daughter) performed the holy pilgrimage to Mecca in 1977.
Chief Adelakun was also reputed for taking active part in the affairs of his community. In the area of politics, he was a member of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group (AG) in the First Republic in the 1960s and was part of the original or Second Republic version of the UPN.
In fact, Chief Tunji Abolade, a Member of the House of Representatives in 1979, who was also Chairman, Osun State Local Government Service Commission in Governor Bisi Akande’s administration in Osun State also recollected: “My association with him started with our membership of the executive council of the UPN, the ruling political party in the old Oyo State. Chief Adelakun was bold, frank and down-to-earth, straight forward. He would not compromise what he believed to be true. He understood the nature of politics of the grassroots in Ibadan more than anybody in the whole of Ibadan of his time.”
Pa G.A.O Oyinlola, a Retired Permanent Secretary in old Oyo State, also remarked in relation to Chief Adelakun: “I was Permanent Secretary in the Governor’s Office. He came round to make a request for the upgrading of Baale of Ejioku [his community of origin] – to a recognised Chief under Part II of Chiefs Law, Oyo State, and government approved his request after fulfilling all necessary conditions.” Pa Oyinlola further noted that, as Commissioner, Chief Adelakun “knew his limitations, so he took my advice when it did not impinge on his political arrangement.”
In addition, Pa Oyinlola noted: “Having being a Local Government worker before, he knew his onions about the needs of the local governments. For instance, in the first budget, he ensured that government provided funds for the purchase of bulldozers, graders, and low loaders. …. Every local government was then given. They were able to do grading of roads and construction of earth roads with the equipment.”
Former Lagos State Governor Alhaji Lateef Jakande also reminisced on the 20th anniversary of Chief Adelakun’s death: “A foresighted leader, Alhaji Oloyede Adelakun started the autonomy of Local Government Administration as the Honourable Commissioner of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs by building a permanent Administrative Secretariat for each of the twenty-five (25) Local Government Areas of old Oyo State (including the present Osun State). Today, the Local Government Administration has achieved a high level of independence and autonomy that Alhaji Adelakun had in mind.”
Alhaji Jakande noted further: “Chief Adelakun also started the distribution of heavy graders and, low loaders and ploughing machines. This exercise generated a lot of controversy then, but alas, has become a general policy issue that all states in Nigeria have adopted in order to facilitate easy access to farm-implements thereby increasing dividends of democracy to the grassroot people. Even … our great leader Chief Obafemi Awolowo recognised the great potentials of Alhaji Busari Adelakun as a spectacular being and rated him the best performing Commissioner of Local Government in the Unity Party of Nigeria-controlled states.”
Chief Adelakun was not averse to hard-knuckle politics, and did not respect jelly-like politicians. Indeed, he was himself called “Eruobodo” (‘Fearless’), a shortened form of the Yoruba proverb “Èrù ò ba odò; eni tí yóó wo odò lominú n ko” (‘The river is fearless; it’s the person who would enter the river who’s jittery.’) So, all sorts of heroic stories or myths were spun around him. For example, he was reported to have driven unhurt through a bonfire set across the road to prevent his official entourage from accessing one part of Oyo State. It was also rumoured that when he was punitively redeployed as commissioner from the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the commissioner who replaced him died from sitting on the seat Chief Adelakun left behind.
Alhaji Abdul-Azeez Arisekola Alao the now-late Ibadan business mogul and Aare Musulumi (‘Leader and Protector of Muslims’) of Yorubaland had this to say about Chief Adelakun: “As a strong, fearless and very influential politician, Alhaji Adelakun was a force to reckon with in the Bola Ige administration. Being the Local Government Commissioner and with formidable aides like Senator Fawole, Chief Eniade, Alhaji Lateef Omotoso and Chief Supo Ojo, Alhaji Adelakun got the support of the grassroot people in virtually all the Local Governments of the then-Oyo State.”
Alhaji Arisekola further noted: “Realising the intimidating political strength of the Adelakun group in the state and the danger it could pose to his future, Governor Bola Ige redeployed Alhaji Adelakun to the Ministry of Health in a bid to cut his wings and that was the beginning of their fallout.” The crisis got to a head when on 31 August, 1980 the Ogunpa Flood Disaster occurred in Ibadan.
According to late Dr. Toyese Mabaje, the crème-de-la-crème of Ibadan indigenes visited Governor Bola Ige to commiserate with the governor and see how they could be of assistance, while also urging the governor to stem the marginalisation of Ibadan indigenes in the governance of the state. One medium reported that Chief Bola Ige’s response included the rhetorical question “Omo Ibadan wo ló tó gómìnà í se?” (‘Which Ibadan indigene is qualified to be governor?’) With a bruised ego, the Ibadan elite started a movement to teach the governor a lesson by ensuring that he did not get a second term in office.
Dr. Omololu Olunloyo of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was identified as that Ibadan indigene that could give Governor Bola Ige a good run for his money, and the battle cry for the Ibadan-redeeming agenda was “Omo wa ni, e jé ó seé.” (‘He [Olunloyo] is our son; let him win [irrespective of your party affiliation’). Meanwhile, Chief Adelakun had defected from the UPN to the NPN, due to his personal problems with the governor, and he led the pro-Ibadan onslaught. Governor Bola Ige consequently lost his second term bid. According to Dr. Mabaje, “The outcome of this movement was the birth of … Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes [CCII].”
It is not certain whether Chief Busari Adelakun ever read the political treatise by the Italian Nicolo Machiavelli in his 1513 famous work, titled The Prince, in which he opined regarding fear and love: “Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with. … [Human beings] have less scruple in offending one who is beloved than one who is feared, for love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of [humans], is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”
Being a prince himself, of Ejioku, Chief Busari Adelakun maintained what Machiavelli thought was difficult to achieve: he maintained an easy balance between being loved and being feared. He was deeply loved by his family for providing exemplary affection; his wives for demonstrating what it meant to be just or equitable; and the people of Ejioku for ensuring that their interests never suffered with regard to the competition for social and infrastructural amenities. But Chief Adelakun was also feared so much that people were extremely cautious in their attempts to avoid being seen to be undermining any of those interests that he held dearly.
Chief Adelakun meant different things to different people, but among the most endearing of his attributes was that he demonstrated that it was not necessarily the quantum of education one acquired that granted one social relevance, but one’s functional application of the bit of education acquired to uplifting one’s family, associates and society at large. This makes the late Chief Busari Oloyede Adelakun a fitting subject for intellectual enquiry.