The fifty- two year reign of Oba Lamidi Adeyemi. ( Tribute to Iku Baba Yeye, Alaafin of Oyo)
– Steve Ovirih.
Oyo Alaafin is a kingdom central to the political history of Yoruba land. The kingdom will be in rave reviews in the next few days and weeks; the unexpected has happened! As it is diplomatically muttered in Yoruba land when such unfortunate happenstance becomes the lot of a kingdom , it is said in muffled voices, ‘ Oba wa ‘ja! ( the monarch has climbed up beyond the reach of mere mortals).
Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, ‘ Iku Baba Yeye, Alase Ekeji Orisa’ Paramount ruler of Oyo Kingdom was a royal father with finesse who spinned elegance and resplendence around his aural as a Yoruba monarch.
He hailed from the not less prominent Alowodu royal house hold of ancient Oyo Alaafin and in the Yoruba- speak, he was a qunintesential ‘ Adebosipo’ who assumed the prime stool of his forefathers at the tender age of 31.
It will be an understatement to say Oyo grew under his Obaship because the kingdom was actually put in the global map of royalty relevance under his watch.
It was Aristotle who says , a town will not grow until a philosopher becomes the king or the king becomes a philosopher. Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi was both rolled into one; and he was a fantastic historian of Yoruba monarchical structure and culture .
Alaafin Adeyemi had an almost palpable sense of humour; there was in the street lingo ‘ no dull moment’ with Iku Baba Yeye; he had a mild mannerism of making everything look simple, but he didn’t brook any attempt to undermine the place of Oyo Alaafin in the hierarchical relevance of Yoruba cosmology.
Oba Lamidi Adeyemi was the diplomatic peace maker particularly in Oyo State when matters boiled over in the Oyo State politics. He was there for Bola Ige as a Governor, he was the voice of wisdom when the Military Governors and Administrators held sway in Oyo State and when civilian governance resumed in 1999, he was the royal anchor in those days of heated politics of Lam Adesina as Governor, followed by that of Rasheed Ladoja, and when he interfered he would not take side.
Oba Adeyemi aptly came, saw and conquered . On Friday, the 22nd April, the unexpected happened as a mild health challenge to the foremost Oyo monarch which was attended to at Afe Babalola University Teaching Hospital , Ado Ekiti became for Oba Adeyemi a medium of soaring beyond the bars.
While efforts were reportedly made to fly the Kabiesi overseas for thorough medical attention , Baba felt he had seen it all in this plain and just had to exit to the greater chapter to be with his forebears.
In Oyo Alaafin, the city of ‘ the Oyo- mesis’, in Oyo state, in Yoruba land and in Nigeria, Oba Adeyemi is a great pillar that will be sorely missed.
