Rejoice, Excitement, Jubilations as Olubadan Turns 100 Tomorrow

                                His Royal Majesty

          Oba (Dr.) Samuel Odulana, Odugade 1

                     Olubadan of Ibadanland.



On Friday, 17th August, 2007, the former governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, presented staff of office to Oba Samuel Odulana, Odugade 1, as the 40th Olubadan of Ibadanland, at the basement of the ancient Mapo Hall.

 

Challenges, Triumph and 42-Yr Odyssey to Throne

It was a dream comes true for the 93 year-old monarch who started his journey to the throne in 1972 with his appointment as the Mogaji of his family compound at Oja-Igbo.
Indeed it was a carnival-like ceremony which was witnessed by prominent indigenes, residents and important dignitaries from within and outside the country. As the Otun Olubadan, High Chief Samuel Osundiran Lana was unanimously elected by the 11 kingmakers that made up the Olubadan-In-Council on 11 July, 2007 to succeed Oba Yunisa Bankole Oladoja Ogundipe, who died on July 6, 2007. Looking magnificent in traditional aso oke and crown on his head, the first sign that the monarch would not be a push over was his coronation speech in which he called on all indigenes of the city to come together to enhance its economic development with the assurance that he would spend the rest of his life to reclaim the lost glory of the city. While maintaining that the time of lawlessness in the city was over, the royal father assured that he would see that the traditional institution cooperate with the law enforcement agencies to rid the city of all forms of vices.

 

His words: “I hereby pledge to spend the rest of my life pursuing the mission of restoring Ibadan’s glory, for this purpose we need the cooperation of all the sons and daughters of Ibadanland at home and abroad and the goodwill and help of all other residents and friends of the city. First of all, let us all constantly pray and work for the peace and progress of Ibadanland so that we may continue to be blessed. “ I, therefore, use this opportunity to call upon all Ibadan sons and daughters and their socio cultural organisations located in Ibadan ,Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt , Kano, Enugu and overseas to come back home to invest in the rural areas belonging to your families. In the area of security, Ibadan must move with the tide of modernity, nobody should think he can take the law into his hands with impunity and thereby scare away peace loving people. I appeal to all community leaders to take legal steps to make their communities crime free.

 

“We want to assure all law enforcement agencies of government that all traditional institutions in Ibadanland led by me will cooperate with them to rid Ibadan and its environs of all acts of brigandage, thuggery, vandalism and other anti- social behaviours.” However, it is pertinent to know precisely who Oba Odulana is. Widely acclaimed to be an educationist, soldier, administrator and statesman, he hails from the Ladunni Compound in the Oja Igbo area of Ibadan metropolis and was born at Igbo-Elerin in the Lagelu Local Government area of Ibadanland on Thursday, April 14, 1914 to Pa. Odulana Ayinla. He began the seemingly long journey to the throne with his appointment as the Mogaji (head) of his family compound at Oja-Igbo in the city in 1972. He succeeded in taking the first traditional chieftaincy title of Jagun Olubadan in 1976. And with 22 steps already taken on the ladder of traditional chieftaincy he keeps a date with destiny as one of the longest living Olubadan of Ibadanland. And it is apt to note that one of the qualities of Ibadan Obas is that of age, longevity and with it, wisdom.

 

Oba Odulana earlier in life began his elementary education at Saint Andrew’s School, Bamigbola, in the present Lagelu Local Government area in January 1922 and obtained a transfer to Saint Peter’s School, Aremo in 1929. He completed his middle school education at Mapo Central School in December 1936. He equally strengthened his education via correspondence college. The monarch had a brief stint with United African Company (UAC) as a Produce Clerk before taking up teaching appointment at the Church Missionary Society (CMS) Elementary School, Jago in the present Ona- A r a Local Government in 1938. He also taught in several schools from 1939 to 1942. He however willingly relinquished the chalk to pick the more challenging duty as an army officer during the 1939 Second World War.

 

The lessons learnt at his duty post was well utilised such that upon the end of the war in 1945, he was put in charge of the demobilisation of retuning soldiers in Lagos which earned him an exemplary character award of the Army Fourth Brigade and this climaxed in an immediate appointment with the Colonial Office Education Department in 1946. The monarch while in the civil service, where he was until 1959, actively assisted in the establishment of both primary and secondary schools in various parts of the old Western Region of Nigeria. He voluntarily retired and embraced politics to represent his people in the 1959 pre-Independence federal elections as a member of the House of Representatives. This led to a string of political achievements such that he was appointed the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, in the country’s first independent cabinet. In 1963, he attended the epoch-making Commonwealth Conference in London. He also became the country’s Minister of State for Labour.

 

In 1964, he led the Nigerian Parliamentary delegation to the London Constitutional Conference to restructure the then British colonies of Rhodesia and Nyasalandnow known as Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia. The royal father’s political career was truncated by the 1966 Nigeria’s first military coup, but he evolved to become a philanthropist, progressive and community icon. He graced the Ibadan sociocultural landscape with so much fanfare that gave rise to him being the co-founder of prime organizations, mobilising Ibadan people for grassroots developments, such that The Ibadan Economic Foundation and the Ibadan Progressive Union which were created to ensure that the high standards of patriotism and self-sacrifice of the Ibadan founding fathers are maintained by the present generation of indigenes. These laudable achievements, no doubt, contributed to his conferment of a honourary degree of Doctor of Management Technology by the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State in December 2005. Oba Odulana has also bagged the national awards of CFR.

 

Olubadan-In-Council and Politics

As a royal father who believed in the sacredness of the royal institution, one of the challenges he faced immediately he assumed the throne was cutting the wings of one of his High Chiefs, the late Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who was not only a member of the Olubadan-In-Council but also called the shots not only in Ibadanland and his political activities were getting controversial on daily basis.

 

To prevent the traditional institution from what he termed as ridicule, he issued a statement to the effect that High Chiefs who are members of the Olubadan-in-Council must not participate in partisan politics since the palace is expected to be neutral. This was, however, to put the monarch in a rift with Alhaji Adedibu who maintained that Oba Odulana cannot cage him by stopping him from playing politics. Though prominent indigenes intervened to settle the rift between the monarch and Adedibu, it was still an open secret that the relationship between them was not the best before the death of the late strongman of Ibadan politics in 2008 with many of his supporters believing that the monarch gave the order because of the latter’s sympathy for the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), while Adedibu was in PDP.

 

One other challenge that Oba Odulana has fought till today is his opposition to the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111, assuming the position of Permanent Chairman of Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs. Indeed with the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi Ajagungbade, the Olubadan has continued to insist on the rotation of the Chairmanship position such that any government in the state that does not agree with this position is certain not to get the support of the monarch. For instance, it was only towards the end of his tenure when he signed into law a bill that made the position rotational that Oba Odulana could be said to have supported the administration of Otunba Alao-Akala. And to play safe, the present administration of Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has stopped the meeting of the Council of Obas on the stand that there is a case concerning the issue in court.

 

For a monarch who has served and continued to serve his people, it will be an understatement that the largest city South of the Sahara will roll out the drum to celebrate his centenary anniversary. Indeed right now, the ‘Ibadan House’, is wearing a new look in anticipation of the anniversary while the epoch-making event is expected to be graced by the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan; the Senate President, Senator David Mark; the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and other distinguished personalities from all walks of life.