‘It is time for the son of the soil to rule. Let our son do it. Let Bola Ige return to his town. An Ibadan man should be governor of Oyo.’
That was how Alhaji Busari Oloyede Adelakun, the Ejioku-born strongman of Ibadan politics in the Second Republic and Chairman of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in Ibadan/Ibarapa District, canvassed for a power shift to the ancient city in 1983.
He merely voiced the collective opinion of the city’s political elite, who nursed grudges against their in-law, fork-tongued Cicero of Esa-Oke in the old Oyo State and currently in Osun State.
Key Ibadan politicians, including the National Chairman of the party and Seriki of Ibadan, Chief Adisa Akinloye; the Attorney-General and Justice Minister, Chief Richard Akinjide; a future kingmaker in the ancient city’s politics, Chief Lamidi Adedibu, and the then Iyalode of Ibadan, Chief Wuraola Esan, nodded affirmatively.
The setting was the Oyo Town Hall. ‘E je k’omo ti’a naa o se e’ (Let our son too become governor). Consequently, this became a popular slogan among Ibadan folks, the justification being the sheer numerical strength and bloc vote of the ancient city that could not be rivaled by any other zone.
Many Oyo and Ibarapa leaders aligned with the view because Ibadan had taproots in the districts. The history of Ibadan shows that many of its leaders and holders of Baale, Balogun, Basorun, and Aare Ona Kankanfo titles came from traditional Oyo and Osun towns: Oyo, Iseyin, Iwo, Ogbomoso, among others.
The beneficiary of the novel recruitment strategy, which had a semblance of racial prejudice in the days of hot politics, was Dr. Victor Omololu Olunloyo of the NPN. He succeeded Chief Bola Ige of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the 1983 polls. Both men had served as commissioners in the state before politics put them in different camps.
Between then and now, seven governors – Olunloyo, Kolapo Ishola, Lam Adesina, Rashidi Ladoja, Adebayo Alao-Akala, Abiola Ajimobi, and Seyi Makinde – have occupied the Oyo State Government House at Agodi in Ibadan. Six are from Ibadan, but only one came from outside of the city. The trend may continue in the future.
But the son-of-the–soil euphoria did not last. Three months after assuming office, Governor Olunloyo was toppled by the military after the coup that brought General Muhammadu Buhari to power. Olunloyo never bounced back to political relevance.
At the twilight of his life, he was full of reminiscences, advising the younger ones to see power as ephemeral, even though alluring and sweet.
Olunloyo is remembered as a governor, but it should be noted that he had been a household name since his youth. What catapulted him to stardom was his high intellectual status. Olunloyo was in the mould of a genius: intelligent, resourceful, competent, and effective. He made genuine contributions to the educational, socio-economic and political development of his state as a teacher, administrator and public servant before he became governor.
He was among the most brilliant students in all the schools he attended. At 27, he capped his intellectual pursuit with a doctorate in Mathematics at St. Andrews University in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1961. He returned home to teach, first at the University of Ibadan (UI) and later at the then University of Ife (UnIfe), now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), where he became the Head of Department at 28.
In the First Republic, the intellectual society was polarised by antagonistic political leanings. While the likes of Professors Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, Samuel Aluko, C. O. Taiwo, Saburi Biobaku, and Akin Mabogunje gravitated towards the progressive camp, the scholars of conservative ideology supported other political ideals. Nearly all the bright minds of that era took sides in the divisive political struggles.
As the two camps in the Western Region ran into turbulence and emergency rule was imposed, the dons offered intellectual support to the warring camps.
The list of emergency commissioners was carefully selected. The interim cabinet comprised dons, politicians, public servants, and traditional rulers who wanted Premier Ladoke Akintola back in office after six months. That was the plan of the Tafawa Balewa Government. Olunloyo made the list.
It was his first direct involvement in governance. As he reminisced later, the leaders of the Western Region who went their separate ways meant well for the region. However, the bone of contention was their approaches, which did not align with each other. He also discovered that Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was financially incorruptible and non-flamboyant. When he visited his office at Ribadu Road in Ikoyi, Olunloyo likened it to the office of a school headmaster – an austere room – reminiscent of when Balewa was in the teaching profession.
The regional crisis was mismanaged. Its climax was the rigging of the 1965 regional assembly elections. Olunloyo watched from his post at the University of Ife when the “Wild, Wild West” was in flames. In the melee, the coup plotters killed the principal actors and drove their followers away. Afterwards, a counter-coup followed.
Already a promising lecturer and public intellectual, Olunloyo became a commissioner under Military Governor Adeyinka Adebayo. In the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the lot fell on him to resolve the Alaafin of Oyo succession crisis, which his predecessor, Chief B. A. Ajayi, could not resolve. There was an opposition to the candidature of Prince Lamidi Adeyemi by Action Group (AG) sympathisers who orchestrated the removal of his father, Oba Adeniran Adeyemi, from office. They preferred Sanda Ladepo.But Olunloyo stood his ground, based on the facts available to him, and offered the correct advice to the governor on Adeyemi’s eligibility and suitability. The prince was thus crowned the king. It was not surprising that the Iku Baba Yeye later installed Olunloyo the Balogun of Oyo.
Olunloyo also shone brilliantly as Commissioner for Education. He fortified the school inspection system, visiting many public schools unannounced to assess the quality of teaching and teachers, examining school infrastructure and the entire teaching and learning environment.
Olunloyo had the privilege of building two polytechnics – Ibadan and Kwara – from their foundations as rector. The two institutions have played significant roles in the educational, economic, and technological development of the country.
It must be noted that throughout his public service career, Olunloyo shunned corruption, avarice and inordinate pursuit of materialism. He was a man of contentment. He was also blunt. When Awolowo, who appreciated his sheer brilliance and intellectual exploits, beckoned on him to join his party, Olunloyo declined. He said Awo was too honest and that major actors, particularly in the North, would not support him because he was highly inflexible.
The crowning of his involvement in public service was his election as governor. In 1979, Ibadan played a prominent role in Ige’s victory, although Akinjide, an indigene, was his rival at the poll. The election marked a significant shift in political calculation because from 1951 to 1962, the city tilted towards Zik’s National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), and between 1962 and 1966, gravitated towards Akintola’s Nigeria National Democratic Party (NNDP), which forcefully gained control.
As major political actors, particularly Adelakun, who served as Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and later, Health, deserted the UPN, Ibadan turned its back on Awolowo once again. The shift in political allegiance also fitted into the plan by NPN’s National Chairman Akinloye to win Oyo for the party as a stepping stone for bidding for the 1983 presidential ticket. But this never happened.
Although a nominal party member, Olunloyo was catapulted to the front burner of the struggle for Agodi Government House. He got the governorship ticket, not by the grace of deep pocket, but because the NPN hawks wanted a credible person on the ballot.
NPN wanted Oyo badly. Akinloye also wanted to prove that he was in control of Ibadan politics, through Adelakun, in the post-Adegoke Adelabu era. The campaign was hot. It was marked by propaganda and thuggery. It was not easy to convince the masses of Ibadan. Therefore, Adelakun branded Awolowo an enemy of the city. He accused the UPN leader of recommending Ajayi from Ekiti, Bola Ige from Ijesa, Dauda Adegbenro from Egba, and Bisi Onabanjo from Ijebu as commissioners in the military government but neglected Ibadan, even though Emmanuel Alayande was around.
At the close of the poll, the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) declared Olunloyo winner. Hell was let loose. In some towns, houses and other properties of NPN stalwarts were destroyed. But the poll was affirmed by the Supreme Court, though with a dissenting judgment.
In the saddle, Olunloyo wanted to run a clean government, despite the flawed election that brought him to power. He appointed competent party chieftains and sympathisers as commissioners. But he rejected Adelakun’s request to make him a commissioner, saying he did not measure up in terms of education. Olunloyo directed Adelakun to seek an appointment with President Shehu Shagari. A crisis was brewing in Oyo NPN.
Olunloyo announced that the past administration would be probed. He also turned his attention to the Ibadan Municipal Council, firing salvos at the chairman, Oye Olunloyo, and reiterating his plan to probe its finances.
Reports and cartoons of those days also depicted a vibrant and excited governor who momentarily behaved in unusual ways while conducting state affairs. He was serious-minded but humorous. He was goal-oriented, but he faced distractions from party elements. Since he loathed the embezzlement of public funds, many civil servants would have run into problems over time.
Olunloyo would have been a good governor, nevertheless, if the military had not sacked the civilian authorities.
After the coup, he was arrested, like other notable politicians. The former men of power from UPN and NPN were dumped at Iyaganku Police Station in Ibadan preparatory to their movement to Kirikiri and Ikoyi prisons in Lagos. Olunloyo sighted Ige and greeted him. When the Black Maria that was to convey them came and soldiers asked them to enter one by one, he respectfully requested Ige to enter the vehicle before him, saying: “Egbon (my elder brother), you are to enter first because you are my senior in this thing. After all, I spent only three months while you spent four years.”
Nothing incriminating was found against Olunloyo, unlike Senator Barkin Zuwo, governor of Kano State for three months, who protested his harassment by the military, saying the N4 million for which he was arrested was government money found in Government House.
There is a need to immortalise Olunloyo, not because he was governor but because in the previous positions he held, he displayed patriotism, probity, integrity, and rectitude.
