He fought the Nigerian civil war like a true soldier and in the process raised the popularity of Ogbomoso, his home town. As the curtain falls on the life and times of Brigadier-General Benjamin Adekunle who passed on September 13,, BISI OLADELE reports on the mood in the town and among his kinsmen.
The rustic town of Ogbomoso in the northern part of Oyo State wore a somewhat mourning look. Residents were quick to notice visitors who came to learn more about one of the heroes of the Nigerian civil war who hailed from this city of warriors, home to the last but one Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, the late Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola.
“Oh, you came for Benjamin Adekunle? Their house is right down in the town.” These were the common words of residents to visitors who went to Ogbomoso last week to inquire more about the fallen gallant soldier, Brig. Benjamin Adekunle.
Ogbomoso, the second largest town in Oyo State, has produced many heroes. It was home to the late Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, the polyglot political titan who co-piloted the affairs of the Western Region with the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the First Republic.
The town caught the attention of Nigeria again last week when another of its heroes, Gen Benjamin Adekunle, passed on. Adekunle, the civil war hero and master strategist died after a five-year battle with sickness.
Just as his death has been the common talk on the lips of many Nigerian adults across the country, so it has been among indigenes and residents in the town.
His kinsmen at Ijeru, Ogbomoso embraced The Nation reporter with both arms when he visited and were eager to conduct him round the cluster of old houses that made up the Otun Agoro Compound, where the war veteran hailed from. The compound which is located around the centre of the town, is adjacent to the palace of the Onpetu of Ijeru. Gen Adekunle hailed from Ijeru, Ogbomoso.
“A great hero, a good man is gone.” “We have lost a great man.” So said relatives of the deceased who lived around Adekunle’s father’ house. “He loved us and we all loved him.” They said with enthusiasm. They stressed that they would all miss the great man of war.
The monarch, who is another affable and accommodating elite, spoke glowingly about one of his most famous subjects. While recalling with glee his efforts to make the late war hero retrace his roots and resettle in Ogbomoso, Oba Sunday Oladapo Oyediran, also shared his pains on how the death finally brought his efforts, which were spurred by shared vision of other stakeholders in the community, to naught.
He said: “Benjamin Adekunle was a notable son of Ijeru, Ogbomoso, Oyo State and Nigeria. We have lost a gem. There is no doubt about that and the feeling is not unexpected. It is a feeling of a great loss to the community and it came at a time when we least expected him to pass on because we are just about enjoying him when he left us. Prior to now, he was not used to Ogbomoso though he hailed from this town but throughout the better part of his life, he was not used to Ogbomoso. But when I came on board in 1999, I went looking for him and I was able to bring him back home. So, he was planning to settle down at home when death snatched him away from us. It was great loss to us.
“He started coming home when we met him and that was when we knew that he even had some properties in town not being catered for. He left those properties in the care of relations and when he came back some of the relations had annexed some of them to themselves. You know the mentality of the average African man when you leave your property uncared for. He was at the verge of ironing out some disputes on those properties when he felt sick. We were praying that he would come out of the illness, but the sickness took him up to three or four years. Unfortunately death took him away. My position is that if we cannot enjoy him during his life then we should have his corpse as a reverence point to generations unborn that here lies the remains of our hero.”
The monarch disclosed that the deceased did not build a house in Ogbomoso. He likened Adekunle to a prodigal son, who decided to come back home after a long sojourn outside the town.
“His story can be likened to that of a prodigal son who went on a journey and decided to come back home. There is this adage in Yoruba that says “Ajo o le dabi ile,” (meaning there is no place like home). So, the time he realized that he needed to trace his roots, when we made him realize the importance, he agreed with us and decided to return home, and have a house of his own here in Ogbomoso. The properties I was referring to are just virgin landed properties. He was yet to build a house. So, a land that is not developed cannot be referred to as an estate, so they are just landed properties. Though well documented, but they were not developed. The time he was planning to come and develop some of these properties was when he took ill.”
Asked whether Adekunle disclosed to him the reason he did not build a house in Ogbomoso, the monarch said: “Yes, his interests for this country made him to forget that he was even from Ogbomoso because he was one of those Nigerians who believed that anywhere you are in the country is home as long as you are a Nigerian and as a result of the accident of his birth too because his mother is from the northern part of the country. As a matter of fact he spoke the three major indigenous languages fluently. He spoke Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba fluently. He believed everywhere is home and decided to settle down in Lagos and that was it. We went to him and made him realize that Lagos was not his home. That was when realized he needed to build a house here. But unfortunately, his health condition did not allow it.”
As part of his plan to return home, the traditional ruler said Adekunle told him of his plan to establish a massive farm and possibly build a farmhouse on it where he would live.
“I know about a particular landed property, a vast expanse of land that is up to two hundred or three hundred acres. He planned to come and establish a farm there. That is somewhere in Surulere Local Government. That one is still there. He was planning a farmhouse there where he could probably live while he is into integrated farming business, but all these plans died with him. All the dreams died with him!
“He was planning a poultry and fish farm to the best of my knowledge. Those are the things he discussed with me. But with the size of the land, he could do more, probably crop farming because the land is over two hundred acres. So, it is enough for commercial farming.”
The monarch posited that Adekunle was not well rewarded for his role in keeping Nigeria together as one nation. He said the late soldier went out of his way and staked his life for Nigeria but received nothing or very little in return.
His words: “To the best of my knowledge he was not well recognized and rewarded. This was a man who, for the better part of his life, fought a war that his colleagues thought was difficult. He was sent to a terrain that was difficult for people to penetrate. With the little equipment we had then, he was able to fight for the unity of the country by forcing the Biafran soldiers to submit and surrender to the superiority of the Nigerian Soldiers. Though that one came after he had been redeployed from the 3rd Marine Commandos, the greater part of his job had been done. This was a man who never cared about his position. By virtue of his position he ought not to be at the warfront but he was the one leading them to that warfront, directing them. Adekunle never sat at the office. Instead, he followed them to the warfront. He was a brilliant soldier. So, we are talking about a person who did that for this country.
“Not only that, in the 1970s he was appointed the chairman of the task force to decongest the Nigerian Ports. He did the job gallantly well. He was given a deadline and within a short period he delivered. He beat the deadline and when he succeeded in clearing the problem he was redeployed before his retirement. So, a man who sacrificed a better part of his life for the country did not really have something we can point at as his own. He did not have any company under his name he had no estates, no foreign account. There was no case where he was appointed director general of any parastatal despite his position in this country. So, he was not well treated, “Even the circumstances behind his retirement; you will discover that he was humiliated somehow. Someone who fought brilliantly for this country, he was not planning a coup and he was forcefully retired in 1974 as a general. Is that the best way to compensate someone who fought for the unity of the country?
“It is not too late to honour him. We can give him posthumous recognition. It is better late than never. I am using this medium to appeal to the government to honour him posthumously.
Nigeria today has different kinds of awards. We can honour him with a national award; we can name a monument after him and so on.”
The monarch also called on the Federal Government to pick the bills of the late soldier’s burial. He also wants the government to build a house for him and do anything good that will help the younger and future generations to remember him.
Reflecting on the nature of the deceased and his lifestyle, Oba Oyediran said: “Benjamin Adekunle’s lifetime was that of encouragement for youths, though he did not believe in influencing people to do anything. He stood by the principle of merit all through his life. If you met him that you wanted your child in the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), he will tell you to allow the child read and pass the exam and the interview. The child must be able to gain admission based on his/her performance. I cannot say what informed that decision maybe it was because of the way he was forcefully retired. I do not know. He believed in merit and did not like to influence people into positions. So, if anyone wanted to join, he encouraged them but did not influence their placement.” He said.
Also speaking a neighbour around Adekunle’s father’s house, Mrs Adedoja Oyelola recalled that: “He was a very responsible man. Benjamin Adekunle was really responsible. His family has a good name and he kept it. He was accommodating, nice to all of us. Whenever he came around, he used to relate well with everyone but he stopped coming home regularly when his brother died.”
His sister in-law, Mrs Serifat Oyinkansola said: “He was a great fighter. He used to visit when his blood brother was alive. He was a good, responsible, accommodating man. He was good to the extended family members. He sometimes attended family meetings. We miss him because he made the family name popular. He brought fame to the family.”
