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Tag: Olaniwun Ajayi

  • Tributes as Olaniwun Ajayi’s remains are buried

    Tributes as Olaniwun Ajayi’s remains are buried

    MORE tributes poured yesterday at the funeral service for the late Afenifere elder and legal icon, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi.

    Sir Ajayi was given a private burial in his sprawling country home on the hilly terrain of the ancient Isara town in Remo-North Local Government of Ogun State.

    At the ceremony were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun; his Lagos State counterpart, Akinwunmi Ambode; Ogun State Deputy Governor Mrs Yetunde Onanuga; House of Assembly Speaker Suraj Adekunbi; Prelate of Methodist Church of Nigeria Dr Samuel Uche;  Secretary, Methodist Church of Nigeria Mike Akinwale; ex-Prelate Ola Makinde; Ondo State Governor-elect Rotimi Akeredolu; wife of Oyo State Governor Mrs Florence Ajimobi and foremost industrialist Aliko Dangote.

    Others are Chief Justice of Ogun State Justice Olatokunbo Olapade; her Lagos State counterpart, Justice Funmi Atilade; Afenifere leader Pa Reuben Fasoranti; Chief Olu Falae;  Mrs Bola Obasanjo; Chief Ayo Adebanjo; former Governor Olusegun Osoba, Minister of Mines Kayode Fayemi;  former Governor Olusegun Oni and former Governor Gbenga Daniel, among others.

    Speaking at the memorial service in the Methodist Church, Isara, the Vice President hailed the deceased, saying his “life was all about service to the Yoruba and Nigeria.”

    Osinbajo said the deceased devoted the last 10 years of his life to writing books.

    The Vice President added that the legal icon excelled in law and set up a flourishing law firm “with the best practice in Africa”.

    “Let me say, I have known him all my life. His family and mine have known for a long time. My parents and the Ajayis are friends.

    “What I found about him is that he always believes his life is about service to humanity and his life reflects that.

    “In the legal profession he excelled. He has a law firm with the best practice on the continent. In politics, he served the nation and was a member of NADECO that fought against Abacha’s tyranny, risked his life to win our freedom and the democracy we enjoy today.

    “In the Afenifere, he demonstrated that his life was a life of service. When we were campaigning in 2015, we visited the Awujale in his palace at Ijebu-Ode. Sir Ajayi was there that day.

    “He told Awuajle that he came to him (Awujale) because he has known me since I was young. He made sacrifices for our people and our country. I thank God for that kind of life,” Osinbajo said.

    Amosun said: “We are one of Baba’s children. Today is not for long speech. Baba Ajayi lived a life of service to man and service to man is what we owe God.”

    In his sermon, former President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Dr. Sunday Mbang, anchored his message on Psalm 62: 9 – 10.

    He said life on earth without God is meaningless.

    Mbang said it did not matter your place in society, saying humanity is the same because sooner or later, you will experience death.

    The ex-Prelate of the Methodist Church reminded people that death could come sooner or later for anybody, warning that there is always a time to give account of one’s stewardship before God.

    He described the late Sir Olaniwun Ajayi as the humblest man he ever met, adding that despite having “all the trappings of power and wealth, he remained a humble man and a true soldier of the Lord”.

    The tribute of the Methodist Church of Nigeria signed by Rev Uche was read by Rev. Akinwale.

    The church described Olaniwun Ajayi as a “quintessential Methodist, a remarkable Christian, exemplary nationalist and foremost philanthropist.”

  • Olaniwun Ajayi: Goodnight to a moral beacon

    As we surrender his remains to mother earth this week, the life and times of Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, lawyer, statesman, politician, author, intellectual, prodemocracy activist and Knight of John Wesley, will continue to be celebrated by many whose lives he personally touched and the millions whose lots were directly or indirectly dictated, or could have been dictated, by the progressive politics to which he devoted his entire adult life. As a moral beacon and a man of great self-possession, Sir Olaniwun was a rare combination of unbending resolve and inexhaustible patience. Both attributes were fired by a commitment to egalitarian politics that even the serial setbacks that a polity sworn to political errancy such as Nigeria could not destroy. Though it had become “Africa’s failed asset,” as the title of one of his books concluded, Sir Olaniwun had no doubt that Nigeria could still be saved.

    It was a testament to that unquenchable trust in the possibilities of public good, the creation of a good society and an evangelical sense of rectitude that a few hours before his passing, the old man was still at work building alliances to save Nigeria. To conclude that it was as if he knew that time was running out for him – and for Nigeria – would be wrong, because, indeed, he knew so. “Asiko nlo,” (“we are running out of time”), he said repeatedly, insisting on “the fierce urgency of now” in the last decade of his life. When he and his fellow leaders of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Chief Reuben Fasoranti, met with Governor Bola Tinubu only a few weeks before his death, it was the same urgency that drove them to insist on meeting the “Lion of Bourdillon” in his home rather than continue their tireless wait for Godot. It was yet another mark of the admirable commitment of the disappearing members of the old guard to which he belonged that they kept their eyes on the mission not minding the frustrations and slights they have had to endure. They were convinced that some factions of the progressive camp in Yorubaland were helping to polish the brass of a sinking ship. They had experienced this before and were worried that history was repeating itself as a farce.

    A man of sartorial elegance and measured speech, Sir Olaniwun was one of the most deliberate and considerate Nigerians that ever lived. He was a disciplined man who lived a reflective yet practical life; he was methodical in his private life as he was thoughtful in his public life. His combination of piety and secularist ethos was distinctive. There was no honour that he valued in his life more than his knighthood (of John Wesley) in the Methodist Church – a church to which he devoted a substantial part of his time, efforts and resources. This is why even though we all call him “Baba Olaniwun Ajayi,” we never forget to formally refer to him as “Sir Olaniwun.”

    I first had a close encounter with Sir Olaniwun when I wrote a scathing piece in the newspapers in which I criticized the Afenifere/Alliance for Democracy leaders for allowing President Olusegun Obasanjo to deceive and defeat them in the 2003 elections. I was then teaching political science at the University of Ibadan. He sent a message that I should contact him. I did and was invited to his Isara home. Thus began a relationship that has been so enriching intellectually and culturally. As someone who was interested in studying the Awolowo political movement, this relationship helped in deepening my insight in what resulted in my book, The Yoruba Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria: Obafemi Awolowo and Corporate Agency (2014). Sir Olaniwun’s capacity for reading widely, even in old age would put many young people to shame.

    One of the unmistakable attributes of his class of Awoists is their modesty. Sir Olaniwun combined excess of accomplishments and monumental endowments with manifest unpretentiousness. Even as a living archive of the progressive movement in Nigeria, it was easy to relate to the old man because you knew clearly where he stood and where you stood with him. He was not one to mince words, even though he was a patient listener and sympathetic hearer. But his tolerance never conflicted with his persistence. His inflexible commitment to public good and his unrepentant valorisation of the egalitarian core of the Awoist ethos was not subject to compromise. In the best tradition of his late leader, Sir Olaniwun was a patriarch whose abundant wisdom never stood in the way of his attentiveness to the perception of youth. He possessed a rare capacity for attentive courtesy. I never had any hesitation to disagree with him. He would listen with a kind gaze and then respond with an excess of insight and prudence that would sway you even if your assuredness about the changing dynamics that his generation is yet to fully embrace discourages you from agreeing with his prognosis. One thing was sure though, you were always inspired, even if humbled, by an incontrovertible fact: Your generation will never equal the sacrifices of his generation, if not in the quality of their sacrifices, most certainly in the time span. Baba Ajayi’s generation breathed the struggle for a better Nigeria. From the days of Action Group through the years of the Unity Party of Nigeria to the barricades of the NADECO years and the democratic resurgence of the Alliance for Democracy and the post-AD eras, the Knight of John Wesley was always at his post contributing his task to the struggle to make Nigeria more liveable.

    I once asked him what was responsible for the unending trust in political and social rectitude that was the hallmark of the Awoist progressive politics. I noted that even in the twilights of his life and in the light of clear evidence that incompetence and lack of vision (matched by obduracy) were the persistent qualifications for the headship of the Nigerian state, Obafemi Awolowo still believed that the national political elite would see reason and embrace his Enlightenment project. Sir Olaniwun chuckled characteristically. He waited for a moment, then asked gently: “Do you think it is possible for Nigeria to continue this way indefinitely? Can the country survive along this path?” Even when I argued that the most backward sections of the polity most in need of radical socio-economic redemption are also the parts most conducive to regressive politics and predation; that such regressive politics marked by the story of the boy who sold his patrimony and then pleaded that he should be assisted because he had no inheritance has since been federalized, the old man remained unpersuaded that Nigeria was not saveable. I was forced to revert to my default position of trust in social and political rectitude.

    After all when Awolowo started his unsurpassed political project of “freedom for all, life more abundant”, the margin of error was huge and the possibility of success was almost non-existent. Yet more than six decades after, a combination of nation-wreckers without and heritage-hawkers within have failed to totally eviscerate that yearning for egalitarian rule that was holistically elaborated and cohesively mobilized by the visionary politician.

    Sir Olaniwun lived and fought for a just, equitable, free and egalitarian Nigeria. He and his peers in the long siege laid to the wall of Nigeria’s Bastille believed strongly that power could be truly democratized and decentralized in a way that could turn Nigeria into a truly transformational federation where “though tribe and tongue may differ” we all stand in brotherhood (and sisterhood – as that old national anthem forgot to add). Sir Olaniwun desperately wanted this to be true in his life time.

    As he departs, what can we learn from the life of this most accomplished of men? Plenty, no doubt. As members of my generation are often reminded by Sir Olaniwun’s more contentious and fervent friend and political ally of many decades, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, we must continue to have an unalloyed trust in the possibilities of political rectitude. Another lesson is a commitment to party spirit that is exceptional. The commitment of Sir Olaniwun’s generation to the Westminster model of party supremacy is difficult to replicate in this age. Worthy of emulation too is Sir Olaniwun’s personal commitment to the Awolowo family, particularly after the exit of the patriarch. I know this because I was a witness to his fidelity.

    Sir Olaniwun also taught us that it is never too late to accomplish – or at least try to accomplish –anything in life. At over 80, he began a project of becoming an author. He ended up with five books within a decade. He also wanted to study for a doctoral degree. He approached the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife. When he was told that the process was too rigid to allow an octogenarian without a graduate degree to enrol for a Ph.D, he approached Professor Jacob Olupona of Harvard University in the US and Dr. Raufu Mustapha of Oxford University in the U.K. Both scholars were struck by the thirst of such an old man for knowledge generation. He didn’t succeed in gaining admission to either, so he turned his attention to private research and writing books. Finally, his life teaches us that personal rectitude will never go out of fashion among any serious people….

    Sir Olaniwun Ajayi made our world better. Good night to a good old man.

     

    • Adebanwi is a professor at the University of California, Davis.
  • Olaniwun Ajayi (1925-2016)

    Olaniwun Ajayi (1925-2016)

    •Adieu to a leading light of Afenifere and an ardent federalist 

    Since his death three weeks ago, there has been no let-up in mourning Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, elder statesman, devoted churchman, distinguished public servant and public intellectual, cultural nationalist, astute legal practitioner, entrepreneur and conciliator, nor in the tributes that have been paid to his illustrious memory.

    The grieving and the tide of farewells will reach a culmination this week as his remains are interred in Isara, in Ogun State, in the Yoruba country.

    Ajayi’s death signals the imminent closing of an era in the politics of Yoruba land, and by extension the Nigerian polity.  A pillar of the progressive tradition of Yoruba politics, he was one of the leading lights of Afenifere, the socio-cultural formation through which the Action Group in the 1950s, led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, reached the grassroots with its ideology of freedom for all and life more abundant.

    The brilliant execution of the Action Group’s manifesto made Western Nigeria a pace-setter for the country, and propelled it to the threshold of modernity.  Afenifere was the custodian of the ethos, the core values of the progressivism of that era.   And even when  the gains of the period were halted and in some cases reversed by political upheavals in the West after Awolowo left for the Centre, by a meddlesome and over-reaching Federal Government, by the Action Group’s sworn adversaries, and by military’s incursion into politics, Afenifere continued to show the way through firm adherence to fundamental principles.

    On the national stage, Ajayi was an ardent federalist.  He argued that only a return to the kind constitutional arrangement under which Nigeria was governed before independence could Nigeria and the federating states attain their fullest potential.

    In bringing the principles of welfarism and good governance to bear on the politics of the Yoruba nation and Nigeria, no one was in the past four past decades perhaps more assiduous than Ajayi.

    He did so in five well-regarded books, the first of which he wrote at age 80, when most men would already be in full or semi-retirement.  Before he turned 90, he wrote four more books.  That is a measure of his commitment to scholarship, and of the courage of his conviction.

    Nothing in Ajayi’s early life presaged his later eminence.  He trained at the famous Wesley College, Ibadan, and seemed set for life as an elementary school teacher. He rose to headmaster, a decent achievement, and could have coasted along in school administration or exploited his political connections for a sinecure.

    But Ajayi had set far higher goals for himself.  Leaving teaching, he went to study law at the London School of Economics and Political Science and was called to the English Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1962.  He joined the UAC, where he rose to the post of Assistant Group Legal Adviser before setting up Olaniwun Ajayi LP, now reputed to be one of the best law firms Africa.

    Previously, he had served variously as Commissioner for Education and Commissioner for Health in the former Western State, under the administration of Brigadier (as he then was) Oluwole Rotimi.

    Urbane, graceful and engaging, Ajayi personified through and through the concept of omoluabi, the apotheosis of good breeding: dependable, principled, always granting unto others whatever he sought for himself, measured of speech.  Though affluent, he lived modestly and unobtrusively.  Not for him the gaudy showiness and vulgar excesses of many of his well-endowed contemporaries

    In the turmoil that convulsed Nigeria following the annulment of the 1983 presidential election, Ajayi stood immovably with NADECO, the progressive alliance which insisted that government must be based on the consent of the people, undeterred by the barbarities the Abacha regime unleashed on its opponents, real or perceived.

    To the very end, Ajayi worked tirelessly to bring together his notoriously fractious Yoruba kinsfolk.  In this, he was actuated not by parochialism, still less by chauvinism, but by his conviction that there could be no national unity unless there was unity within Nigeria’s constituent states.

    He would have been exceedingly gladdened that governors of the Yoruba-speaking states resolved last week to set political differences aside and work together for the progress and development of their polity.

    In a country where the next major scandal is just one news cycle away it is truly remarkable that a public life spanning some six decades has stood untainted by scandal.  That is the essence of the life and times of Olaniwun Ajayi, who has justly been hailed as a moral beacon.

    May his legacy endure.

     

  • Day of tributes for Olaniwun Ajayi

    Day of tributes for Olaniwun Ajayi

    Southwest governors, leaders and members of the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, yesterday paid tributes to an Awoist and legal Icon, the late Pa Olaniwun Ajayi.

    They spoke at Isara, Ogun State at the “Afenifere’s Tributes Day”.

    They said the deceased was a true follower of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and an ardent believer and advocate of “Yoruba unity”.

    Ajayi, a Knight of John Wesley, died on November 4, in Lagos. He was 91.

    Afenifere leader Chief Reuben Fasoranti, Secretary-General Seinde Arogbofa Governors Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo) and Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) described the late nonagenarian as a “nationalist”, who would be “missed greatly”.

    Fasoranti said Ajayi’s death had left a gap in Afenifere and robbed the group of one of its most committed and talented leaders and elders.

    Amosun, Ajimobi and Aregbesola, in separate tributes, called for Yoruba unity to ensure the continued progress and survival of the race.

    Amosun said though Yoruba leaders may have varying political leanings but when it comes to the unity, progress and continued survival of the tribe, every differences should be set aside.

    The governor said the state has set aside next Tuesday to honour the late legal giant.

    For Ajimobi, the late Ajayi was a “great nationalist, patriot and accomplished Nigerian”.

    He said the Yoruba were not united and urged leaders and followers to work for its unity.

    Aregbesola said: “It is not blanket unity we are looking for but qualified and quality unity. Baba laboured tirelessly for the unity of the Yoruba .

    “Those of us who are of like minds should emulate him. There is nothing to do to honour than to work for unity in Yoruba land.”

    Also, former Osun State Governor Bisi Akande said what exists today in Yoruba land is “interpersonal quarrel and not disunity of the race”.

    Chief Ayo Adebanjo urged all stakeholders to jettison ego battle, which was affecting them negatively and work for the unity of the race.

    Ijaw National leader and former Federal Information Commission Chief Edwin Clark, Chief Solomon Asemota (SAN) and former Finance Commissioner, Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, also eulogised the late Ajayi.

    Clark, who was represented by his wife, Bisola, said the deceased live a life worthy of emulation.

    For Kalu, Ajayi was a “brave man, nationalist and one who believes in the unity of Nigeria”.

    Kalu, who called for rejuvenation of the nationalistic ideals espoused by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and other founding fathers, urged Nigerians to put an end to the culture of “recrimination” that was making true national unity elusive.

    Others who spoke include Chief Femi Okunrounmu, Ambassador Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, Afenifere Renewal Group chieftain Chief Wale Oshun, Tokunbo Ajasin, former Ogun State Deputy Governor Adegbenga Kaka and former Kwara State Governor Chief Cornelius Adebayo.

    In attendance were Chief Olu Falae, Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, Chief Kofoworola Bucknor – Akerele, the Ebumawe of Ago – Iwoye, Oba AbdulRazaq Adenugba, former House of Representatives member, Oladipo Olaitan and Dr. Amos Akungba.

  • The other side of Olaniwun Ajayi

    In the wee hours of November 4, I got a pop up on my hand set alerting me that Pa Olaniwun Ajayi had passed on. My mind raced quickly towards Pa Ayo Adebanjo, wondering how he would receive the breaking news at his age. All along, I had known the two as inseparable “twins”.

    Pa Olanuwun and Pa Adebanjo were close political disciples of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. I had admired their closeness a great deal, studying then at close range. At every meeting, the two would appear in style, a reason I sometime got tempted to tag them the ‘Musketeers’.

    Papa Awo was very fond of the duo. A day hardly passed without them paying homage to him at his Ikenne home. Without mincing words, the two disciples were functional members of Papa Awo’s kitchen cabinet; some think-tank of sort. It is a mystery how the two managed to solidify their relationship in the face off oddities in politics those days.

    Pa Adebanjo has always been ebullient being an extrovert. He is very cerebral and outspoken. On the other hand, Pa Ajayi had the nature of a dove. He was a bundle of intellect, all the same. I had long concluded that his intelligence quotient was unassailable. I tried to decode the chemistry that bound them together to no avail until I read Pa Adebanjo’s tribute to Pa Ajayi in an interview.

    He explained: “Now I am now alone. I am left with my God. He was a reliable, dependable and loyal friend. As an Awoist, I can confidently say that he was an Awoist to the core. He really understood what Awoism stands for and practiced it as Chief Awolowo taught us.”

    Indeed, the unflagging love for Papa Awo was the secret that kept the duo going. They were both undiluted Awoists. They slept, dreamt and embraced Awoism all through. Unknown to many, the Awoism philosophy was the brainchild of the two and a few others. I knew so much about Pa Ajayi and Adebanjo in my days as a young reporter way back in the 70s. I was assigned to cover the political activities of Papa Awo who, along the line, drew me closer. I can proudly say that I helped in promoting Awo and Awoism from 1976 till 1987 when he passed on, a factor that endeared me to the family.

    Mama HID Awolowo had confided in me the kind of respect the husband had for the duo. She told me how the two were so attached to Papa Awo that she had to allocate rooms adjacent to Papa bedroom during political meetings. She recalled also how she bought same dresses for them and Papa on many occasion. Mama agreed that Pa Adebanjo and Pa Ajayi were part of the family such that in any of their visiting days, they required nothing other than a vehicle to convey them to places. They stood physically and emotionally with Pa Awolowo most especially in the days of travails and turbulence that the family passed through. I had memorable moments with the committed Awoists during electioneering campaigns, most especially from 1978 to 1983 when we all traversed the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, marketing the progressive ideology to Nigerians.

    Pa Ajayi fondly called me Olamiti! Olamiti!! Regrettably, the last time I saw him was in November 25, 2015. That was the day the remains of Mama Awo was committed to mother earth. He was one of the first Awoists to arrive at the Saint Saviour Church Ikenne. He beckoned to me and asked that I accompany him to the rest room. Age was already having a telling effect on him. He held on to me as we descended the 20 steps to the rest room. He did not need my assistance as we started climbing back. All through, he was not panting, but was instead engaging me in political talks. He expressed concern on the deplorable state of the nation, while he blamed the Yoruba on being lethargic on national questions. And as if exasperated, he averred, “We have done our best and I hope that those coming behind us will acknowledge our contributions. Nigeria is a complex entity”.

    Pa Olaniwun Ajayi was born in Isara on April 8, 1925. He ran one of the leading law firms in Nigeria with a broad financial, corporate, energy and national resources. Over the years, the firm has consistently provided legal services to some of the biggest corporations in Africa and across the globe, equipping the firm with a good mix of local knowledge and international expertise.

    He was one of the few Nigerians who travelled abroad for the Golden Fleece. On his return, he worked with the UAC where he rose to the position of the Assistant Group Legal Adviser with Chief Ernest Shonekan as his junior in legal department of UAC and later resigned.

    Pa Ajayi became a Commissioner of Education and later Health under Governor Of Western State Brigadier General Oluwole Rotimi. He authored five books: House Of Oduduwa Must Not Fall, Odunola: In Retrospect, Nigeria Africa’s Failed Asset, his autobiography, and Isara Afotamodi: My Jerusalem . May His Gentle Soul Rest In Peace.

     

    • Olamiti, FNGE, a media consultant wrote from Abuja

     

  • What Olaniwun Ajayi told me, by Senator

    •Alaafin calls for Yoruba unity

    The senator representing Lagos West, Solomon Adeola, yesterday said the late Afenifere chieftain, Pa Olaniwun Ajayi, urged him and Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to strive to “protect and defend the Yoruba hegemony in Nigeria”.

    Adeola added that the nonagenarian warned him and others not to allow anybody, no matter how highly, to trample upon the Yoruba hegemony.

    He spoke in the late Ajayi’s Isara, Ogun State, home, when he visited the family to condole with them on the death of their father, legal luminary and elder statesman.

    The senator, who arrived at 10:18 am, was received by Ajayi’s first son, Ola, his brother; Konyisola Ajayi and the Secretary, Isara Community, Adesoye Sobowale.

    He said his last meeting with Pa Ajayi was in Lagos about three months ago in the home of former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

    According to Adeola, Pa Ajayi strongly desired of him and others to not only protect the interest of the Yoruba but also ensured that the Southwest was not “short-changed” in the country’s equation.

    The senator, who described Pa Ajayi as an astute politician, accomplished lawyer and a man who fought for the interest of the Yoruba and Nigeria, said he would be greatly missed greatly.

    Adeola said: “I’m here to commiserate with my brothers for the loss of our father, Pa Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, and I must say this: to you as a family, daddy will be greatly missed. But to us as a larger family, which by extension, we are still families, we’ll also equally miss daddy.

    “As we all know that daddy was a chieftain of the Afenifere, a social-political group that takes cognisance of the position of the Yorubas as a people.

    “I pray that God Almighty will uphold the family, uphold the people of Isara Remo and everyone of us that he has left behind.”

    The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, has said one of the greatest tributes that Yorubaland and its leaders can pay to Ajayi’s memory is for them to be united.

    He said this in a statement entitled “Tribute to Sir Olanihun Ajayi.”

    According to the Alaafin, “the best way to celebrate the departed soul of the great man is for Yoruba leaders, irrespective of their political differences, to hold

    firmly the symbol of unity that binds them together as a people of

    common ancestry and heritage.”

    The Alaafin, who referred to the departure of the Yoruba leader as an

    “exit of one of the great political titans of our time,” said Sir

    Ajayi “lived a life full of selfless service to the people.”

    The Yoruba community in the 19 northern states and Abuja, in a statement by its Chairman, Council of Oba of Yoruba, Mohammad Arigbabuwo, yesterday in Kaduna, described the death of the Afenifere leader as a great loss not only to the Yoruba but the country.

    According to him, the late Yoruba leader was among those who fought for the independence and unity of the country .

    The community said the late Ajayi would be remembered for his leadership role and a committed party man, whose contribution to the development of the government of the old Western Region would remain indelible.