I have forgiven deposed Deji of Akure
Pa Fadeyi
…..I can’t drive the jeep my late daughter gave me
…….I am sad, sad and still sad
……. I was hospitalized for 3 months
It is exactly seven years today when Olori Idowu Omobolanle Adepoju Adesina wife of the deposed Deji of Akure , Oluwadare Adesina Adepoju died mysteriously.Today her father , Pa Joseph Akinola Fadeyi (73) remembers her lovely daughter. taiwoabiodun.com was with him.
The environment was not bubbling as usual .Everywhere was quiet .Unlike when his late daughter Olori Idowu Bolanle Adesina Adepoju was alive and the house would be painted red as visitors would turn the place to a Mecca of sorts.
A man who is a friend to the family shook his head and cried ”so this is life, a time was when fleet of cars would be parked in this compound while escorts would follow the late Olori home and many would come seeking help from financial to moral assistance .Now all these are no more as the old man , father of the deceased Olori grieves over the death of his daughter who died seven years ago.What a pity, a calamity and a big blow to the family and Owo town at large”, a man in his late 40s lamented.
The old man’s countenance changed when he was told that taiwoabiodun.com was there for interview,though a man of few words , he managed to speak ” I am Joseph Akinola Fadeyi . I am the father of the late Olori Bola Adesida .I always remember the sad story of my daughter . She died on July 12, 2011″, he said , as hot tears cascaded down his cheeks .
Their Marriage
Pa Fadeyi described the beginning of the lovebirds as real love and super, he said ”my late daughter and the deposed monarch,Deji of Akure, Oba Oluwadare Adesina Adepoju’s love was super ”, adding “they courted for six years and did introduction in my house here in Owo .The husband came to demand her hand in marriage in the year 2001 while he became the Oba of Akure in 2005”.
How she was Hospitalized
On the news of the attack on the late Olori by the deposed Monarch and the after effects, the old man, Pa Fadeyi recaptured the whole episode once again, and said he had before the final blow on his daughter went to Akure to plead to the monarch to settle the score,”but he did not listen to me ”, he added ” when I was told that my daughter had been hospitalized I went to see her at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC ) Owo, before she was transferred to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital ( LASUTH) Lagos where she later died .She didn’t know she would die. I prayed for her .
I was told that they poured some things on her that …..”[sobs].
Remembrance every year
Asked whether he remembers her every year and how she is being remembered , the old man said he remembers her always , ” I can’t forget her, She was buried in her house in Akure .I am sad, sad and sad.It is very painful’.
On whether he still hears from the deposed Oba?
When asked whether he still hears from the deposed monarch, he looked at the ceiling and said ” I don’t see him, he does not call me. My late daughter was the pillar of the house . She once bought a flat screen television for me , and if I demand for 50,000 Naira she would give me 100,000 Naira and she was my second born.
My role during and after
” During the fracas , I went to the monarch in Akure to beg the king and to reconsider his wife but he refused to take his wife back .I knew when he was at the District Officers’ ( D.O) quarters in my town , Owo where he was banished to .
Her photographs
The old man brought out the photographs of the couple in different celebrations in her lifetime , and said ” Each time I looked at her pictures I feel sad , these are her photographs from her spinsterhood till when she got married. I regretted my daughter marrying a monarch .I will never allow any of my female children to marry an Oba their problem is too much for the wife will not be free at all , Wahala Oba poju”.
The monarch’s family members came begging
Some family members of the monarch came on behalf of the deposed Oba to the father of the deceased begging for forgiveness but the old man said ” I told them there was no problem .We never quarreled .He used to call me .He received me very well in fact they courted for six years before they got married , so how would I have known it would end this way?”, he cried .
Cause of the quarrel
Pa Fadeyi said the quarrel between his late daughter and the deposed Oba (husband ) was more than ordinary , he said ” It was the woman he ( the monarch ) brought to the palace that caused everything .It was a big error , when the monarch was telling me he said he didn’t know what came over him. The Oba and his late wife were like Siamese twins , the devil really used him”, the old man said .
Remembrance
Today July 12, is another sad day in the household of the family of the late Olori Bolanle. Her friends and family members will go to her grave for prayer while the father as usual will be in a bad mood again remembering the calamity that befell the family when the sad news was broken, he said ” every July 12, every year I always pray for the repose of her soul. I always pray for the children too, what else can I do? I am in pain”.
Why I don’t drive the Jeep my late daughter gave me
The old man said his late daughter bought a Jeep for him before she died and since then , he had not even used it, when asked why , he looked up as if searching for an answer from the ceiling and said ” it was the same Jeep she bought for me they used to convey her body back from Lagos to Akure for burial , and I cannot use it any longer .I didn’t use it , I told her younger ones to be using it”.
”.
Hospitalized for three months
The news of the death of his daughter was like a thunderbolt as he was hospitalized, for three months , he said ” the deposed Oba called me only once when he was in the UK while I was in the hospital , Infact I spent three months in the hospital when my daughter died and I spent over one million Naira , it was an ugly story”
Children of the late Olori
On the children of the late Olori, the old man said ”they are there , they are with the mother of the Olori.I know God will take care of them.But it is painful that I lost my daughter just like that ,
I have left everything for God to judge”.
How he is surviving
The old man who is no longer working says he solely relied on his late daughter’s younger ones who have been taking care of him. He said ” you can see that I am old now , and can no longer work . The late Olori’s younger ones are the one assisting me now since my daughter has gone , it is very , very sad”
The deposed Monarch
For a very long time , Akure did not have a king but after many years of interregnum the deposed monarch , Oluwadare Adesina Adepoju was enthroned as the Deji of Akure, and he was warmly received after performing the necessary rites and was officially installed in 2005.
However the Ondo State government banished the Monarch to Owo, where he was until he was eventually dethroned by the State Government under the leadership of the then Governor Olusegun Mimiko.The deposed king made spirited efforts to come back but it is like a lost battle.
Where is the deposed Monarch now?
Investigation revealed that when the deposed Monarch was dethroned he made spirited efforts to come back by appealing to the state government ,to the families of his estranged wife for reconciliation but the deed has been done as the government and Human Rights Activists from home and abroad condemned his behavior .Many were shocked seeing a whole first class monarch fighting in the public in his royal crown and regalia.It is an abomination, disgrace and degraded Yoruba Tradition and Culture.
When the monarch discovered there was no way forward , he traveled back to the United Kingdom, while some said he went to America , whichever way the fact is that he quickly left the country as a result of the disgrace .
Will he ever regain his throne?
Pa Fadeyi said ”When the royal father was banished from Akure the family members of the monarch came to beg me to support his coming back to the throne , and I supported them after begging me and after she had died. I wish he was restored back to the throne but that was not in my hand . I knew one Oba who was dethroned and returned back to the throne after 25 years .They know I have tried and supported them for their brother to come back, after all my daughter has children for him, two boys”.
This is not the first time a monarch would be banished or deposed.It happened to the late Olowo of Owo Oba Sir Olateru Olagbegi II who was banished from Owo to Okitipupa and was eventually dethroned for 25years. /After 25 years he came back to the throne. According to Pa Fadeyi, anything can happen.He said ” they sent many people to come and beg me and I have forgiven him at least my daughter has kids for him.Moreover I cannot doubt his coming back for it has happened before when one monarch was dethroned he was reinstated 25years later so its possible ”, he said
How he is surviving
The old man who is no longer working says he solely relied on her late daughter’s younger ones who have been taking care of him,he said ” you can see that I am old now , and can no longer work .The late Olori’s younger ones are the one assisting me now since the woman has gone , it is very , very painful”.