Having been born on Friday, 27th October 1950, in my beloved hometown, Ibadan, capital of the defunct Western Region of Nigeria, a week from today, on Tuesday,27th October, I shall be 70 years old, God willing.
My beloved Father, the late Pa AbdulRahim Oladosu Alabi, alias ‘RIGHT TIME’, hailed from the Oyetunji Olundegun Chieftaincy Family of Ile Oye, SW2/486, Ita Aregbe Omo, Isale ‘Jebu, Ibadan, Oyo State of Nigeria and the Ekerin Ajengbe Chieftaincy Family of Ode Ekerin, SW1/131, Isale Osi, Ibadan.
My dear Mother, Mama Mopelola, hails from the Oshotun Chieftaincy Family of Idamudu Quarters, Emure-Ekiti, Ekiti State of Nigeria and the Adeyanju Clan, Agbede Adodo, Ibadan.
Mother almost died from a very prolonged labour, before she eventually gave birth to me in Ile Tuntun, SW1/60, Gaa, Isale Osi, Ibadan, the home of Father’s uncle, the late Pa Haroun Durodola, whose corpse did not decay 16 years after his death and burial in 1972.
The peculiar circumstances of my birth had been predicted long before I was born, and coupled with the fact that Mother almost died at my birth, my Father and his family celebrated my naming ceremony elaborately for three days(Friday,3rd to Sunday,5th November,1950.)with his older friend, Yusufu Olatunji(Baba l’Egba)and his Sakara Group on the bandstand for the three days of thanksgiving.
In 1971, when I was 21 years old, the bands of Baba l’Egba and Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi, MFR INDIRECTLY entertained me and my friends. How?
Anyone who, in 1971, attended that year’s highly-popular HAVANA NIGHT, organised annually by the SIGMA CLUB of Nigeria’s first university, the University of Ibadan, would recollect that Baba ‘Egba and his Sakara Group were placed in the foyer of the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, while Obey and his International Brothers Band occupied the VC’s car park at the 1971 HAVANA NIGHT.
Attendees of that night dance would remember the young ‘Lekan Alabi serenaded by the two great bands. Kindly recollect Baba l’Egba’s relationship with Father. As for Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, I had, a year earlier, wowed him, his band and guests at the Oyenugas party for their Matriach in Isale Gangan, Lagos Island, with my dance steps and the easy translations of the idioms churned out by the band’s dexterous gangan drummer, the late Mutiu ‘Kekere’ Jimoh, alias ‘Haaji Mutaato’
When I celebrated my 40th and 60th birthdays, Obey and his band were on the bandstand, while King Sunny Ade, MFR entertained my guests in 2015, when I clocked 65.
As the Yoruba will ask, “Eran ki la o je ri? (What kind of meat have we not consumed?).
In line with the style and glamour set by Father, I have lined up for my 70th birthday celebration, the following stars and their bands to entertain my guests:
Ile ni mo b’ola, ko sh’oni. (I met honour at home. It didn’t just start today.)
(1)Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi, MFR
(2)King Sunny Ade, MFR
(3)Dr.Yinka Ayefele, MON
(4)Queen Salawa Abeni
(5)Agba Akin Abass Obesere
(6)Alhaji Musiliu Haruna-Ishola
(7)Wole Ojo and
(8)The late Alhaja Batuli Alake grandaughters
Now, the rising youths protests all over the country against the SARS, NASS and other imbalances in the country also occupy my mind and is dampening my enthusiasm, for the following reasons.
(A)I was raised by a politically active paternal grandmother, Mama Asma’u Odunola Alabi, the late Woman Leader of the NCNC in Ibadan, under the late Adegoke Adelabu Penkelemeesi.
( B)53 years ago, in 1967, I started my civil rights campaigns, while a 17-year old Form 3 student of African Church Grammar School, Apata Ganga, Ibadan.
It will be recalled that in 1967, I wrote a formal letter of appeal to the then Nigeria’s military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) to either release Professor (then Mr)’ Wole Soyinka, from detention, without trial, by the Gowon-led Federal Military Government in Kaduna Prisons,or charge him to court,for the accusation of visiting the then Military Governor of the now-defunct Eastern Region of Nigeria, then
Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
I equally wrote a formal letter of solidarity with the detainee(Mr ‘Wole Soyinka)in care of the Chief Warder of the Kaduna Prisons. General Gowon acknowledged my letter in 1967, while Professor Soyinka, on his release from detention in1969, also wrote a formal letter of appreciation to me.
(C)Having served as Press Secretary to four(1 civilian and 3 military) former Governors of old Oyo State from 1983 to 1989, I have a fair view of policy formulation and execution.
(D)I know how to create economic independence and wealth, as the pioneer General Manager, Corporate Affairs of Odu’a Investment Company Limited. I retired voluntarily from the Group in 2006, despite having 6 more years to go.
( E)I, as the Secretary-General of the MKO Abiola Dynamic Group in 1993 and one of the Founders of the Association for Democracy In Nigeria (ADIN) fought with millions of democrats in and outside Nigeria for the reversal of the unfair annulment of the victory of MKO Abiola, GCFR in the June 12 1993 Presidential Election.
(F)I was the person who gingered MKO Abiola to intervene and we got the ODU’A INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED out of the jaws of the orders of dictator General Ibrahim Babangida’s dissolution of the Yoruba economic patrimony in1990. I set out on the rescue of the ODU’A CONGLOMERATE, because the Management of her counterpart, the NEW NIGERIA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY(NNDC)Kaduna, ignored Babangida’s dissolution order, whereas the dismantling of ODU’A INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED, under a so-called Board of Trustees appointed by the non-Yoruba Military Governors of the then 3 owner-states set to work immediately Babangida gave the order to dismantle both the ODU’A INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED and the NEW NIGERIA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, whose original name was the NORTHERN NIGERIA DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION(NNDC).
I can go on and on, in one’s modest contributions to equity, freedom, economic, political and cultural development of Nigeria.
But, these times are unpleasant and worrisome, raising questions about celebrations at a time of darkening clouds, even though one is not in the club of public officers/ persons whom the society is angry with.
Nevertheless, we and the rest of the world are watching the agitations for equity, security, freedom, abundance etc in Nigeria. I, therefore, humbly beg ALL the eminent citizens/corporate bodies connected to the deserved celebrations of my 70th birthday thanksgiving to, please, pray for Nigeria and await a further announcement from me.
As the title of this post goes – BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS AT THE RIGHT TIME.
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS AT THE RIGHT TIME
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