I will never allow my daughter marry an Oba  again- Former Deji of Akure father-in-law

It is exactly eight 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 remembers her lovely daughter. Our Correspondent, Taiwo Abiodun was with him.

Unlike before when the environment used to bubble and received visitors each time Olori Idowu Bolanle Adesina Adepoju was around. This time around , it was not bubbling as usual, everywhere was quiet, and the reason was not far fetched -the Olori is no more, she died eight years ago in a mysterious circumstances.

A neighbour and a friend to the family said ” Nobody comes here again since the death of the Olori Bolanle , that is life. I don’t know when last I saw fleet of cars again in this compound since the calamity befell  the family. The death of the woman was not only a big blow to the family but on the town at large”.

Pa Joseph Akinola Fadeyi was at first reluctant to grant the interview but after a while, he cooperated.  In low tone he said ”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 .

Pa Fadeyi went down memory lane to tell the story of the late Olori and her  husband -the deposed Akure monarch,he said ”my late daughter and the deposed monarch,Deji of Akure,  Oluwadare Adesina Adepoju’s love was good and solid, they courted for six years before they tied the nuptial knots in native way  in my house here in Owo .The husband came to demand her hand in marriage in the year 2001 while he was installed as the Deji  of Akure in 2005”.

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 gone to Akure to plead with the monarch to settle the rift between him and his wife ”but he did not listen to me. “ He added, ” when I was told that my daughter was hospitalized for the injury she sustained  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 kept on praying for her not knowing that was the end .I was informed  that they poured some things on her that …..”[sobs].

According to Fadeyi,he remembers her always ,”It is difficult to forget, I can’t forget her, She was buried in her house in Akure .I am sad.I never knew this was how she would end.It is very painful”.

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 demanded for N50,000 she would give me double and she was my second born”.

The old man said he tried to settle the rift between them.” During the fracas , I went to the monarch in Akure to plead with him 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 .

The old man brought out the photographs of the couple at different celebrations during her lifetime , and said ” Each time I look 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 again, their problem is too much, their wives are not free at all, Wahala Oba ti poju.

He however confirmed that while the deposed Monarch made a spirited effort to be reinstalled as some family members came on behalf of the deposed Oba 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 .

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 .

July 12 is always a sad day in the household of the family of the late Olori Bolanle. Her friends and family members will go to her grave for prayers while the father as usual will be in a sad mood again remembering the calamity that befell the family when the sad news was broken. He said, ” every July 12, I always pray for the repose of her soul. I always pray for the children too, what else can I do? I am terribly sad.

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 will never use it.  I told her younger ones to be using it”.

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 , In fact, I spent three months in the hospital after my daughter died and I spent over one million naira for hospital bills.”

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”.

The old man who is no longer working says he solely rely 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”

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.

Investigation revealed that when the deposed Monarch was dethroned, he made spirited efforts to come back by appealing to the state government ,to the family of his estranged wife for reconciliation but the deed had been done as the government and human rights activists from home and abroad condemned his behavior. Many were shocked seeing a first class monarch fighting in the public in his royal crown and regalia. It was abomination, disgrace and degradation of the 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 , as a result of the disgrace .

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 and latter reinstated 25years later so it is possible ”, he said.