The Life and Legacy of HRM Oba A. Oshin Omiyomade 1, Emure Ekiti’s Esteemed Monarch
Born to Serve
Born to Prince Elkanah Adeleye Oshin of the Abenimota ruling dynasty and Princess Emily Fakiyesi Oshin on 28 March 1930, the journey to the throne as Elemure of Emure kingdom in Ekiti state, for Prince Adigun Bamidele Oshin was arduous and began long before he came to be known as Kabiyesi (he who can not be questioned). When he was still just Adigun, his father Prince Elkanah Adeleye Oshin Oluseri had to relinquish his business life in Ondo where he was a successful cocoa merchant, to come back to Emure to take care of his deteriorating health. Consequently, his family hit very bad times. Of his six young children who were at primary schools, only Adigun was kept in school. The others had to stop and join their mother in struggling for survival.
Through the mercy of God, Prince Elkanah’s health improved after about seven years. He could no longer return to business, hence he went into subsistence farming, The older daughter, Emiola, went back to Ibadan to learn dress-making and petty trading with her oldest half-sister Adesiyan, while two sons Karounwi and Kehinde helped their father on the farm. With dogged determination, papa sent his youngest two children, Lasun and Gboyega back to school.
At the end of his primary education, Adigun took the entrance exams to King’s College, Lagos and Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti. Although he was offered admission into both, he was unable to go because his father could not afford it.
Becoming Elemure
Being quite tall for his 15 years, he was given a job as a pupil teacher in St. Luke’s primary school, Ikere. His monthly salary was fifteen shillings (about seventy five kobo), out of which ten went to his father, leaving him with only five shillings to live on for the month. Thus, he began working on people’s farms, doing weeding while collecting yams for his feeding. After three years as a pupil teacher, he retook the entrance examinations, and was offered admission, this time to St. John’s Teacher’s College, Owo. He had to borrow his fees of two pounds from three contacts in Emure to pay for his training. He worked for three years at Ijare in Ondo State, repaid the loans, and then went back to the same St. John’s College to obtain his teacher’s certificate, grade II. Upon completion of this in December of 1955, he went to teach at Modern School, Usi, Ekiti, and thereafter, Teacher’s Grade III College at the same Usi, Ekiti. During this time, he took his GCE in seven subjects and passed all, promoting him to Teacher’s Grade I.
Meanwhile, his luckier primary school classmates who went to grammar schools were making it into institutions like the University of Ibadan and graduating with degrees of various disciplines, many of which were no match for him academically as he hardly ever came less than first in the end of year exams. This thought fired his ambition and determination, prompting him to make the decision to further his studies. He unceremoniously left his teaching job in 1959 and moved to Ibadan in search of the proverbial golden fleece, joining the Western region’s civil service as an account’s clerk in the ministry of Finance. From there, he was seconded to the Action Group party headquarters as ‘pay master’. That year, on the 27th of December, he married his girlfriend of three years, then Miss Rhoda Modupe Obaweya, and immediately began planning to travel to London for training as a chartered accountant. He left Nigeria in 1961 with his wife to seek the Golden Fleece.
Once there, they stayed for about three months with his friend, Afe Babalola (now SAN), in his one-room apartment in Vauxhall, South London. Thereafter, he bought a house at 222, Ferndale road, Brixton and began his studies at Balham and Tooting College of Commerce in the South of London. By mutual agreement, he studied full-time while his wife worked full-time and studied part-time, taking GCE O-levels.
The First Call to Serve
In 1963, after the passing of the then Elemure, His Royal Highness P. A. Adebayo Ajimuda Aminmin II, into glory, his family, the Abenimota Ruling House (one of two ruling houses declared by order of government in 1956 during the reign of Oba Adebayo) wrote to him to return home and contest for the throne, to which he declined, replying that he would not abandon his education. He completed his training in the record time of four years (a course that normally took six to seven years), and after gaining practical experience at the Middlesex County Council in Central London, (where he worked for 3 years, taking day releases to attend classes) he secured a permanent position as an internal auditor at the London Borough of Barnet. The county had its offices in Whitehall, near Buckingham Palace, hence his friends called him the ‘Queen’s Auditor’.
When the army took over power in Nigeria in 1965, his friends encouraged him to return home and get a job before the politicians regained power, as political nepotism reigned supreme under the civilian administration of the time. He returned to Nigeria with his son Tunde, leaving his wife to finish her studies. He got a job in the Federal Inland Revenue Department but spent only a few months there before securing a better-paid position at Dunlop Tyre Industries, Ikeja.
The Second Call to Serve
Destiny beckoned again in 1974 when the then Oba, HRH Taiwo Ogunleye Amugbayeo, passed on. His people again invited him to contest, this time refusing to take “no” for an answer. However, he remained firm in his refusal, as he was progressing quickly in his career and didn’t want any distractions. Things soon took a serious turn when some members of the Adumori Ruling House refused to let the Abenimota Ruling House present a candidate, leading the Abenimotas in a protest to the government. The family appealed to Adigun to champion the family’s cause as the prince, and this time, he couldn’t refuse. The government set up a judicial commission of inquiry, led by Justice Adenekan Ademola.
In 1976, Ondo State was created out of the Old Western State and the government met a heavy load of complaints regarding Obaship tussles all over the state, leading to the setting up of another judicial commission under Justice Morgan. Prince Adigun led his people, and the report of the Morgan Commission upheld the right of the Abenimotas to the Elemure stool, thus, the government asked them to present a candidate. Prince Adigun thought his job was done and he was prepared to give full support to whoever was put forth from his lineage. He even bought a brand new Toyota Crown to gift the would-be Oba, to save the town’s people the expense of contributing money to buy their new Oba a car (as was the custom then).
The Third Call to Serve
Destiny had no intention of releasing him. His people and the town’s educated elite came together and urged other candidates to step down and mounted pressure on him to take on the role till he finally agreed, and on the 18th of February, 1983, he was installed as the 17th Elemure of Emure. He adopted the title of Omiyomade I, Atobiloye II, Elemure of Emure, Ekiti. His coronation took place on the 6th of March, 1983. However, the struggle continued as the Adumori ruling house contested his appointment in court. The battle raged in the law courts from that time until the year 2000, when the Supreme Court in Abuja, in a unanimous judgment, upheld the verdict of both the High Court in Ikere and the Federal Court of Appeal in Benin and declared Oba Oshin’s appointment, installation and coronation to be legal.
Development in the Kingdom
Physical and Economic Development: Kabiyesi Oba Adigun Oshin actively encouraged the Emure people in the diaspora, both within the country and abroad, to come home, build houses, and establish businesses. He set an example by establishing a produce purchasing business in the town and engaging in Agro-allied businesses, gari making, a piggery, as well as block making and industrial starch making. His branded and packaged gari and lafun were distributed in shops across Ondo and Ekiti State. His company, Oshin & Oshin Ltd, was in the business of producing animal feed, under a franchise from an international feed mill company to produce under their label in 1982. The animal feed products were sold as far as Edo State.
Educational Development: He supported the improvement of the standard of education in the local secondary schools. He requested the qualifications and subject specializations of all teaching staff from the head teachers and was well-known in the Ekiti State Teaching Service Commission, where he would recruit teachers for particular subjects, which were under-provided by schools. He even went as far as personally seeking out highly qualified teachers and submitting their applications to the commission for appointment. He gave personal sponsorship to several brilliant, under-funded students in both secondary and tertiary institutions. He was an ally for students whose fathers were unwilling to sponsor them, and at times, he would even coerce them to comply. He brokered peace within Emure Student’s Union and at one time, appointed chiefs as election observers to ensure a peaceful, free, and fair student leader’s election.
Political Development: In the late 1980s, the Ondo State military government, under Governor Bode George, created the Isokan Local Government which covered Emure, Ise, and Orun, with headquarters at Ise/Emure Grammar School (currently the permanent NYSC orientation camp). However, Orun protested that the land belonged to them and as such, the headquarters should be named Orun. Finally, the decision was made to call the headquarters Emure/Ise/Orun LG. This event brought Kabiyesi’s political shrewdness to the forefront in the way he negotiated the citing of facilities in the LG. The Lord used him to broker peace between Emure and Ise, with the cooperation between the respective Obas initiated by Oba Oshin of Emure, and thereby ending centuries of bitter antagonism and ill-will, which characterized the societal attitudes at the time. The two continued to relate as brothers to the glory of God.
State Creation and Emure Local Government: Kabiyesi started the agitation for the creation of Emure LG during the tenure of President Ibrahim Babangida. He had done a lot of spadework to prove the economic viability of the kingdom. Being in the business, he knew that Emure was one of the leading producers of high-quality cocoa in Nigeria. Emure’s cocoa was in high demand for its use in upgrading cocoa from other areas before exporting. Most of the tax revenue derived from the area was from markets within the Emure kingdom, and he brought forth the statistics to prove it. Using a survey map, he showed that there were 65 villages and farmsteads in the area, and one of the largest forest reserves in the state was located in Emure kingdom. Presenting these facts among others, demonstrated that Emure could stand as a separate LGA. When the agitation for the creation of Ekiti State came in full blast, he was told that if Ekiti State was created, Emure LG would be created as well. Kabiyesi returned home and began working closely with the Ewi and other Ekiti Obas towards that purpose. He was the very first secretary of the Obas’ committee, assisted by the Obanla of Ijesa Isu, who later took over when Kabiyesi became indisposed and couldn’t function for a few months. The Ewi, Elemure, Owa Ooye, and others made several trips to Abuja during the Abacha regime until God answered our prayers and both Ekiti State and Emure LG were created to the glory of God.
Religion: Kabiyesi was always close to his God. As a student, he was the organist in St. John’s College. He had said that Chief Adeniran, a senior teacher at St. Luke’s, where he worked as a pupil teacher, taught him to play. He had been a choir master and organist in churches at Usi, and later would assist in that capacity when on holiday in Emure. On his ascension to the throne, he was approached by many prominent members to join the Ogboni cult, but not only did he refuse, he vowed to demolish paganism in the kingdom. He dismissed the traditional idol priests, gradually broke down the shrines in the palace and in the town, and ceased the performance of rituals in which he as Oba was expected to participate. He got his immediate younger brother, Chief J.K. Oshin (now Chief Oluseri), to spearhead the opening up of the Igbomole grove, which belonged to a branch of the Abenimota Ruling House, and set up a committee to survey the land and plot it into building plots, for sale to interested members of the community. The area was renamed ‘Imole Estate’ and gradually, evangelists, Pentecostals, and other religious groups found that Emure was ready for Christian revival. He opened up the palace gates for crusades and attended most of them in person.
The Palace: Kabiyesi embarked on an improvement of the palace grounds by first breaking down the old mud walls and enlarging it to cover all the remaining royal land. A lot of encroachment had occurred over the years as many families had built houses behind and around the palace, trespassing on the royal property. He fenced the remaining land, resisting all opposition to the decision. In the year 1998, the foundation of the new palace was laid by Rev Idowu of the Anglican church, and gradually, with the help of God, and the dedicated financial investment of Kabiyesi, the building of the Ebenezer Palace began. A building committee was set up with one of the high chiefs as chairman, but due to his performance, Kabiyesi removed him and appointed High Chief Olufemi Ayeni, the Saloro, as the chairman. He and his team of professionals worked assiduously to complete the palace building with an existing design that was resolved and fine-tuned by Architect Kayode Babalola, Kabiyesi’s son-in-law, for free. A huge fundraising event sponsored by Chief Kayode Ogundeji (then Chief Amuludun of Emure) took place in 2006. The money raised was over N15 million, which was spent to complete the building. It was commissioned on the 31st of March, 2007, by the state’s administrator, General Olurin during the inter-denominational memorial service held for Oba Oshin, who passed away three months prior.
The Curtain Falls
As a true soldier, Oba Oshin was at his duty post when death came calling. He had gone to Ado Ekiti High Court in connection with a case regarding the rebellion of some families in Eporo who had declared Eporo a republic independent of Emure. There, he suffered a heart attack and was rushed to a private hospital in the town, and later transferred to several others including Ido Federal Medical Centre and University College Hospital, Ibadan. Kabiyesi finally answered the call to home at UCH, on the 27th of December 2006, just before his transfer to a hospital in Dubai. He passed on his 47th wedding anniversary, six weeks to his 24th installation as Elemure, marking the end of a glorious and eventful reign.
Father of Modern Emure: When his chiefs accused him of being uncooperative with the wishes of his people, Kabiyesi once said that he would be like a good mother whose child is ill but was refusing to drink bitter medicine. His mother would catch him and force-feed him the medicine. When the medicine has worked and the child is well, playing and laughing once more, he and his mother would become friends again, he said. This was the philosophy by which he lived.
HRM Oba Adigun Bamidele Oshin Omiyomade 1 was survived by Eyelua Rhoda Modupe Oshin, his sons: Adeyinka, Babatunde, and Babafemi; and his daughters Ibironke and Omobolanle, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. After the demise of Omiyomade 1, Oba Emmanuel Adebayo Amimin III ascended the throne of Emure Ekiti.
Authored by Olori Rhoda M. Oshin, transcribed and edited by Tomifola Babalola
