A PERSONAL AND DIRECT ADDRESS FROM PROFESSOR SIR OTUNBA OLUSOLAPE ADEFESOBI ADEBAJO TO A FRIEND: THE IMMUTABLE, COURAGEOUS AND STOICAL LION OF IGAN KINGDOM, THE LATE OTUNBA SAMSON AREMU RUFAI (JP) (1937-2022)
PROLOGUE
I am not sure I have come to terms that my good friend, the immutable, courageous and stoical Lion of Igan Kingdom, Ago-Iwoye, Otunba Samson Aremu Rufai (JP), the legend of Igan Qurater, Ago-Iwoye had passed on. For one thing, we were classmates in the Primary School, and for another, the last twenty years, (thirteen of which we were traditional Otunbas of different Quarters, he of Igan Quarter and yours sincerely of Imososi land), had been years of togetherness like the Siamese twins.
When I gave the 25th Anniversary Lecture of Great Achiever Magazine titled: Some Contemporary Movers and Shakers of Ago-Iwoye History and Development through the Prisms of Great Achiever Magazine founded by inimitable Yomi Ogunsanu on June 19, 2021, I devoted two pages of the lecture to the life and times of my friend, Otunba Mefu of Igan land, Ago-Iwoye.
In short, I spoke of Mefu’s ruggedness, his immutability, his bravery to a fault, his ability at enduring pains without showing much feelings, his birth from the Okoko-dana-meji Royal Family, his long reign on the stool of Mefuship that had spanned 42 years, his parentage at both Igan and Isamuro Quarters, his Schools at Igan Wesley, Imososi Wesley School, Itamerin Secondary Modern School, MacJob Grammar School, Abeokuta, his work stints as pupil teacher, his Lagos sojourn at Federal Ministry of Land, his joining and quitting the Nigeria Police before settling at home as a businessman and farmer, where he struck gold and became highly successful.
I didn’t forget to mention that he saw it all in Ago-Iwoye via four Ebumawes, viz – Oba David Maloniti Osiyemi, Oba Claudius Adetayo Adesanya, Oba Adedayo Adewale and of course, his cousin, the present Oba Abdul-Razaq Adesina Adenugba.
The moment he got converted a Christian early in life in the Anglican sect, Otunba Rufai (JP), never looked back making waves in God’s vineyard and in the propagation of His Holy Words at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Ago-Iwoye and lately at St. John’s Church, Legumo, Ago-Iwoye where he was the moving spirit of the church. His wife, Sarah Rufai, who was my cousin, was the first Iya Ijo of the church before she passed on. Mefu visited Israel in 2005 and came back to report that his left arm problem got healed at the Dead Sea.
Mefu, the fulfilled, impactful and iconic legend, superintended over Ago-Iwoye’s largest and fastest growing Quarter in town. His rulership had been most beneficial not only to Igan enclave of the Ago-Iwoye but to all and sundry. Samson Aremu Rufai (JP) was the proud father of sons who are daily feeding scores in their entrepreneurships: Limelite Hotels, Goldmyne TV, Kingade Building Materials and Gbenga Rufai Bakery; except for Goldmyne TV that is based in Lagos, all others are within Igan premises of Ago-Iwoye.
When the University got established in Ago-Iwoye, almost all his many children got certificates from this institution before jumping to their various fields of endeavour. Mefu was a polygamist to a fault and God blessed him with many children, maybe because he was the only child of his mother, who he never knew. The mother was said to have died the day my friend was born.
If some people had watched Otunba Samson Aremu Rufai (JP) from close quarters, I modestly say I am one of them, not only because our villages are contiguous – he being from Ehin-Etiri Liwo and my mother was from Ehin-Etiri Baale Mabinu-Ori, but because we met some 75 years ago as small boys on Sonoiki Street area of Igan where we both lived and schooled at Ago-Iwoye’s premier primary school, the Imososi Wesley School, founded in 1893. We graduated the same year, 1956. No two days would pass in the last couple of years without meeting Mefu at the front of his two storey building on Igan Road, where people christen as my bus-stop and embassy. So the following are my observable characterization of the Iroko tree that fell without notice. My friend knew how to die without hassle. He gave the children not much problems: like he walked into the hospital and died the next day.
CHARACTERIZATION AND EPILOGUE
My dear Mefu, first, I go to the Bible. Psalm 116:15 says, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the Saints. You are reckoned as one. Psalm 10:7 – The memory of the righteous is sweet. You are also counted as one. Revelation 14:13 – Blessed are those who die in the Lord…… for they will rest from their hardwork; for their good deeds follow them. You fitted into this quotation appropriately.
And now to the great author Aristotle the philosopher who says courage is the first human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees other. Mefu Oloye, you are with due respect, shockingly and provocatively courageous, brave, not cowardly and heroic. I mean no harm but I am not sure if anyone could surpass your bravery, audacity and intrepidity. You never cared whose ox is gored. But as bold as you were, you were very careful not to run foul of some powers at Igan and you, sort of, petted them till they passed on.
My JP, there is no doubt we are celebrating you as a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and a man who touched a lot of lives positively. You had an unconditional love towards all, an unmatched and peerless dedication to duties and you became a role model in the lives of many people. You were known throughout the town, you were a most unforgettable, priceless and almost irreplaceable Otunba. Your administrative acumen was high. You set up Mefu-in-Council in Igan Quarter reminiscent of the Ebumawe-in-Council and recommended high-brow Igan indigenes to the Ebumawe for capping – such included the late Asiwaju of Igan, Prof. S. Ade Ali and the late Akogun of Igan, Akogun Kunle Sikiru. You capped Otunba Ajibola Ogundipe – as Asiwaju, Dr. Seye Awojobi as Akogun, Chief Mrs. Helen Banjo as Iyalode and Chief Mrs Kemi Olulenu as Otun Iyalode and others. They all held you aloft when you were around.
Dear friend, the last four months have rolled down, yet the irreversible void created by your demise on the 26th Jan, 2022, sadly still remains with me. Here, the darkness has refused to clear up, even slowly, hence I and others persistently grope and almost tumble at where you are supposed to lighten and provide support. I know you remember I benefitted immensely from your wealth of experience in the Otunba cadre. You fought gallantly on my behalf during the 36 months tussle for the Otunbaship of Imososi land. When we won and the battles shifted to the High Court in Ijebu-Igbo, you were there for me morally and spiritually, you never missed the court sittings that lasted over two years. You topped the money (though paid back) to buy my first Jeep some 18 years ago, following your Jeep, and when I purchased my second Jeep, the same month you followed suit with your Lexus Jeep. The competition was worth it. Memories of your umbrella figure, peculiar co-ordination abilities and humane disposition to those who moved near you are still fresh and unforgettable.
Baba Mefu, sure you weren’t poor. Before my eyes you would trek to your first house where you reside to bring money to help some people. You surrounded yourself with many of your grandchildren who you took care of.
Some stories radiated about you – that you were metaphysically endowed to do and undo, that your Christianity was colluded with black magic thereby practicing syncretism alongside your Anglicanism. I laugh a lot at all these as you were and remained a long time Lay Reader of your church but I know you didn’t abandon your Yorubaness inclusive of the concept of Omoluwabi – the good person. You bore any adversity especially in the loss of wives and two children with Christianly equanimity, composure and stoicism thereby freeing yourself from unnecessary emotional distress. On this, you had prayed that Ye Kemi, the last mama standing should survive you – God granted this request.
But these, themselves, are attributes that console us that you led a worthwhile life in your sojourn on earth.
Your coming back home from Lagos, I must say, was what broke your chain of depravity and near penury and thereby set you and your children on the path of success.
Mefu, you will remember that it wasn’t everytime we agreed. We would fight ten times and settle twenty times a week. I shudder a lot, almost to the point of wiggling and shivering when you took some quivering actions, tremulously as a result of your over bravery. No doubt, nothing pestered your mind whatever the magnitude of the event. When you held court and adjudicated in some cases before me, I wonder what a wondrous person you were. All these boiled down to the fact that your mind was your mind.
I want to end this note by asking God to keep your family save and forgive your transgressions. I want to also ask God in the popular words of Josiah Gilbert Holland (1810-1881) to give us another Mefu, with strong mind, great heart and ready hands. A Mefu who could be honoured and who could stand before a demagogue and down his treacherous flatteries without winking and a Mefu with true faith. I doff my hat to a good friend, an accomplished Otunba, a most courageous being of immutability, the Cornerstone of Igan Kingdom, pupil, student, teacher, Police man, entrepreneur, Otunba and Jerusalem Pilgrimage. A chain of 75 years got broken, but I think it will link one day.
I am yours sincerely, the Landlord of Ago-Iwoye,
Prof. Sir Otunba Olusolape Adefesobi ADEBAJO, Ph.D (Ife)
Retired Professor of Yoruba Literary History and Yoruba Archival Materials
The Olori-Ebi (Head) Mabinu-Ori Royal Dynasty Ibipe, Ago-Iwoye
The Asalu Ijo (Refuge) Idode Methodist Church, Ago-Iwoye
Knight of John Wesley (KJW)
Distinguished Service Award Winner, Ago-Iwoye
Oso-Olu III of Imososi Quarter, Ago-Iwoye
20th May, 2022.
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