How does it feel to transit from being an academic to a traditional ruler?
Before I became the Alayede, I had thought that the stool could be a bit boring but I have been completely proved wrong. Today is an example of what I experience every day. For example, this is about the fourth engagement I have had today and each engagement is really demanding. It could be interesting but at the same time, it could be tasking. As a retired academic and judicial officer, I feel a bit fulfilled because I have never liked idleness all my life but again, it could be rather stressful.
Did you grow up in this community?
Yes, I was born here and when it was time for school, I went to school in Akure, where I stayed with my grandmother. I had my primary school education there. Later, I went to Ondo Boys High School, Ondo, even though I wanted to attend Government College, Ibadan. I went for the short interview but I wasn’t lucky enough to make it. I gained admission to Christ School, Ado-Ekiti, but my father preferred Ondo Boys High School simply because Chief Fasoranti, then Master Reuben Fasoranti, attended the school. My father thought that was the place somebody he knew schooled.
How was Ondo Boys High School then?
I was there between 1947 and 1951; it was an ideal school at that time. I thank God I gained double promotion to justify my father’s choice. It was a question of doing what your teacher told you and you would be alright. After leaving OBHS, I picked up government work. Then the ministries were going round schools and picking the best hands to work with government. The best ones would go to the treasury department. I went to the treasury department and I found it very interesting. It was an 8am – 2pm work and for those who were industrious, they did whatever they liked after 2pm. In this light, I decided to invest my time in reading privately. Three of us were doing it; Afe Babalola, Adejumo and myself. We sat for GCE at the same time and we passed. We also passed all our Advanced Level papers at a go and because of that, we were exempted from intermediate B.sc in some subjects. Afe and Adejumo were teaching while I was the only civil servant among us and they seemed to have a little time compared to me and we all did very well in our exams.
How did you come about Law?
I made up my mind to study Law as far back as 1941. Then, I used to follow my father who was a baale (chief) as a small boy to the palace of the Deji of Akure, Oba Efunbiowo; he was really like a white man. There was this Akure/Owo land dispute which resulted into a court case. The Deji was so much revered that nobody sat near him but that day, everybody was waiting for this lawyer they called Mr Soetan. He came fairly late. Everybody was very anxious to see him. As soon as he came in, he drew his chair which was a bit away from the Deji and sat side by side with the respected king. Then, it arrested my attention and I started wondering; how could anyone be so daring to sit with the Deji? Driven by curiosity, I moved nearer the Deji and the lawyer and my father who was far away could not caution me to be careful. It was that day that I made up my mind that I would become a lawyer like Soetan who could sit with the Deji. That day, he drilled everybody, including my father and as soon as he left, I asked my father what kind of man he was and he said, ‘didn’t you hear everybody calling him a lawyer?’
How did you combine studying Law with your work as a civil servant?
I did my degree up to the intermediate level and I applied to Lincoln’s Inn in London and they gave me an admission and said I should come over immediately and do my part two. They exempted Afe Babalola and I. As at the time we passed our intermediate here, only eight of us passed the exam in Nigeria. When Lincoln’s Inn gave me admission to come and do part two, people like the late Oba Adelegan Adesida, the Deji of Akure and Chief Fasoranti encouraged me to go abroad to further my education in Law. Then it was not easy to gather £150 to travel abroad but my father did his best possible and got me the money with which I travelled to England.
When did you travel out and how was it then?
I travelled out in 1960 and it was a very strange sort of life. I had already married then and my wife did not give me a breathing space. She pressured me to go so that people would not think she was the one responsible for my not going. I left my two children behind and a few months thereafter, my wife joined me in Britain. Exactly one year after I had left, I passed all my LLB part one papers and in 1962, I passed the part two but the degree could not be conferred on me until 1963. In fact, when I arrived in Britain, I sought admission to Kings College and they said they would take me but that I would have to spend three years before I would be allowed to take my degree but I declined. So, after I was conferred with my LLB and called to the British Bar, I decided to wait for my wife to finish her studies before coming back and while waiting, I started a Master’s degree in Law.
How did you start working?
The Western Region wanted me to join the service but I was almost rounding off my LLM then so I kept the appointment in the cooler. Shortly before my LLM, the late Justice Aguda came to Britain and when he called on me, he said it was good that I started my Master’s. He said I should come and join the government when I come back but I went to academics. I joined the University of Ife to teach and I taught for four years. I was in Ife between September 1965 and 1972. After Ife, I left for the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and I was there for three years. While I was there, I wrote a book, Administrative Law in East Africa. It is still the standard book used in the three universities there till date. I joined the civil service when I came back working in the Ministry of Defence. There I met the late Oba Adesanoye again after our OBHS days where he was my senior for two years. I was being promoted every year in the ministry and when Ondo State was created, I was persuaded to join the new state.
You mentioned Afe Babalola earlier, was that the end of your relationship?
Not at all. We were both in London and finished at the same time but he didn’t wait to do Master’s. So he came home and started practice and as a result, he is two years ahead of me at the bar. When I was at Ife, I used to visit him in his chambers.
Why were you not attracted to go into private practice just like him?
There were two reasons. First, I was persuaded that teaching was a good job and the other reason is that I was really in love with my students because they treated me like their father. There was money in private practice and Afe Babalola was always teasing Adejumo and I, asking us to leave teaching and join the private practice. At a time, I was almost persuaded but on a second thought, I decided not to because at times, money is not everything.
How did you become a professor?
When I was about to leave East Africa, Malawi actually invited me to come and take up a chair in their new and young university but I declined and came back home. While I was in the civil service and came to Ondo State, I discovered that the civil service was politicised and I didn’t like it. I was the Permanent Secretary and Solicitor General in the Ministry of Justice, the first Ondo State indigene and I did my best. They used that against me when I was graded number one when judges were to be appointed. If I was dropped on question of merit, I won’t be worried but I was dropped because they said if I was removed from the Ministry of Justice, the place might collapse. I then went to the head of service to protest and threatened to leave. I then put in applications to University of Benin and the University of Lagos but Lagos shortlisted me first. I went for the interview and all 14 of them in the panel said I should be appointed. By then, I had two books on Nigerian law. At the panel, they were asking me how soon I could join them and I told them as soon as I was appointed and allowed to give notice. One of them who was in the final year when I was at the University of Ife, Prof. Itse Sagay, was the Dean of the Faculty of Law, came to convey the news that I had been given an appointment. UNILAG interviewed me for the post of a professor and I was so appointed. A few weeks after, UNIBEN called me and one of the panel members said he had been a professor for a fairly long time; yet, he didn’t have as much publications as I had but I settled for UNILAG. When I came to UNILAG, I was at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies as head of academics. Then I was in my best elements, especially in writing.
So, you retired from UNILAG to take the stool here?
No, what happened was that, I was at UNILAG and had published Nigeria Administrative Law. One cold morning, my secretary walked into my office to announce the arrival of somebody that had come to see me. But before he turned back, Bola Ajibola, the then Attorney General of the federation, walked in. We were together in London but not that we were so close. He said he was mandated to bring a paper to the council on the establishment of the Code of Conduct Bureau and because I devoted a whole chapter to it in my book, I should prepare the paper for him in two days at the most. I prepared what he called a readable paper and before the day ran out, I took it to him. He was very impressed by the paper and the speed involved and said I would be hearing from him. The next thing I heard was the setting up of the Code of Conduct Bureau and he called me to his office to tell me that he considered me to be the chairman of the body. I said I would not accept for the simple reason that I had never done the work of a policeman before. The bureau serves as the policeman for the tribunal. I told him he should not bother appointing me but he said that much I could say but much I could not do. So we parted but by the third day or thereabout, I came home for lunch with my family. But shortly before I left the office, a police dispatch rider said he was looking for Prof. Oluyede’s office, that he had a message for him. And as I was coming out of the office, I met him and he said the A-G said he should give me a letter and upon opening it, I had been appointed a member of the bureau. Before the dispatch rider left, he said the A-G asked me to see him as soon as practicable. When I went to see him, I said I didn’t like the way the appointment was made but he said I was free to go and tell Gen Ibrahim Babangida. He said I would have been appointed the chairman but for the fact that a retired judge was more suitable. That was how I became a member and I was there for 20 years. We were treated just as judges and were ranked same as Court of Appeal judges. I retired in 2008.
What did you do after retirement?
No sooner had I retired from the Code of Conduct Bureau than Afe Babalola called me to be the Provost of the College of Law at his university. I was the first provost of the college. I resisted it but he went around talking to people, even to my wife. I had to take up the job and I was there when the kingship issue came up.
How do you feel when this community is touted as the headquarters of hemp plantation in the state?
To be honest with you, I had experienced personal embarrassment over this issue. This was when I was on my way to London. Of course, I proudly refer to this place, Ayede Ogbese, as my place of origin. We were on a queue and they were checking everybody but when it came to my turn, they looked at me whether it was true that I came from Ayede Ogbese. They asked whether my luggage had been checked in. One officer was asked to follow me and they checked every item I had in my luggage simply because of the bad publicity and I was thoroughly embarrassed. Because of this, I needed no one to clean up this place of Indian hemp. When the governor met me casually before I was appointed, he mentioned it even though it was casual, I got the message and I am working on it seriously. The representative of Akure North came here and I told him what I was doing. Today, the story is different. I am working closely with the Commander of the NDLEA and the police. There is no question of someone being a relative, once anyone is caught; it is straight to the NDLEA.
Why is this place attractive to hemp planters?
You know Nigerians’ quest for easy money and because of the forest reserve here, they can easily cultivate anything in the reserve but I have devised a means of checking them out.
What is the relationship between you and the Deji of Akure?
The Deji is the Oba of Akure while the Alayede of Ayede Ogbese is the oba of this place; that is how we should relate since this place has been accorded recognition. Before now, the relationship was very cordial until lately when it got strained because some people are pushing him. He is trying to impose chiefs on some communities under my jurisdiction but the legal position is that a ‘prescribed authority’ does not go beyond its boundary. On the day of the council of obas’ meeting, the Deji told me openly that I am the prescribed authority over Alayere. The entire people of Akure-North are now asking questions why they should forever remain in servitude. I advise the Deji to stop listening to those that are pushing him because of their vested interest in the forest reserve here.
No comments:
Post a Comment