NUJ Zone B mourns Alaafin of Oyo

The Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ), South West zone, has mourned the demise of our dear father, mentor, patriot and guardian, the late Alaafin of Oyo, His lmperial Majesty.Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111, the 45th Alaafin of the great Oyo empire, and longest serving Alaafin of this generation before it pleased the Almighty to take him home.

The late Oba Adeyemi had served the Yoruba, and by extension Nigeria and the humanity meritoriously before he passed on. He had also imparted greatly on our generation with his wisdom, sound leadership qualities, love for promoting our cultures and timely intervention in areas his fatherly roles are needed on the national scene.

The NUJ South West Zone, describes Oba Adeyemi as both an embodiment and a pride of the Yoruba culture and tradition, who gracefully taught and instructed the world about the greatness of the Yoruba race.

In a statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday, and signed by the Vice-President of NUJ, South West zone, Comrade Ronke Afebioye-Samo, the NUJ Zone B commiserates with the Government and the good people of Oyo kingdom, the entire Yoruba nation spread across the global village, Nigeria, and Africa at large. on the demise of Oba Adeyemi.

Samo also added that the NUJ Zone B recognizes the late Alaafin as a custodian of the Yoruba culture and tradition and a monarch whose life was a great inspiration to all Yorubas as he spent more days of his impartful lifetime to promote and preserve the Yoruba culture everywhere he went. Samo’s statement reads in part:

“We, NUJ Zone B, mourn the passing unto glory of our dear father, great mentor, patriot ,guardian, our great royal father and pride of the Yoruba culture and tradition, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111, Iku Baba yeye, the great grand son of Oduduwa who is the progenitor of the Yoruba race.

“We equally commiserate with the good people of Oyo kingdom, Alaafin’s extended family, the Yoruba race, Nigeria and Africa at large.

“The now late Oba Adeyemi will be greatly missed for being an advocate of good governance, supported by traditional values, norms and customs. We still recall his historic comments in this regard in September 1984, when he said: “Traditional rulers should be seen as the perfect embodiment of the culture of the place, as well as the synthesis of the aspirations and goals of the nation. This is not only in social values of veracity, egalitarianism, justice and democracy; but in dress, utterances and comportment; even the mere necessary trivialities (sic) that mark Nigeria and the locality as a distinctive entity”.

“We had in the now late Alaafin, a great inspiration for Yoruba cultural life, for he was a great emperor who has a deep knowledge and understanding of our history, culture and tradition. And not only this, he had used every opportunity he had in both local and international fora to educate, instruct and teach the world about the greatness of the Yoruba race.

“He was a monarch who inspired us with his great passion in seeking for more knowledge about Yoruba history and also dishing out this knowledge intelligently to the world about this great black nation. The younger generation, who have been keen enough to follow the late Alaafin’s teachings have learnt from this unique aspect and shall forever be grateful to him.

“And so, today, we mourn our dear father, guardian, teacher, patriot and elder statesman who has joined the ancestors so that he can keep watching over those on this side of existence according to our beliefs about the dead in the Yoruba culture. We pray the Almighty God shall continue to give the extended family the fortitude to bear the great loss caused by his glorious exit.