Razaq Bamidele
The Adeleke family has entered Nigeria’s political book of records, having produced three senators and two governors. That is a trail-blazing feat no other family has attained.
In the country’s South-west, many young people may not know that the name Adeleke is not new on the political radar of the country. The name has been visible as far back as the First and Second Republics in which the likes of the late sage, Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo (SAN), Pa Jonathan Odebiyi, Chief Remi Fani-Kayode (Fani Power), the late Lamuye of Iwo fame, Pa Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Josiah Olawoyin, the Cicero of Esa-Oke, Chief James Ajibola Ige (SAN), and Senator Abraham Adesanya were the active players.
Also on the oldies’ list were/are Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, Pa Ayo Fasanmi, Chief Richard Osuolale Akinjide (SAN), Chief Abiola Ogundokun, Chief Sunday Michael Afolabi, Pa Emmanuel Alayande among others who called the shots. Though some of the personalities cited are now late, a few are still around enjoying their blessed old age.
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Among the Senators on the platform of the then Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), between the years 1979 and 1983 was a professional nurse and a High Chief, Raji Ayoola Adeleke, the Balogun of Ede.
Chief Adeleke of blessed memory was the biological father of the first governor of Osun State, Otunba Isiaka Adeleke. Although his administration like that of other governors of the time was short-lived due to military intervention, Isiaka came back later to be a Senator like his father. He was in the Senate twice across two political parties: the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC).
Sadly, however, as he was warming up to become a governor for the second time, Senator Adeleke died on April 23, 2017, aged 62. His death threw Osun and the whole country into serious mourning. Adeleke popularly called Serubawon could not complete his tenure in the Senate but his younger brother, Ademola Adeleke, got elected and stepped in to complete his brother’s tenure (though not on the platter of gold), thereby becoming the third Senator produced by the Adeleke family.
In 2018, the younger Adeleke wanted to fulfil his brother’s ambition of bringing home the gubernatorial crown for a second time on the ticket of the PDP, but one thing led to another and he could not scale through as the candidate of the APC, Alhaji Isiaka Gboyega Oyetola defeated him. However, Senator Ademola Adeleke then acted like the proverbial ram that retreated during a fight in a manner that suggested it was running away but came back with renewed vigour to fight and win. Ademola Adeleke reemerged in 2022 to restart the governorship battle where he stopped almost four years earlier. And on July 16, he won the governorship election, defeating the sitting governor, Oyetola.
If he is sworn in on November 27 this year, the Adeleke family would have produced three senators and two governors and thereby achieving a political first by any family in the State of the Living Spring.
The political ascendancy in the South-west was predicated on a hierarchical structure established by the founding fathers in the First Republic. That is talking about the likes of Chief Obafemi Awolowo (Awo), Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola (SLA), Chief Adelabu Adegoke (Penkelemesi), Chief Odeleye Fadahunsi, Chief T.O.S Benson, to mention just a few. They were the political icons that shone across the South-West like northern stars.
So, when during the Second Republic (1979-83) the likes of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Chief Josiah Olawoyin started the campaign for the various state Houses of Assembly across the South-west, the scenario looked just like the normal and expected political show of the oldies.
Those who had passed on before the commencement of that republic like SLA and Penkelemesi were succeeded by their backup players like Chief James Ajibola Ige, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande (LKJ), Chief Olabisi Onabanjo (Aiyekooto), Senator Abraham Adesanya, Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu and Chief Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo.
Nobody was left in doubt that the political setting then in the West was based on the “wait-for-your-turn system.” Younger politicians had to queue up and perform assigned tasks from the rear pending when vacant positions would be available and they then move up. When such vacancies were available, only those younger ones who had perfected the art of washing their hands properly were allowed to dine with the elders on the political dining table.
It never crossed anybody’s mind that a time would come when outsiders could gate-crash into the arena to vie for any elective office without the consent of the aforementioned godfathers. However, Osun State broke the order during the aborted Third Republic, when a 36-year-old graduate of Criminal Jurisprudence from Jacksonville University, Alabama, USA dazed all to become the first elected governor of the then young state in 1991.
Senator Isiaka Adeleke, son of the late Senator Raji Ayoola Adeleke who was in the main political stream of the West along with the Awolowos and Ajasins performed the feat.
The almost seven-foot, youthful politician appeared several feet taller with his signature axe-like cap. To make an instant impact on the political scene, the thickly-built U.S. returned new breed politician stormed the stage with a lot of awe-inspiring innovations.
He flew in helicopters to campaign grounds just as the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo did in the 60s and 80s. That ingenuity instilled fears into other contestants who felt they could not match the new entrant from abroad. Such innovative acts earned Adeleke the Serubawon (instil fear into them) appellation. He overawed his opponents and won many local supporters.
There was an instance in Osogbo, Osun State capital when Isiaka Adeleke used a chopper to share campaign leaflets to the people. The green colour N20 note was in vogue then. So when a swarm of green leaflets were dropping from Serubawon’s chopper, there was a mad scramble by the tumultuous crowd of people who mistook the green campaign leaflets for the green currency note.
In another instance, an old woman in a certain village nearly passed on due to exhaustion during her attempt to catch a glimpse of Serubawon’s chopper that landed on the playground of the local primary school. The helicopter had flown away minutes before the poor woman could make it to the makeshift air base.
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Senator Isiaka Adeleke’s younger brother, Ademola has not only sustained the family’s political dynasty by becoming a senator and then governor, but he also introduced entertainment to the mix. From the ‘dancing senator’, he has become the ‘dancing governor.’
The Sarakis of Kwara State in the North-central is the other family that has tried to match the Adelekes’ achievements in politics.
The late renowned political icon, Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki laid the foundation for the Saraki dynasty as a senator and Senate leader in the Second Republic. His attempt to become president did not succeed.
After him, entered his medical doctor son, Abubakar Bukola Saraki who was elected for two terms as the governor of Kwara State. During his first term as governor, his younger sister, Gbemisola Saraki became a member of the House of Representatives. Interestingly also, when her brother was in his second term as governor, she moved up to become a senator. After Bukola’s second term in office as governor, the father wanted his daughter and Bukola’s sister, Gbemisola to succeed her brother (Bukola) but this did not work out. Rather, Bukola left the Kwara Government House to also become a senator for two terms. As a ranking senator, Bukola eventually became the Senate president.
With Bukola’s stint in the Senate, his family has also produced three senators like the Adelekes and only a governor against the Adeleke’s two.
If Ademola Adeleke survives the Oyetola legal onslaught against his victory at the election tribunal, the legacy he leaves behind as the Osun governor will exalt or degrade the family’s political preeminence.