Oba Lamidi Adeyemi – Alaafin of Oyo raised under Alake of Egba’s tutelage, dies at 83
Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the 45th Alaafin of Oyo and one of Nigeria’s longest-reigning monarchs, has passed away on Friday, April 22, 2022. He was 83.
Neusroom could not reach Bode Durojaiye, his media aide, for details about the monarch’s death.
Born October 1938, Adeyemi was installed as the Alaafin of Oyo in 1970 and reigned for more than five decades.
Adeyemi, who spent his early life in Abeokuta in Ogun state, was raised under the tutelage of the then Alake of Egbaland, Oba Oladapo Ademola and his wife Olori Wuraola – the parents of Nigeria’s first indigenous Chief Justice, Sir Adetokunbo Ademola.
While living in the palace, he witnessed the Abeokuta Women’s Union protest of 1948 led by Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, which forced Oba Ademola into exile. Adeyemi also went into exile with the troubled monarch to Osogbo, present-day Osun state.
Young Lamidi also trained as an Islamic cleric in Iseyin. He also lived with a famous Lagos doctor, Sir Kofo Abayomi and an Anglican school teacher in Oyo.
His death makes him the third first-class monarch Oyo state has lost in four months. The Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Oladunni Oyewumi, died at 95 on December 12, 2021, while the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, died at 93 on Sunday, January 2, 2022.
