By Dare Babarinsa
Papa Abraham
Aderibigbe Adesanya cherished his role as the leader of the Yoruba. He knew it
meant danger and sacrifice but he embraced his assignment with enthusiasm. Now
that he has been with the ancestors for a decade, it is fitting to ponder on
his ministry and the main assignments that dominated the final years of his
crowded and productive life. Papa Adesanya was trained as a lawyer and pursued
a career in politics, but his real vocation was leadership.
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| *Abraham Adesanya |
Adesanya was one of
main leaders of Afenifere, the mainstream political and cultural movement of
the Yoruba people which came into existence after the demise of Chief Obafemi
Awolowo, the first Premier of the defunct Western Region and leader of the
Yoruba nation. In the roaring 1950s, Awolowo became the first leader to govern
almost the entire Yoruba country since the time the princes departed from
Ile-Ife at the dawn of time. He made efforts to bring the Yoruba of the North,
then in what was called the Ilorin and Kabba Provinces,
(now Kogi and Kwara states) into the West. His effort was frustrated by the
combined forces of the Northern Peoples Congress, NPC, and the National Council
of Nigeria and the Cameroun,
NCNC. At the London Constitutional Conference of 1958, both the NPC and the
NCNC preferred that the issues of new regions and the adjustment of regional
boundaries be deferred till independence.
