Date: 2018-04-27

A lecturer at the Kwara State University, Malete, Dr. Kehinde Akano, has released a biography of the Oba of Jebba in Kwara State, Alhaji Alabi Abdukadir Adebara. The book, titled Oba of Jebba: A Biography, is a celebration of the life of the monarch and a critical reflection on the politics of Kwara, with the impression that the people of Moro and probably other Yorubas in the state are yearning for a better deal from the Kwara establishment.

The 137-page book, published by Famost Printmedia, traces the birth of Oba Adebara, his family background, his school years and his journey through the civil service. Beyond the account of his rise from the junior to senior staff in service, the book, in Chapter Five, has a lesson for not only civil servants, but also for everyone in paid employment. The lesson is that one should, at every point, actively consider life after employment. One needs to have a plan.

This is what happened in the case of Adebara, who was suddenly retired by government in 1985. That was after he had been in service for about 30 years. His plan was to retire at 35. But the Group Captain Salaudeen Olatinwo military government in Kwara had ordered that anyone who had been in service for 30 years should retire. For Adebara, it was a challenging time because, as his wife Olori Aduke Adebara, would note then, the breadwinner was being forced out of office. The good thing for Adebara was, however, that three opportunities or appointments soon came his way.

While the book also excurses into the history of Jebba, the author soon moves into the realm of the political intrigues, in the midst of which the monarch may have been caught. Akano indicates this in several chapters, and particularly in Chapter Seven, tagged Travails of a Monarch. Here, he gives a comprehensive account of the detention of the Oba upon ascendance of his father's throne by 2009. He recalls that after what looked like a harmless invitation by the police, on the allegation that he was illegally parading himself as the king, he was thrown into detention where he spent 19 days.

Akano writes on Page 67, "It was a premeditated process, no doubt, designed to humiliate the monarch and it was tantamount to a perfected disgrace. It was a demonstration of brigandage, a display of lawlessness and impunity in high places."

The author also vehemently argues that the grading system in Kwara State has been deliberately skewed against Oba Adebara and his fellow Yoruba traditional rulers while he argues that they are being denied adequate salaries and allowances. Of course, whoever wants to have a picture of what obas earn in Kwara – including the actuals of the five per cent from local government councils, should read Oba of Jebba: A Biography.

As Chief Wole Oke notes in the foreword to the book, it is a worthy effort conceived to honour a personality who deserves to be celebrated. It is the story of a man, the story of a people and a reflection on the maginalisation question that often stares Nigeria in the face.

Beyond a few grammatical mix-ups – like 'havoc wrecked' on Page xii instead of 'havoc wreaked', the publication is largely well proofread and it flaunts photographs of the subject, a good number of which invoke history.