Of great significance to this magazine, KINGDOMPeople, is the fact that Oba Oluyede put spiritual matters on the front burner. He, says High Chief Abitogun, “worked assiduously with both Christians and Muslims to build befitting places of worship. His home church witnessed phenomenal reconstruction that would qualify it to be described as a mini – cathedral.”
Monarchs as preservers of tradition are typically
anti- change. It is generally expected that as traditional rulers, whether they
be called Oba, Obi or Emir, sustenance of the status quo is a major part of
their job description.
Not so for the recently departed Alayede of Ayede-Ogbese, the gateway kingdom to the
North-East of Akure, the capital of Ondo State, South-West Nigeria. His Royal Majesty, Peter Adetunmbi Olasehinde
Oluyede IV, Ise Oluwa I, who went to be with the Lord in the early hours of
Tuesday July 14, 2015, was cut of a different cloth.
In place of the more of the same or at best
cosmetic change that traditional rulers tend to leave behind, his was a
transformative, even radical footprint which
historians of the area described
as typical of the Oluyede Dynasty in the last 100 years or more.
So, when dignitaries from across the country joined the late
Oba’s children and the entire people of the town to give him a befitting
burial, the topic of discussion was the changes his five-year reign wrought in
the land.
To quote one of the town’s chroniclers, High Chief Oladimeji Abitogun, the
Odopetu of Ayede Ogbese, Oba
Oluyede “led an onslaught on illicit cultivation and usage of marijuana in his
community and restored the joy of arable and cash agriculture. He left the town
better organised, disciplined and motivated than he met it.”
Of great
significance to this magazine, KINGDOMPeople is the fact that Oba Oluyede put
spiritual matters on the front burner. He, says High Chief Abitogun, “worked assiduously with both Christians and
Muslims to build befitting places of worship. His home church witnessed
phenomenal reconstruction that would qualify it to be described as a mini –
cathedral.”In the five years that Oluyede reigned, continued the high chief, “he was the face of honour, dignity and reckoning that Ayede Ogbese wanted and ultimately got. His time was Ayede Ogbese's finest hour.”
Godly man that he was, he would also be remembered “for reaching
out in real diplomatic fashion to promote bond, trust, cooperation and peace
amongst traditional rulers in the kingdoms that constitute Akure community and
Ondo state in general.”
During his reign, the town became host community for Federal University of Technology, Akure's School of Health Sciences, among many giant strides he led the town to take in the education sector.
Not surprising: he was a well-educated man, who rose to the peak
of his legal teaching career as a professor and dean of law.
Professor P.A.O Oluyede became the Alayede of Ayede-Ogbese on
11th November, 2010. He received the staff of office on the 26th November, 2010
and ruled until July 14th 2015 when he went to be with the Lord at the age of
86. He had six children including Rev Ajibola Oluyede, a courageous
international lawyer and businessman and pastor with Christ Chapel
International Churches, where he is a Church Council member; and several
Grandchildren.
He was laid to rest after a Christian interdenominational
funeral service at the palace grounds on Thursday August 6, 2015. This was
preceded by a service of songs at St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Ayede Ogbese on
Tuesday August 4 at 10:00am; candle light possession round the town at 5pm on
Wednesday August 5, Christian Wake Keep at the Palace grounds by 5pm on
Thursday August 6, 2015. A lavish reception followed. His
daughter, Princess Kofoworola Olagbaju was installed as regent on Saturday,
August 8, 2015, pending the appointment and coronation of a successor.
