The news of the demise of a leading Yoruba poet, Olanrewaju Adepoju, sent simmering shock waves across the length and breadth of Yoruba land not because he was too young to die but mostly because of the very big vacuum his exit is going to leave in the Yoruba poetry space, coupled with the fact that his exit has happened too suddenly, catching almost everyone unawares, thereby leaving a very sour taste in the mouth.

Adepoju ruled the airwaves in the 70s, 80s and part of the 90s with his highly researched form of local poetry which held people spellbound and drew to him a large body of admirers and followers. His versatility in the Yoruba culture, history and language, his eloquence of delivery and his personal carriage and integrity were great hallmarks that stood him out and earned him great admiration and respect from everybody.

It was most impossible for anyone of Yoruba extraction not to love a man who had perhaps all the histories surrounding their existence at his fingertips. He was well at home with the antecedents and the progress recorded by almost all the villages and towns across the Yoruba land and was therefore viewed as an indubitable authority in whatever aspect of the Yoruba trajectories.

He narrowly escaped an untimely death in the 70s when he was involved in a ghastly motor accident. Recalling how it all happened, he explained that he was trying to avoid a trailer and as he tried to turn away from the long vehicle, he had an head-on collision with an incoming vehicle. He came down heavily on those who started to spread a fake news of his demise without finding out the actual truth. In the year disaster struck the city of Ibadan owing to Ogunpa River flooding that resulted in the loss of so many lives, and some people attributed it to the anger of Yenoja, the goddess of the river, Adepoju countered such thinking linking the disaster to the vexation of any god and he rather traced it to indiscriminate dumping of refuse which prevented a free flow of water. Put in his own words, he said: “Yemoja o binu siwa, idoti ti e ko sodo loun binu, o di omi lowo, omi o rono lo.”

In his tributes to the late Chief Duro Ladipo, Adepoju averred that: “Oun ni Shango ijoun Orisa toun be ni’le Yoruba
Shango to r’America to bo!” (He was the Shango, god of thunder of the past, a renowned Yoruba god, who in human form visited America and returned).

Perhaps, one of his most popular record was the one used in paying tributes after the death of one of Nigeria’s foremost politicians, Chief Obafeni Awolowo. In his typical inspirational non-mincing word Tradition, he expounded on the place of the fallen hero in the entire Yoruba land in particular and Nigeria as a whole. He started off in his usual ear-catching style:
“Iku Awolowo bi idan lo ri Aye gbo nipa iku re, won diwo mori
Iku ti gbogbo aye gbo to kawon lara ni. Sugbon oro kii dun ni, koju e o bu.” (Awolowo’s death is a rude shock. All that heard of it held their heads in grief. It’s one death felt by everybody. Yet, sad words do not leave any wounds behind).

Before Adepoju decided to go into a self-decided retirement from the public glare, he had entered into a serious conflict with the traditionalists daring them to do their worst. Before that, he had also become a strong champion of Islam, arguing that the religion is more straightforward and less confusing than Christianity. Indeed, he displayed his disdain for some of the Christian practices when he declared in one of his records:
“Bi e ba gbo nipa ija esin lapa ariwa, omo kiriyo lon felede se suya l”Okeoya lomo Hausa ba pe kinla!” (If you hear about religious war up North, it’s the Christian roasting pork as meat for sale by the roadside before the Hausas kicked!). Again, another controversy was sparked off by a record which most people regarded as a great affront to the entire Yoruba traditional community where Adepoju castigated all the gods and goddesses referenced by the Yoruba describing them as totally inconsequential and utterly powerless.

The fear most people had entertained at the time of his release of the trouble-evoking record was that Adepoju had probably bitten more than he could chew and would likely be attacked spiritually by those who must have been offended by his loud outburst. The fact, however, that Adepoju still lived to a very good old age before bowing out perhaps confirms the potency of his strong faith in Islam or just a proof that only God has the final say. May his gentle soul rest in peace.

Oyewusi, coordinator of Ethics Watch International, wrote from Lagos.