The passing of ỌOba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, ỌOgbagba Agbotewole II, the Awujale of Ijebuland on July 13, 2025, after 65 years on the throne, marked the end of one of the longest monarchical reigns in the country. The Awujale, a first-class Kingship, is equally one of the prestigious thrones in Nigeria. Adetona’s death ended a dignified era in traditional rulership in Yorubaland.
He was buried in his Ijebu Ode residence by Muslim clerics. Security operatives, including soldiers, reportedly prevented traditional cult groups, such as the Osugbo, from taking over the burial rites — a departure from long-standing customs in some parts of Yorubaland; and the source of a raging controversy over the propriety of burying such monarchs in circumstances different from those stipulated by tradition, of which the King is regarded as chief custodian.
Throughout his reign, Oba Adetona provided strong and enviable traditional leadership for his people. He particularly enhanced the cultural heritage of Ijebuland with the Ojude Oba festival, which he reformed to earn global respect and attract thousands of tourists from across the world every year. His dedication to the unity and development of Ijebuland, as well as the welfare of his people, was evident in his strides to enhance education and healthcare and boost economic growth in Ogun State. He championed the call for the creation of Ijebu State and floated empowerment schemes that have benefited many people.
Oba Adetona’s commitment to democratic ideals in Ijebuland and Nigeria as a whole was not hidden. During the struggles for the de-annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, he was among the royal fathers who insisted that the military had overstayed in power and called for the return of the country to the path of democracy. The monarch will be remembered for cleverly standing up against the military dictator, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, during the trial of his deputy, an Ijebu man from Odogbolu, the late Gen. Oladipupo Diya, over an alleged phantom coup.
The late Awujale was a lover of good governance, which he demonstrated when he endowed a professorial chair in good governance at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye. Last year, he consolidated it when he marked his 90th birthday by donating a sprawling edifice for what is now known as Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona School of Governance. For Adetona’s efforts in nation-building, President Bola Tinubu, who was represented at the occasion by Vice President Kashim Shettima, conferred on the Awujale the second-highest national honour in the land, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON).
The late ỌOba Adetona was born in Imupa in Ijebu Ode on May 10, 1934, into the Royal House of Anikinaiya of Ijebuland. His father was Prince Rufai Adetona Adeleke, a son of ỌOba Adeleke, ỌOgbagba Agbotewole I, who was the Awujaleẹ of Ijebuland from 1895 to 1906. His mother, Ajibabi ỌOnasile, hailed from Ijebu Igbo.
Prince Adetona attended various Baptist schools in Ereko and Ijebu-Ode; Ogbere United Primary School, Oke Agbo, Ijebu-Igbo and Ansar-Ud-Deen School, Ijebu-Ode between 1943 and 1950. He attended Olu-Iwa (now Adeola Odutola) College, Ijebu-Ode, for his secondary education from 1951 to 1956, and between 1957 and 1958, he took up an appointment with the then Audit Department of the Western Region government, Ibadan. In 1958, he resigned his appointment and travelled to the United Kingdom the same year to study accountancy.
Having been successfully nominated and approved by the Western Region Government as Awujale of Ijebuland by a letter dated January 4, 1960, Adetona returned home and was formally installed as King-elect on April 2, 1960.
A major crisis that rocked the reign of Oba Adetona was his suspension from office as Awujale over alleged insubordination, specifically failure to get state government approval to travel abroad for medical treatment on November 23, 1981, by the then Governor of Ogun State, Victor Olabisi Onabanjo. A commission of inquiry raised under Justice Solomon Sogbetun to investigate Oba Adetona’s perceived offence found the monarch wanting, and by early 1982, the Awujale was formally deposed by the Ogun State Executive Council. The deposition was to take effect from 1984.
The monarch initiated a legal battle led by the late Fatayi Williams against the validity of the Sogbetun commission of inquiry. While the case was going on, the civilian administration of Shehu Shagari was toppled on December 31, 1983, by a coup that brought Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as the Head of State, and the terrain shifted when another Ijebu man from Odogbolu, Brigadier Oladipo Diya, became the military governor. In 1984, when the deposition was to take effect, Justice Kolawole of the Ogun State High Court delivered a landmark judgment nullifying the findings of the Sogbetun Commission and ruling that Oba Adetona’s deposition was unlawful. The court ordered his immediate reinstatement. The military administration of Brigadier Diya respected the court’s decision and enforced it, returning Oba Adetona to his throne in Ijebu Ode. He reigned in glory and fame till July 13, 2025, when he passed.
Despite his impeccable reign, the death and burial of Oba Adetona raised a controversy that confirms the wind of change blowing against some aspects of the Yoruba cultural heritage with regard to the coronation and burial of such an Oba. Ordinarily, the Oba should be buried under native custom and tradition governing the monarch, as opposed to Christian or Islamic religious burial rites. However, Adetona was buried within 24 hours of his death, in accordance with Islamic doctrine, and in deference to his personal wish, expressed decades before his demise. This provoked stern objections from traditionalists who posited that Adetona could not change the rules in the middle of his reign, having known at coronation that he was to be buried under the native customs and traditions of his Obaship. The critics see the burial as an abomination, betrayal and a rape of the cultural heritage of the Ijebu people for not being done in conformity with tradition.
However, his burial rites gained endorsement by Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, who insisted that the burial wish of the late Oba should be respected. Also, the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, praised the Islamic burial rites accorded to Oba Adetona, describing the process as a new standard for honouring Yoruba monarchs. Oba Akanbi commended the Awujale’s family, Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, and the state’s Attorney General, Oluwasina Ogungbade (SAN), for what he called a courageous and dignified handling of the burial. “It is a foundational blessing for the restoration of the dignity of Yoruba stools,” Oluwo said, decrying practices where monarchs were subjected to rituals upon death.
While alive, Oba Adetona had made some moves, including sponsoring a bill in the Ogun State House of Assembly, to reverse or reform some of the traditional practices with a view to allowing traditional rulers to be buried according to the dictates of their religion.
Obviously, the controversy was waiting to happen, being a clash of tradition with modernity. It may be the beginning of dialogue among stakeholders towards a gradual and collective reformation of the contentious practices in the tradition of not only the Ijebu people, but in many monarchs in and beyond Yorubaland, which traditions are considered repugnant in modern societies.
