By Hon. (Barr.) Femi Kehinde
Every Yoruba town has its landmark. Gbongan is a Junction town. It was a mini melting pot and a melting point.
Gbongan was founded by an Oyo Prince named Olufioye (short form Olufi). Olufioye was a direct descendant of Alaafin Abiodun Adegoriolu, who reigned in Oyo between 1770 and 1789. Although Aole was a prince, he succeeded the most famous and progressive Alaafin Abiodun Adegoriolu in 1789. Olufi contested for the throne of the Alaafin of Oyo after the demise of his father, Alaafin Abiodun Adegoriolu, but lost to another Prince – Aole. He had to leave Oyo as tradition demanded and was followed by many Oyo Citizens who were sympathetic to his struggle for the throne of Alaafin.
Olufi and his entourage left Oyo via the Igbori route, stayed there for some time, and then moved to Soungbe, where they finally got to Gbongan-Ile. Olufi carried along from Oyo a beaded crown and some coral beads (Ileke Orun), which made his followers recognize him not only as an Oyo Prince but also as an Oba in his own right.
The unrest that wrecked the stability of the Oyo empire also affected many Oyo towns, allowing marauders to penetrate several Oyo towns, including Gbongan-Ile. Olufi and his followers had to migrate to a more forested location, which was more secure than their former settlement. The present Gbongan is situated in the forest belt of Osun State. As a result, at the present location, we have such settlements as Oke-Egan, Oke Apata, Ile-Opo, Aiyepe, Ile Keti, Oyunlola, Ile-Asoro, Owo-Ope, etc. Hence, Gbongan town is watered by a network of streams like Oyunlola, Akinjole, Alaanu, Oleyo, Yemoja, and Elu.
Gbongan was a cosmopolitan, peaceful, and prominent Junction city. Ibadan was forty miles away, Oshogbo thirty miles, and Iwo nineteen miles. No town can be luckier in its choice of location. It was the Gbongan – Iwo – Iseyin route that opened one into the world of Oke-ogun – one of the Yoruba nation’s food baskets and the home of Oyo-ile before the collapse of the old Oyo empire, and the movement of Oyo to the present Oyo by Alaafin Atiba – grandson of Alaafin Abiodun Adegoriolu. It was also infact sixteen miles to the popular Owu kingdom that shares the neighborhood with Apoje and Ijebu-igbo, and straight into the Atlantic of Ejinrin waters, where the European business blossomly thrived in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the home of the first post office in Nigeria.
Gbongan opens the way into the inter-land and the farther part of Eastern and Western Nigeria. It was a turnkey road of about fifteen miles to Ile-Ife – home of Oduduwa, the eponymous founder of the Yoruba race. Her eastern boundary with Ile-Ife is the big Sasa River. As a result of this peculiar advantage, commerce thrived, and businesses boomed. There were a lot of intra-city movements, and many settlements from various tribes of Ijebu, Ilesha, the Hausa community at its settlement at Sabo in Ile-keti, the Igbo community at the Oke-Church, and many settlers from various parts of the country. It was the home of many mercantile businesses – John Holt, UAC, UTC, the Rand tree, Patterson Zochonis (PZ), Gottshalk, Leventis group, etc., who all had their Factors in Gbongan. Gbongan was a beehive.
The beauty of Gbongan is better encapsulated through the history of its origin. Alaafin Abiodun Adegoriolu was perhaps the most progressive, famous, opulent, kindhearted, and resourceful Alaafin. His reign brought peace and prosperity to the Oyo empire. The Oyo empire reached the apogee of its heights during his reign, whose boundaries went as far as Dahomey, Togo, and some parts of Ghana. He was a tall, shimmering, dark, and handsome man. He was unassuming and comely. He ended the devastating tenure of Bashorun Gaa (Prime Minister of the Oyo empire) as a tyrant and despot who murdered four successive Alaafins – Alaafin Labisi, Alaafin Awonbioju, Alaafin Agboloaje and Alaafin Majiogbe. His reign was popularized by the song;
Laaye Olugbon mo da iborun meje, ao ma fiwe lere
Laaye aresa mo da iborun mefa, ao ma fiwe lere
Laaye Abiodun, awo sanyan wo aran, baba aso
A’fole Lole pe igba re kodun afole
The song simply emphasises and eulogises the prosperity of Oyo empire during Alaafin Abiodun’s reign.
It is noteworthy that the first time an Ooni traveled out of his domain in Ile-Ife, he passed through Titi Gbongan. In 1903, Ooni Adenekan Sijuwade Olubuse I. visited Lagos at the invitation of the Colonial Governor to give his ruling on whether the Oba Elepe of Epe was entitled to wear a beaded crown. During his passage through various towns from Ile-Ife to Ibadan, all the Obas had to vacate their thrones temporarily and slaughter a cow to herald his passage. The Olufi of Gbongan, Oba Ifaromade Akinnu (1860 – 1913), was no exemption to this traditional display of reverence to the throne of Oduduwa.
Ooni Adenekan Olubuse I. was equally received at the Dugbe train station in Ibadan (opened in 1901) by Yoruba traditional elites and top colonial officers who saw him off to the specially arranged first-class passenger coach train services that took him to Iddo train station in Lagos. In Lagos, he delivered his verdict by putting his back behind the crowd and facing the wall.
The Gbongan Road, better known then as Titi Gbongan, has since become prominent for inter-city and intra-state movements. Passengers from all over the country pass through Titi Gbongan. Thenceforth, the road has become popularized and highly patronized by passengers crisscrossing through the route from various parts of the country. Gbongan was the first major stop to unwind and do some toiletries for passengers traveling farther into Western and Eastern Nigeria from Lagos. The second major stop after Gbongan was Agbanikaka in present-day Delta State.
At the Junction stop in Gbongan, popularly known as Oke-church, passengers would stop to buy bread of various brands (Famoriyo bread, Karile bread, Senegal bread, the double-breasted Sakliford bread), fowl eggs (Eyin Awo), chicken eggs, water, assorted drinks, Akara (Edelomowa and Moro Akara joints), puff-puff, roasted plantain (Boli), chin-chin, groundnut, garden egg, food at the popular Toko-Taya restaurants and all sorts. Lorries and buses would also top up their fuel at the Esso, Shell, and BP petroleum stations.
However, the most penetrating and indelible experience were the philosophical words and thoughtful inscriptions on some of the lorries and buses that traversed through the Titi Gbongan on a regular basis. There were very numerous inscriptions, but some few, apart from it’s pendantic pomposity shapened our morals and captured our infancy thoughts and attitudes to life. A few of these mobile philosophical inscriptions would suffice;
Owó Tútù. – Cold Money
Ìwà Pẹ̀lẹ́. – Calm Character
Asiko Laye! – Life is Seasonal
Ayé Mojúbà! – Life I pay homage
Ajani Baba Mukaila. – Àjàní, Múkáílà’s father,
Ma fi Eniyan se yeye – to laugh at infirmity or deformity is enormity
Ìforítì – Endurance.
Oba Bi Olorun Kosi! – No King as God
Mo Bẹ̀rù Àgbà! – I fear Elders
Ọlọ́run Lúgọ! – God is Secretly Watching
Jẹ́ kó Yẹ mí kale Olúwa. – Let it be well with me forever oh Lord!
Ẹni Afẹ́ La mọ̀. – Who we love is who we know
Jẹ́ẹ́jẹ́ Láyé. – Life is tender
Alábòsí Ọ̀rẹ́. – Poke nosing friend
Ebiniseri – Ebenezer.
Ayé Kòótọ́. – Life detest the truth
Mo bá Olúwa Dúró. – I stand with God
Ti Olúwa ni ilẹ̀. – The earth is the Lord
Èyí ó wù á wí! – Whatever we choose to say
Jẹ́ kí won wí – Let them say.
Ènìyàn ṣe pẹ̀lẹ́! – Humans, thread carefully
Bánúsọ! – Confide in yourself
Àṣelà. – Succeeding
Wẹ́rẹ́ n’iṣẹ́ Olúwa! – God’s work is easily
Ààrọ̀ lawà. – We are in the morning
Ìbàjẹ́ ènìyàn kò dá iṣẹ́ Olúwa dúró! – What people say does not stop the Lord’s work
Òní la rí kò sí ẹni tó mọ̀la! – We only know today, no one knows tomorrow
Ọjọ́ gbogbo bí ọdún… – Every day like festive season
Ti Olúwa Ni Yóò Ṣẹ… – God’s own will be fulfilled
Aye l’ọjà – Life is Market
Abanise – God does it
Tẹ́lẹ̀dàá làṣẹ – The creator says the final
Béèyí ò ṣe – If this does not do
Iṣẹ́ lòògùn ìṣẹ́ – Hard work is the antidote of poverty
Ojú Ẹni má a là a ri iyonu- The eyes of who will succeed would see trouble
Ká Tayé yanjú ẹ̀ – Let’s settle it from the earth
Ayé la bówó – We met money on Earth
Ire á kárí – Good things will go round
Tèmi yémi – I understand my own
Sùúrùlérè – Patience is Profitable
Àfi sùúrù. – Only Patience
Ìwà lẹ̀sìn – Character is Religion
Má fèyí ṣòpin – Do not make this one the last
Mábayọ̀mijẹ́ – Do not spoil my joy
Bámiṣé Olúwa – Help me do mine oh Lord
Ìyá ni wúrà – Mother is gold
Ọlá mummy – Mother’s Affluence
Rírò ni t’ènìyàn – Man Proposes
Ìràwọ̀ òwúrọ̀ – Morning Star
Ilé la bọ́lá – Wealth is met at home
Ẹ̀mí ò Láàrọ̀ – Life has no duplicate
Ta ń fẹ́ á ní? – Who wishes that we have?
Àìmàsìkò – Lack of knowledge of time
Irú ènìyàn wà – There are human variants
Tí mo bá ronú mo ń dúpẹ́ – When I think, I thank!
Ọlorun Àdàbà – God of Dove
Yíyọ́ Ẹkùn – Tiger’s gentle movement
Àtidádé Kìnnìún – For lion to wear Crown
Bá ò kú, ìṣe ò tán – When there is life, there is hope
Bó o ṣé e re – If you do it well
Ṣé bó o ti mọ – Do it moderately or cut your coat according to your size
Wọn ṣe bọ́lá tán – They thought wealth has finished
Olúwa ló mẹjọ́ dá – God is the best judge
Iṣẹ́ Olúwa – God’s handiwork
Kìràkìtà ò dọlà – Hard work does not translate to wealth
Ìwàlẹwà – Character is beauty
It was easy then to identify the buses or lorries or trucks and its owners through the inscriptions, like waiting for “Ti oluwa ni yoo se” A. Amoo’s lorries from Ibadan or “Salensile” vehicles from Iwo, “Iwa” motors (Chief Ogunlade) from Ogbomoso, “Iwalewa” (Adesanya) from Ipetumodu, suara sobo’s lorries (O w’oko suara sobo) from Ibadan, Gani Abanise’s lorries from Ode-Omu. There were the cocoa lorry trucks with inscriptions “Boluwaji” in Gbongan, owned by Gabriel Farodoye – an Ijesha man whose cocoa business and stores prospered in Gbongan.
There were several popular transport companies from different Regions of Nigeria. These included Emex Transport, Ojukwu Transport owned by Louis Ojukwu, one of Nigeria’s early multi-millionaires and father of Late Biafra warlords – Odumegwu Ojukwu. I remember Benden Line of the Mid-West and later Edo State, and Ekene Dile Chukwu Transport from Enugu, Eyiowukawi trucks of Akosile in Ile-ife, JPO & Son trucks from Modakeke of Johnson Popoola Orisajimi – the prominent Modakeke business mogul, Abusi Edumare Lorries and Buses owned by Chief S.O Kuti allias Abusi Edumare from Ijebu-Igbo, he was also the founder of Abusi Edumare Academy in Ijebu -Igbo established in 1949, and was reputed to be the first man that was banned from building further houses in Lagos, having built 100-storey buildings in the Shomolu and Ebute-Metta axis of Lagos. Additionally, there were also Afiiko buses and lorries of Chief Isaac Ajanaku, an Ilesha business mogul who donated his property on Eletu-Odibo Street, Yaba Lagos to the newly inaugurated Unity Party of Nigeria (U.P.N. of Obafemi Awolowo) in 1978, to serve as its National Headquarters when the Second Republic was heralded, the I.T. & T.S. buses of Inaolaji trading and transport services of Alhaji Jimoh Inaolaji Ibrahim from Ikire, and the Alebiosu brothers transport services from Ibadan, the Adetoro Lawal cocoa lorries from Ede, the Olaiya Labaika lorries from Ikirun, and the Alhaji Lagbaja’s buses and lorries from Ilobu owned by Alhaji Lagbaja, who was the father of the incumbent Chief of Army Staff – Lt Gen. Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja, Shaibu Gomina trucks and lorries in Osogbo by Alhaji Shaibu Gomina, a prominent Kano man based in Osogbo, the Iromini lorries from Iwo, and Obelawo buses from Ejigbo.
In the city center of Oke-Church, adjacent to the British Petroleum Station, stood the popular Omo-Ekun Hotel & Bar of Chief Bayo Olotu, a Benin man. The hotel’s foyer provided a space for musicians and theatre groups to perform, with a gate fee. In 1965, the famous “Yoruba Ronu” play of Hubert Ogunde theatre group was performed in this foyer. However, the epic play was eventually banned a few months later by the Ladoke Akintola Government of the Western Region. Gbongan was a regular spot for Duro Ladipo, Oyin Adejobi, Kola Ogunmola, and Eye-show Pepper of Ishola Ogunsola Theatre groups. Interestingly, to herald the play, in the evening, they would drive their lorries around the city for advertisement, encouraging the town’s folks to come to Omo-Ekun Bar to watch their performances. Subsequently, the Government of the Western State regularly screened film shows at the popular St. Paul’s field. A Government bus with inscription “Ministry of Information” from Ibadan would drive around the city, announcing through a mounted speaker on top of the van and with the aid of a microphone, the upcoming films that would be shown later in the evening would be advertised to invite people to come to the field to watch “Cinema Ofe ni agogo meje irole (Free cinema at 7 pm)”. The field also hosted the helicopter of the Governor – General Robert Adeyinka Adebayo for a State visit, which was met with a tumultuous welcome as he and his wife, Modupe, emerged from the helicopter. As pupils of St. Paul’s Anglican Primary School, we all eagerly trooped out to catch a glimpse of the visiting Governor in an impeccable Military uniform
Ariyo Photos & Studio was also popular and prominent in Gbongan in the early 1960s. An Ekiti man, he lived in Gbongan with his family. One of his children, Senator Abiodun Olujimi, later became a Deputy Governor in Ekiti State. There was also the Clemo Photos, owned by Clement Taiwo from Ipetumodu.
The Palace of Olufi Asabi was an interesting delight. Olufi Adewale Asabi (1926 – 1948) was a highly dynamic and progressive olufi who built a massive Palace with about eighty (80) rooms, a mini zoo, a large courtyard, and a main gate. The Palace has now been declared one of Nigeria’s National Monuments by the National Museum of Arts & Culture. Interestingly, Oba Sir. Adesoji Aderemi, the late Ooni of Ife, had at a point in time, lived in Gbongan before his ascension to the throne of Ooni of Ife in 1930. He built a bungalow on the main Titi Gbongan where he lived and traded in cocoa and some other palm produce. While still functioning as the railway station manager of Kuta/Ile-ogbo railway train station, he also ran a transport business. His house then was directly opposite the residence of another wealthy man in Gbongan, Oyeyinka Ajiferuke. Notably, Oba Adesoji Aderemi had three (3) of his Oloris (wives) from Gbongan – Olori Rebecca Morenike who begat Late. Justice Aderoju Aderemi and Prince Towo Aderemi, Olori Oyewe (Olufi Asabi’s Daughter), who begat Koyejo, Adejare, and Tunji Aderemi, and Olori Toyosi who also begat Prince Ishola Lambuwa Aderemi and Teniade Aderemi. Teniade Aderemi begat Mojoyin Faniyan, Nike Omoworare, Segun Omoworare and Senator Babajide Omoworare.
The most alluring edifice, right on the junction, is the well-known St. Paul’s Anglican Church, also referred to as “Awosifila bi Soosi Gbongan – A Church that you would have to remove your cap to see the upper part of”. Some even refer to Gbongan as the “Church Town”. The St. Paul’s church, built in 1919, gained prominence when it sprang into eminence for its patterned semblance to a church in England. Its picturesque as a distinguished architectural wonders and masterpiece was only comparable to Chief Lowa’s elegant house in Ile-Ife, and thus the known saying “hoho he bi ile lowa. Enu ko rohin bi soosi Gbongan”. Situated right at the center of Gbongan City and the main road, it was always a delight for passengers to view and behold. Across from the church, in the city center, were the vicarage, which is the residence of the Reverend, Canons and Archdeacons – Olunloyo, Fajemisin, Awosan, Olupona, Oroge, Oladipo (Younger brother of the Thespian – Duro Ladipo), and many others. Also beside the vicarage is the outstanding sprawling E-shaped storey building of the St. Paul’s Anglican Primary School, a Grade A primary school of its time, attended by prominent Nigerian elites like the late. Justice Bolarinwa Oyegoke Babalakin, (Retired Justice of the Supreme Court), Dr. Victor Omololu Olunloyo, (Former Governor of Oyo State), Chief Abiola Morakinyo, (Former Commissioner for Finance in the Second Republic Government of Chief Bola Ige in Oyo State), Chief Adewuyi Adetunji, (Retired Managing Director of Unic Insurance Plc), Chief Ezekiel Olasunmoye Fatoye (Retired Director of Old Nitel), Late. Col. Yemi Alabi, Late. Capt. Niyi Adeyemo, Emeritus Retired Professor R.O Adegboye, Late. Dr. Olasupo Toyosi, Late. Chief Bayo Toyosi, Late. Oba (Dr.) Solomon Babayemi (Olufi of Gbongan), Late. Chief Mrs. Elizabeth Wulemotu Aduke Kehinde (The Iyalode of Gbongan land), Prof. Oladele Ajayi (Professor of Nuclear Physics), Prof Tunde Makanju (Professor of Kinetic Science), Dr. Ade Adedeji (Metallurgical Engineer), Dr. Akinbami and so many others, with Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) as a Teacher in the school at a particular point in time.
Enterprises thrived and boomed for non-indigenes. Almost at the City’s outskirts was an acclaimed Nwakanma Hospital founded by Nurse Sunday Nwakanma from present-day Abia State. He left Gbongan and abandoned the Hospital during the Nigeria and Biafra civil war of 1967 to 1970. This Hospital, however, thrived in Gbongan in the late fifties and early sixties, and some of his children attended schools in Gbongan. One of his children, Eric Iheanacho Nwakanma, who had lived with his parents – Sunday Nwakanma and Jemimah Nwakanma, also left with his parent as a result of the civil war and later became the Deputy Governor of Abia State in 2006.
Chief Adenuga, an Ijebu man, arrived in Gbongan in the early forties, engaged in cocoa and general merchandise. He raised some of his adult children in Gbongan, and a street – Adenuga Street is still named after him, on the Titi Gbongan gateway. He was the father of the prominent Wale Adenuga of the Ikebe Production and Taiye Adenuga (SamTad), amongst several others. Wale Adenuga and Professor Adebayo Williams attended St. Luke’s Anglican Primary School, Araromi, Gbongan.
A nonagenarian, Chief Fola Ogunseye, an Awori man who has been resident in Gbongan since the early forties, is a successful business entrepreneur in patent medicine and cocoa business. His neighbors – Sansa and Akinsanya, engaged in cocoa and palm produce business in Ayepe, Awosanya, an Ijebu man, delved into the petroleum (Shell station) and hotel business, Ogunseye was a successful school headmaster from Abeokuta, Chief Fateru from Eruwa, Headmaster/organist – Oni from Ilesha, he owned several fleets of Lorries (Oluseun lorries). There was the prominent Baba Ogbomoso Superstores within the precincts of Omo-Ekun Bar in Oke-Church. He engaged in general merchandise, it was then like our mini Kingsway, just like Abati Stores in Oju Court, Ajanaku Stores & Bar of Oyediran Ajanaku also in Oju Court, and Olufajo Stores in Oke-Church. There were the likes of Adeaga from Ibadan, the then manager of the Rediffusion in Gbongan, which was the one-channel repeater broadcast station, and its popular Redifusion box of the Awolowo days, and the Gaskiya Medicine Store opposite Olufi Memorial Primary school on the Gbongan highway.
I remember Edafinene in his single abode within the Gbongan-Odeomu Anglican Grammer School precinct. Gogobiri, the head of the Hausa Community in Gbongan (residing in Ile keti, the headquarters of the Hausa businesses), alongside Adebajo, an Ijebu man, Adeoti from Okemesi, Chief Fakeye from Ilesha, Aniyikaye from Okemesi, Chief Apochi from Delta State, and many others, made immense contributions to the wealth of the City.
Also, the prominent Titi Gbongan was home to the well-known Olufi market, which was previously located at Isale-Oja and has now been relocated to a more spacious spot within the Highway, close to the former Igbo-Igbale (Home of the Spirit).
A prominent Gbongan citizen, now an Octogenarian and Emeritus Professor of Mathematics in America, Prof. Sunday Adeniran Adeboye, had his secondary education through the Titi Gbongan patronage, luck, and allures. He used to hawk bread, and one day, a White man, later identified as Mr. Dereck John Bullock (the Principal of Government College Ibadan from 1960 to 1968), parked his car beside him to buy fresh mint bakery bread from him. In the course of this short business transaction, Bullock asked the young boy why he was not attending school.
The neatly dressed young boy replied in impeccable English, that he had just finished his primary education at St. Paul’s Primary School in Gbongan with excellent grades and was awaiting admission to a secondary school. Impressed by the boy’s conduct, Principal Bullock invited him to visit him at the Government College Ibadan. Mother luck smiled on him. He visited Bullock, sat for the prerequisite examinations to the college, passed with flying colors, and through Bullock’s patronage, enjoyed a scholarship that lasted through his secondary education at Government College Ibadan.
Adeboye’s father, a then Gbongan High Chief and local politician, was immensely pleased and thankful to God that his son would now attend a secondary school that his political friend and idol, Adegoke Adelabu Penkemeesi attended. The story became a folklore in Gbongan. Chief J.B Williams, Gbongan’s first elected Councillor in 1951 and a close friend of Adeboye and Adegoke Adelabu Penkelemeesi, encouraged this pursuit. J.B Williams was the father of Prof. Adebayo Williams and now the Otun-Asiwaju Olufi of Gbongan land.
Prof. Adebayo Williams, who is this writer’s uncle, mentor, and pathfinder regaled this writer with the story of a policeman known to be a local tyrant and bully in Gbongan in the early sixties. He was brash, abrasive, and aggressive, often impounding vehicles at will, with little or no offense on the Titi Gbongan. On one occassion, in the presence of the young Prof. Adebayo Williams and some of his firends, this bully of a policeman flagged down a vehicle, and as usual, was about conjuring traffic offenses, when the man beside the driver came down from the car, opened the boot of the car and brought out a military sword, introducing himself as Capt. Emmanuel Ifeajuna of the Nigerian Army. The policeman promptly disappeared into thin air. As a young boy, Prof. Adebayo Williams and some of his friends applauded Ifeajuna’s military sagacity. Emmanuel Ifeajuna who later became a Major in the Nigerian Army was one of the five Majors that overthrew the Civilian Government of the First Republic on the 15th of January, 1966.
In 1972, students and town folks lined up the street of Gbongan to wave at General Yakubu Gowon, the then Head of State of Nigeria, and Sir Leopold Sedar Senghor, the then President of Senegal, in an open roof Jeep on their way to Ile-ife to receive honorary Doctorate Awards of the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). We lined up the street, and pleasurably waved at them and their convoy of vehicles. Other recipients of the honorary Award on this day who also passed through titi-Gbongan were; Late. Oba Adetoyese Laoye (Timi of Ede), Late. Sir Usman Nagogo (the then Emir of Katsina), a Late. Prof. Oladele Ajose (the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Ife).
Gbongan is lucky. Its last two Monarchs, Oba Dr. Solomon Oyewole Babayemi (1988 – 1997) was an Associate Professor of History at the University of Ibadan before his ascension to the throne, and the current Monarch, Oba Dr. Adetoyese Oyeniyi, holds a Doctorate degree in Plant Science (Agronomy) from Obafemi Awolowo University, and retired as a senior Civil Servant in Osun State before ascending the throne of his forefathers in 1998.
The list of Gbongan’s eminent and illustrious citizens is in legions, inclusive of those with maternal roots from Gbongan.
I remember with fondest memories some of Gbongan’s early pathfinders. Its first lawyer, Bolarinwa Oyegoke Babalakin who was called to the Bar in 1959, her first Medical Doctor, Joseph Olasupo Toyosi, her first Professor, Rufus Adegboye popularly called the Baale of U.I, and later Baba Ijo of the St. Paul’s Anglican Church Cathedral who became a Professor in 1969 and until his demise, was an Emeritus Professor of Agricultural Economics, and also Pa Gabriel Adegoke Ajayi, a Gbongan early educated elite who died a Centenerian some few months ago. Dr. Arowolo then of the World Bank and Dr. Akinloye Akinretan were Gbongan early educated elites who died in their prime.
However, a good period usually doesn’t last. Gbongan suffered its major casualty when the new Ife-Ibadan express road was declared opened in 1973. No more inflows and outflows of passengers and lorries. Gbongan thenceforth became a bypass, with the Titi-Gbongan now vacant, sober, and withdrawn. Its greatness and eminence, despite this change of status, still remains undoubted. It is now a clarion call that its eminence be further returned, enhanced, and resurrected by the new generation.
Titi-Gbongan, you have played your role in the olden days of yore, gallantly and eminently well.
Gbongan Olufi Arokodeja… A proud descendant of Alaafin Abiodun Adegoriolu. I salute you!
Hon. (Barr.) Femi Kehinde, Legal Practitioner and former Member, House of Representatives, National Assembly, Abuja 1999 – 2003, representing Ayedire/Iwo/Olaoluwa Federal Constituency of Osun State
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