- Awujale’s passing follows shortly after Buhari’s, stirring emotional reactions across Nigeria’s political and traditional leadership circles.
- Recall that Adetona was conspicuously absent at the Ojude Oba festival in Ijebu Ode, Ogun state.
The Awujale of Ijebuland, Sikiru Kayode Adetona, has died at the age of 91.
The revered monarch passed on Sunday, only hours after news broke of the death of his longtime ally and former president, Muhammadu Buhari.
Oba Adetona mounted the Ijebu throne on April 2, 1960, and ruled for over 64 years — one of the longest reigns in Nigeria’s traditional history.
His decades-long friendship with Buhari dated back to the 1980s and was forged under unusual political tension.
In 1983, just before Buhari’s military coup, Olabisi Onabanjo, then ogun state governor, had already signed a formal order deposing Adetona.
The removal was scheduled to take effect on January 2, 1984.
However, the military coup of December 31, 1983, which sacked Nigeria’s second republic, blocked the planned deposition.
Buhari’s sudden emergence as head of state inadvertently preserved Adetona’s throne and extended a royal legacy.
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