Comrade Lekan Badmus is a freelancer, public opinion analyst and a columnist with Oduduwa News.
Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister once composed a song that will continue to resonate and reverberate till eternity. He sang; “… I am black and proud, I am proud of my colour, whoever that is not proud of his colour, is not fit to live.”… .Just as the song refuses to diffuse into the thin air over time and in spite of the multi-various, non-censored and morally bankrupt songs currently trending, Barrister himself lives on. He was a philosopher.
The above referenced song has a direct bearing on our existence as a race. A race is defined by its culture because culture is a way of life. By way of academics, culture is all- encompassing. Cloth, religion, language, food, to mention but a few. All these are cultural heritage which need to be preserved for the purpose of transmuting it from generations to generations. Culture is identity. As such, any tribe that fails to promote its’ heritage would, in no distant time, go into extinction.
Lanrewaju Adepoju was a stylist whose works has dual purposes. One is to promote Yoruba culture while the second is criticism. Alhaji Lanrewaju Adepoju is in the class of Fela Anikulapo and Bob Marley with reference to activism. He was a torn in the flesh of tyrants and despots. He never cared a hoot to lambast the promoters of social injustice. Lanrewaju Adepoju is an ardent believer in egalitarianism and social welfarism. These he had always preached with fervour despite serial victimization and detention.
In the same vein, he could be likened to Professors Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe in literary world and poetic effusions. He is a Pan-Africanist who was known for bitter truth, constructive criticism of government, fierce, brave and one who was never timid to expose the personalities behind any obvious evil. Alhaji does not believe in wrapping illegality with any garb of diplomacy.
Is there any oriki (panegyric) of a town he knew not ! I doubt that. The Akufo-born poet is a well-researched exponent, an institution and a son of the soil who is ever proud of his ancestry.
Lanrewaju though never had formal education but he did not succumb to fate.Through a dint of hardwork and determination, he tutored himself using ABD olowe poetic book of the olden days.This later helped in no small mean to enrich his works of art.
And because he refused to remain a stark illiterate, he rose to become a proof-reader in a newspaper organization called ‘People’s Star Press Limited’, founded by Ladoke Akintola. He also played other parts in that newspaper organisation which shaped him until he became a broadcaster in 70s, anchoring a programme called ‘Ijinji Akewi,’. His other notable programmes were Gbele gbo and Tiwa n tiwa.
Poetry is not a business of or for fools. It is for the wise, the brainy and the intelligent. This is a colossus who spends a lot of time searching for deep but beautiful words and proverbs to describe situations. The output of his deep imagination and poetic licence is what we get from his rich Ewi metaphysical poetry.The Are Alasa of Ibadanland deserves a double UN honour as Nobel laureate in the field of poetry and social justice in the area of constructive confrontation of maladministration.
Lanrewaju Adepoju may have retired due to aging but his works still remain the voice of oppressors.
Although, he has won so many accolades and awards but there is nothing bad if the Yoruba- speaking states accord him a befitting honour while still alive. Anything contrary to this is pointer to the fact that the price of honesty and promotion of culture is neglect.
Eniyan o suwon leeyan…ijo a ba ku, laa dere. Naming any edifice after a the demise of a genius is not as good as celebrating him while alive. Such a step is a motivation.
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