Gbenro Adesina
The Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), has described the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111, as a philosopher and intellectual, who was passionate about the progress of the Yoruba people and Nigeria as a whole.
Osibajo, who stated this when he paid a courtesy visit to the palace of late Oba Adeyemi, noted that he was paying a condolence visit to the palace on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Stressing that Oba Adeyemi can never be forgotten in Nigeria, he stated that the monarch believed so much in the principle of separation of power, stating that the beauty of democracy is when the three arms of government work independently without any influence from one another.
Extolling the late monarch, Osinbajo said that the king was a professor in his own right, though, he did not attain a PhD certificate, pointing out that his writings qualified him to be made a professor.
According to him, “Oba Adeyemi was a different type of individual. He impacted everyone including myself and the president of Nigeria. He was a philosopher-king. He was a man of great intellect. He was a professor without a certificate. He has written a lot of books. He was such an exceptional man.”
“We thank God, we have somebody like late Oba Adeyemi in Yoruba land. He was an erudite scholar. He was a foremost intellectual that the palace did not allow him to be. He did not just speak on his opinion but speak out a well-researched opinion”, he added.
