It is very tempting to fall prey to the prejudicial evidence/verdict of an eminent professor of literature who declared that any book written by two authors creates the equivalent of two ladies who have fallen in love with the same man.
Hence, Professor Jide Osuntokun & Professor David Aworawo set themselves a monumental task in embarking on a joint enterprise – to capture the essence of Major-General (Dr.) Henry Edmund Olufemi Adefope whose sojourn on planet earth was circumscribed by a recurring decimal: “He was an officer (of the Nigerian Army) and a gentleman to the core.”
For the purpose of our review, we must confine ourselves to the style, content and quality of the book and impose self-discipline which prohibits giving way to the temptation to recall the strident damnation of the late Chief of Army Staff (1990 to 1993) my good friend General Salihu Ibrahim who in exasperation declared that the Nigerian Army had become an “Army Of Anything Goes.” He failed to acknowledge the sterling and enduring qualities of the likes of Major-General (Dr.) Adefope and those who have contributed their heartfelt tributes which are included in the book, namely General Yakubu Gowon; General Olusegun Obasanjo; General T.Y. Danjuma; late Major-General Adeyinka Adebayo; Major-General Ike O. Sanda Nwachukwu; late Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson etc.
To further compound matters, the subject of the book was a man of many parts. Perhaps the authors should have taken heed of the alarm raised by Major-General Ike Nwachukwu (Rtd):
“Major-General Henry Adefope’s active role in Nigerian Sports history is so impressive, such that a detailed writing of it can even cover a voluminous book.”
Clearly, the authors were confronted with a “Hobbesian” choice – to write a book on Adefope the family man and father of seven children;Dr. Henry Adefope, the caring doctor who served in Burutu, Sapele, Abeokuta, Lagos etc.; Major-General Adefope, the military man (when the army were in power); Olufemi Adefope, a man of muscular Christianity and unwavering faith; His Excellency Major-General (Dr.) H.E.O. Adefope, Minister of Foreign Affairs and finally the unacknowledged leader, (after retirement) of the “Green Party” of horticulturists. Not to be marginalised are Olufemi the doting husband of his devoted and ever-loving wife Oladotun (nee Adefarasin); and two decades of being a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at a time when it was riddled with conflicts of interest, bribery and corruption. The authors chose to cramp everything into one book, at the risk of tempting us to demand which vital parts have they left out? This is a nation where organs disappear and cobras feed on currency notes !!
As a Chartered Accountant with fifty-three years of professional practice, I am on familiar territory in auditing books (of accounts) but when it comes to book review I must admit my inadequacies and my weakness for elegant prose and spell-binding narrative.
Even though Major-General Adefope did not belong to the “mainstream army” (to quote General T.Y. Danjuma) and in spite of his gentle disposition as well as calm mien, he was a combatant.
The attestation is provided by:
Director, Elderly Ministry, Diocese of Lagos West, Anglican Communion.
“Daddy Henry Adefope lived a fruitful and spirit filled life. He laboured steadfastly and endlessly to give the Christian life, service and worship a meaning, transparent and impressive enough, to bring the troubled hearts to know the Lord.”
Clearly, he was no push over. That has brought us full circle, leaving us no option but to address the trenchant lamentation from scholars from various universities (both local and international). Harvard University; Yale; Princeton; Stanford; Cambridge; Oxford; etc have leapt into the fray. The issue revolves around: “How could General Adefope thrive in the same army that its own Chief of Staff late General Salihu Ibrahim slagged off as an “Army of Anything Goes”?
Beyond that, General T.Y. Danjuma, former Chief of Army Staff and ex-Minister of Defence publicly indicted the same army over a very grave security matter in his home state (Taraba) and beyond. He did not pull any punches. The powerful message was to the effect that the Nigerian Army was complicit in heinous crimes and atrocities.
To further literally detonate a bombshell, General Olusegun Obasanjo, former President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria declared that the current presidential aspirants are not only “NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE”, most of them should be in jail.” He has not retracted.
This has prompted those scholars (e.g. Professor Lewis Rothberg of Harvard University) who have been tracking our nation’s trajectory to conclude that we have unwittingly created a matrix that embraces:
“An Army of Anything Goes to a Nation of Anything Goes.!
I am sure that both Professor Osuntokun and Professor Aworawo who are eminent scholars in their own right will respond to the challenge posed by their cerebral colleagues (or comrades in arm). Laymen like us have no role to play in that toxic arena. Let the gladiators venture into the ring. Regardless, here is a note of caution. I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the video of Nigerians who had been trapped in Ukraine while the war was raging but refused to board the plane sent by the Nigerian government to evacuate them. They would rather go to another country in Europe or die in Ukraine. They did not want anything to do with a country of Anything Goes.
They may have been unduly swayed by the slew of scary stories that have made the headlines in Nigeria in recent times:
The suspects, SoliuMajekodunmi (18) and Mustakeem Balogun (19) reportedly murdered Sofiat last Friday in the room of the former, who was her lover, after a steamy sex round.
Other suspects linked with the act were GafarLukmon and WarisOladeinde.
According to the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, three of the suspects – Mustakeem, Gafar and Waris – were arrested in the early hours of Saturday by detectives from Adatan police station, led by the Divisional Police Officer, SP Abiodun Salau, after they received a report from the head of the community security guards that the suspects were seen burning something suspected to be human head in a clay pot.
The fourth suspect, Soliu, who initially escaped when he noticed that they had been exposed, was however arrested later.
Mustakeem, who was among the three initially arrested had confessed that indeed, it was the head of Soliu’s girlfriend that was being burnt. This was confirmed later after Soliu’s arrest.
The suspects had led detectives to the building where the act was committed, leading to the recovery of the dismembered body of Sofiat, which was thereafter deposited at General Hospital, Ijaiye, Abeokuta mortuary for autopsy.
Recovered were the short cutlass and a knife used in cutting off the deceased’s head.
“Nigerian Tribune” had a comprehensive interview with the suspects on Saturday. Their narrations go thus:
Soliu Majekodunmi
“I’m 18 years old. I’m from Abeokuta. My parents are separated but my mother has remained single while my father remarried. I live alone. I left Egba High School, Abeokuta at SSS2 in 2021 after I told my father that I wanted to go deeper into quranic knowledge.
It is true that we killed Sofiat. Actually, she was killed by Mustakeem.”
The same country that Major-General Adefope served with passion and dedication has been turned upside down by money ritualists, kidnappers, bandits, money doublers, snake charmers, robbers and kleptomaniacs. The gospel of prosperity without hard work has engulfed the entire nation.
A fierce debate is currently raging amongst scholars – the purists insist that the book review is about the book and nothing else. In the opposite corner are the “mordernists” who are adamant that the book must be located in context i.e. how would the book gel with currently prevailing circumstances to wit:
Here are the statistics:
In 2020, the COVID restrictions heavily reduced the consumption of oil products in the EU, worst hit was jet kerosene which decreased by 56.4 %.
Import dependency reached a record high in 2020 when the EU relied on net imports for 96.96 % of the crude oil and petroleum products consumed.
Production of crude oil continued to decline in the EU reaching a record low in 2020.
In 2020, the transport sector in the EU still relied heavily on oil products.
What has all that got to do with the late Major-General H.E.O. Adefope? Plenty !! In effect, the foundation he strove to lay has crumbled or is in danger for imminent collapse.
Further evidence is provided by the following reports:
“The bandits, who gunned down soldiers in Kebbi State on Tuesday, rode on over 200 motorcycles, according to a resident.
Daily Trust had reported the attack, which the state government confirmed to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, who visited Kebbi over an earlier attack.
In an interview with AFP, Musa Arzika, a resident who said 13 soldiers were killed, added that the attackers came on “around 200 motorcycles riding three on each” and laid siege to the village.
AFP quoted another source as saying five policemen and a vigilante were also killed in the incident.
The battle was said to have erupted late Tuesday in Kanya, a village in Danko-Wasagu district, just a day after 63 members of a self-defence militia, Yan-Sa-Kai, were ambushed and killed by bandits in Zuru Emirate of Kebbi State.
The massacre was reported to have taken place in the wee hours of Monday in Sakaba Local Government Area while the Yan-Sa-Kai were on their way for an attack on the bandits.
Hundreds of gunmen invaded Kanya, engaging a combined military and police detachment in a three-hour gunfight, the source and residents said.
“The death toll stands at 19. They include 13 soldiers, five policemen and one vigilante,” a security personnel who did not want to be identified, told AFP.
He said eight other security personnel, including four soldiers were hospitalised with wounds.
“It was an intense fight that lasted more than three hours. The terrorists had the upper hand because of their sheer number.”
Military and police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.”
Headline: HOW 13-YEAR-OLD-GIRL WAS GANG-RAPED IN LAGOS.”
A medical doctor, Mistura Shogunle, on Wednesday, narrated before an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court how a 13-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by seven men in her neighbourhood.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Shogunle testified at the trial of a 20-year-old fashion designer, Rasheed Fashola, for conspiracy and defilement of a girl.
Fashola had pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge.
Led in evidence by state counsel, Mrs Olasunbo Abiodun-Muniru, the doctor working at the Mirabel Centre (a sexual assault referral centre), said the minor came to the centre to seek medical attention on Sept. 28, 2020, a day after she was allegedly defiled.
The client said on Sept. 27, 2020, which was a Sunday, her father sent her on an errand, and seven boys in the neighbourhood stopped her.
They dragged her into an uncompleted building, her mouth was covered with a handkerchief and they took turns to rape her through unprotected penile intercourse into her vagina,” Shogunle said.
She said the survivor was calm and clinically stable during the medical examination and that she had no obvious physical injuries.
“There were, however, significant genital findings. The labia majora was normal but the labia minora (inner lips of the genital) had a bruise.
The doctor, also a certified forensic sexual assault examiner, testified that she asked the survivor’s father, who accompanied her, to throw more light on what happened to his daughter.
She said the father informed her that he sent his daughter on an errand and expected her to return home early but, instead, saw her with two men who came to his residence to tell him that his daughter had been defiled.
According to prosecution, Fashola, alongside others at large, committed the offence at about 8 pm on Sept. 27, 2020, in an uncompleted building at Oluwashina Junction, Itire, Lagos State.”
Headline: “NIGERIA, A COUNTRY NOT A NATION” – Obasanjo
“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said Nigeria is a country that is yet to be merged into a nation.
The former Head of State stated this while speaking at the 2021/2022 School Debate Prize Presentation organised by the Vision Africa Radio, Umuahia, Abia State.
He declared that Nigeria would not make any headway as a country until she grew into nationhood, saying “One of the things we need to achieve is nation building. We have not built a nation yet. We have a country but we need to build it into a nation.”
Insisting that Nigeria would not progress until there is equality, justice and equal stake for everybody; Obasanjo said “We can’t make it unless we have equity and equality, and everybody having a stake in the project called Nigeria. Any family, state or country without equity and equality won’t have stability and can never have success.”
Headline: “HOW WE POISONED, STRANGLED BOY FOR RECOGNISING ONE OF US.”
“Two siblings, Abdulrazak Waliu, aged 23, and Abdulrazak Illias (18) have spilled the beans on how they conspired to kidnap an eight-year-old pupil, Bamimore Kehinde Abdulraheem, for a ransom of N2 million before they decided to kill him by giving him rat poison and strangulating him when he recognised Ilias as his brother’s friend.
The two suspects were arrested in Saki town, where the incident occurred last Friday, by detectives from Saki Division of Oyo State Police Command, before their transfer to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, on Monday.
Also arrested were the suspects’ father, Abdulrazak Salaudeen and half brother, Abdulhamid.
Briefing journalists on the arrest on Wednesday, the state Commissioner of Police, Ngozi Onadeko, who was represented by the command’s Police Public Relations Officer, SP Adewale Osifeso, said that the arrest was sequel to a report by the victim’s father, BamimoreAbdulafeez that on March 4, at about 12noon, Abdulraheem and his twin brother, Abdullahi were returning from school when Abdulraheem was lured by the suspects, making him to leave his parents’ house to follow them to an unknown location.
The father told the police that all efforts made to locate the victim proved abortive.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that when the police invited the siblings for interrogation, they denied having anything to do with the missing twin, leading to a search party for the boy.
It was during the process that the decomposing body of the victim was found in an unoccupied building at Alubarika area Saki, on Monday.
The police commissioner said that during interrogation, Waliu and Ilias confessed to have conspired to kidnap the victim for ransom, but eventually killed him because he could identify them.
She made it known that further updates on the incident would be provided in due course as investigation continues.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that it was the deceased’s twin brother, Abdullahi Taiwo, who exposed the suspected killers when he was not seen at home after returning from school.
In an interview with Waliu, he said: “I planned with my younger brother, Ilias, to kidnap AbdulraheemBamimore to collect ransom from his parents. What we intended to do was to tie our victim in a secluded place, call the parents to demand for ransom before his release after payment.
“He was coming from school when we stylishly asked him to get us water. When he came back with the water, we took him to a building near our parents’ house which had been completed but not yet occupied. We tied his hands and legs and asked him whether he could recognise either of us, to which he answered in the affirmative. We then thought that if we released him, he would go home to tell his parents about our plans for him and they would ask police to arrest us. That was why we decided to poison him.
Our father trades in rat poison, but he used to lock the door to where he was keeping them to prevent children from playing with them. He also did that because some of us used to sell it without his knowledge and spend the money. We stole one of the keys and it was used to open where the packs of poison were kept. We poured it into water and asked Abdulraheem to drink it.
This is the first time we will carry out the act, though we had been thinking about it and discussing how to perfect our plans. We asked the first child we targeted whether he could recognise us and he said yes, so we left him. We killed Abdulraheem because we did not ask him initially, until we tied his hands and legs. If we had asked him before tying him, we wouldn’t have killed him.”
He said that the third sibling, Abdulhamid, his half brother, who was also arrested knew nothing about the kidnap plan and the killing.
The sibling shares the same father with the first two but has different mother who is a junior wife to their own mother.
Waliu also said that they got their father into trouble because the poison used on the victim was taken from his business.
“The day the incident happened, our father was at home. We didn’t let Abdulhamid know because we were sure he would tell our father. That day, the three of us went to pluck mangoes while Ilias and I already had the plan to kidnap a child. As we were plucking the mangoes, our father called him (on phone) to come and take him to the mosque in preparation for Jumat prayers. He was the one that used to take our father to wherever he wanted to go with our family motorcycle.
Immediately he left, we seized the opportunity to move to the field where we planned to lay in wait for any child to kidnap.”
Waliu, who completed secondary school on 2018, said that he started learning Qur’an recitation and interpretation.
“I started learning in Lagos State but came home about four months ago. The thought of further learning about the Qur’an vanished from me because there was no money being made. That was how the evil thought of kidnapping came to my mind.”
“We have realised that greed, covetousness and dissatisfaction were our problem,” Waliu said.
In his confession, 18-year-old Ilias narrated: “Waliu is my elder brother from the same father and mother. He was the one who suggested that we should kidnap a child to get money. When he first told me, I said I would not be able to do such a thing. He insisted that we should do it to make money and convinced me. Then I thought it would be okay once we don’t hurt the child.
It happened at about 12noon. We were on a field when the twins were passing by. I knew their brother whom I was attending a Quranic school with.
I told Abdulraheem that he should tell his brother that I wanted to see him. As he was going, my brother Waliu told him to come back to us after getting home, promising to give him mangoes. As expected, the boy came back. Before then, my brother had told me to open the door of the unoccupied property. When he got in, my brother asked him whether he knew him and he said he didn’t. When asked about me, he said that he knew me very well.
I called my brother and told him to let us spare the child but he started arguing, saying that he would go home to report us. He was the one who went to pick the poison. He had already mixed it with water before he brought it to where we kept the child. He gave the child the drink.
The boy gave up in our presence. Initially, when he was given the poison, he started rolling on the floor in severe pain, holding his stomach. My brother asked him to lie down. When he noticed that he was not giving up easily, he used the rope used in tying his legs to hold his neck tight to strangulate him. That was how he died.
My brother asked me to stay outside to watch out for anyone approaching. I asked him what he would do with the corpse but he said I should not bother. After the boy died, we left his body in the building and shut the door.”
The father of the suspects, Salaudeen, who was sobbing uncontrollably during the interview, however said that he was innocent of what he was being accused of.
“I had already gone for Jumat service by the time my children committed the despicable act. It was my son, Abdulhamid who took me to the mosque on our motorcycle and when we returned, I didn’t hear of anything until late in the evening when people came, asking of Ilias. They asked him of the child and he said he had left our place for home immediately. I asked him to tell us what happened but my son did not open up. We took him to the police station but he did not confess until we found the remains of the child in an unoccupied house. I’m still in shock.”
Father of the murdered boy, AbdulafeezBamimore, also spoke with the Nigerian Tribune: “On Friday, March 4, my twin sons got dressed and left for school. They are Primary Four Pupils. As they were coming home after closing from school, they met the suspects who asked after their elder brother, a friend to one of them, Ilias, and asked them to bring sachets of water for them. As they were addressing Abdulraheem in particular, Abdullahi was listening by the side. When they got home, Abdulraheem quickly picked the water sachets and ran to give the brothers. They collected the water and took him inside an unoccupied building and gave him rat poison to drink. When they noticed he didn’t die quickly and was pleading with them to spare his life, they tied his hands and legs and also strangled him. That was how they killed my son.
We went to their house to ask of my son but they denied having anything to do with him. We started looking for my son and were perceiving an odour at the back of the suspects’ house, but their father said that it must have been a hen that died that was smelling. He was eventually found in the early hours of Monday in the aisle of the unoccupied property, covered with a blanket. That was when they confessed.”
Let us focus on the main item – the book.
I must however confess that the authors have made the job of the reviewer superfluous if not redundant by the epitaph/review on the back page with the seemingly innocuous caption: “ABOUT THE BOOK.”
“This book is the history of the life and times of Major-General (Dr.) Henry Edmund Olufemi Adefope (1926-2012). It traces his roots to Ijebu Odogbolu in Ogun State and discusses the developments that shaped his life from his birth in Kaduna in 1926 and teenage years in Lagos. His secondary education at CMS Grammar School, Lagos was very eventful and the friendships cultivated in the Class of 44 of CMS remained evergreen for the rest of his life. University education at the University of Glasgow in Scotland impacted his life decisively and it was also during this period of his sojourn abroad that he got married to former Miss DotunAdefarasin. Back in Nigeria, Femi Adefope worked for the government of Western Region as a medical officer for a decade and this entailed working in places spanning Lagos, Epe, Abeokuta, Warri, Ughelli, Kwale and Forcados which were part of the defunct Western Region in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Henry Adefope enlisted in the Nigeria Army as a Major in 1963 and rose to the rank of Major-General. He occupied many important positions, including serving as Federal Commissioner for Labour (1975-1978) and Federal Commissioner for External Affairs (1978-1979). He retired from the Nigerian Army when the military handed over power to civilians as Nigeria’s Second Republic was inaugurated on 1 October 1979.
From his days in the military, Henry Adefope participated actively in sports development, both as a sportsman and an administrator. As Commanding Officer of the Military Hospital, he started a regular sports programme at Myhoung Barracks in Yaba as early as 1964 and later became the Chairman of the National Sports Council in 1967. He continued as Chairman of the body after it was renamed National Sports Commission in 1971. He was also President of Nigeria Olympic Committee from 1967-1975 and remained in the position for a year after it became the Nigeria’s Minister of Labour from 1975. He was appointed member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1985 and he served as a member of the important sports body until 2006. His contribution to the IOC was so impressive that he was appointed honorary member after he stepped down as an active member in 2006. He remained an honourary member until 2012 when he passed on. The life history of Major-General (Dr.) Henry Adefope is certainly a story of self-sacrifice, commitment to the common good, dedication to family values, impregnable integrity, and service to humanity. His life has indeed left a Legacy of Honour.
Major-General (Dr.) H.E.O. Adefope undoubtedly left a formidable legacy. A great man whose word was his bond, selfless but so humble. He embraced both the poor and rich, old and young, affirming them all.
He hated the mindless pursuit of money, teaching his family the virtue of contentment and loving his country with a passion. A man at peace with himself, which peace and love he radiated.
The General died as he lived: empathetic, purposeful and fearless, deciding that he had played his part and was ready to “go home.”
There is also competition from General T.Y. Danjuma.
“Major-General (Dr.) Adefope is one of the finest officers ever to serve in the Nigerian Armed Forces. He was an excellent officer and gentleman. He was outstanding wherever he served. In sports, his contributions were simply unparalleled; in medical practice, his professionalism and commitment were un-precedented. He was also a skilled negotiator which was reflected in his intervention when doctors went on strike and he was called upon to negotiate. He displayed similar qualities in his delicate handling of labour issues when he became Commissioner for Labour. He was also an astute diplomat who represented Nigeria well.”
With blazing bold headlines, “ThisDay” newspaper carried on its front page on March 11, 2022 the following Financial Statement and Auditors’ Report:
“WITH OIL PRICE SURGE, NIGERIA IMPORTING 100% FUEL NEED, SUBSIDY THREATENS TO CRIPPLE ECONOMY”
Nevertheless, on his 90th birthday Ambassador Ignatius Chukwuemeka, Nigeria’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs delivered a profound message on CNN:
“All said, let no one forget that there is no better country than Nigeria in the whole world. I feel happiest when I am in Nigeria, despite the agonizing frustrations.”
On the assumption that we have merely paused the review of the book, let us proceed by acknowledging that what was unimaginable while Major-General Adefope was in the army or in the highest echelons of our government has now become a harsh reality – hunger, anger and rage combined with callousness and subterfuge.
Our simple plea for mercy has fallen on deaf ears.
Regardless, we must acknowledge the thread that connected Major-General Adefope and Professor Osuntokun – as officers and gentlemen (one belonged to the army while the other belonged to the university/foreign service) having passed the litmus test: “worthy in learning and character. Beyond that they were/are formidable pillars of the Christian Church. Indeed, for sixteen years Major-General Adefopewas a widower and Professor Osuntokun has carried the same burden for even longer.
They are both men of restraint and discretion. Whatever was “classified” remains so. There is nothing in the book to suggest that they have spilled the beans. Everything remains guarded. No flights of fancy or wayward indiscretion. One swore (as a medical doctor) the Hippocratic but both of them are bound by the Official Secrets Act.
There is no mention in the book of the top Nigerian Ambassador who had a serious drinking problem and was despatched to a specialist in Harley Street, London in a desperate search for a cure. The specialist read out the medical report:
“Your Excellency, according to your doctor, you are a hard drinker.” The patient promptly delivered a vigorous protest:
“It is not hard at all. I start drinking in the morning and finish at night. It is very easy. How come there is no bar in your waiting room?”
There is no revelation in the book of even what is common knowledge –during the Nigerian Civil War (1967 to 1970) our chief spokesman who was based in London bore the name:
Alhaji This Thing !!
On another occasion, one of our Senior Ambassadors visited his doctor in Washington DC, but the examination was protracted. The doctor took a break to visit the bathroom and noticed a teenage girl (about 14 years old) who was in the waiting room had no appointment to see him. She disclosed that she was waiting for the Ambassador to finish his medicals. When the doctor returned to the examination room he was shocked when the patient revealed that the girl was not his grand-daughter but his wife !! The doctor protested: “You are an old man what will happen to the poor girl ?”
Without batting an eye lid, the patient coolly replied:
“If she dies, she dies. I’ll just find myself another one.”
It is not by mere co-incidence that the joint authors are professors of history. Hence, the book must be interrogated from a historical perspective. We are entitled to the latitude of asking ourselves – is this really the history of one man or a snapshot of our nation at a particular time in history? What impact did Major-General Adefope have on the subsequent history of our nation considering that we are now the poverty capital of the world? In spite of the abundance of our resources, we have been trapped by decadence and we are well on the road to Golgotha.
If we have become addicted to chaos and anarchy, how will this book make a difference?
We do not require an electric shock or severe jolt to remind us of the snooty warning outside a school in apartheid South Africa:
“If you want to hide a secret,
Put it in a book (for blacks to read).”
The cryptic message is loaded.
Scholars are in conflict regarding whether the book should stand alone and be reviewed on its own merit or should it be offered to the apostles of “deconstruction” who would insist on making a distinction between the history of Major-General Henry Adefope and the legacy he bequeathed. It is an issue of heritage; and whether the values he epitomised – humility, uprightness, accountability and kindness have endured?
We have been warned that you should not judge a book by its cover. On this occasion, we must make an exception. The cover of the book truly captures the essence of the “Real Neoy” – Major-General (Dr.) Henry Edmund Olufemi Adefope as calm, dignified, happy (without being happy-go-lucky!!) and self-assured (but not arrogant/conceited).
Even more fascinating is the appetiser served early in the book. The Adefopes owe their origin and roots to Odogbolu close to Ijebu Ode, in Ogun State.
“Henry Adefope was born in Kaduna in Northern Nigeria on 15 March 1926 although his parents hailed from Odogbolu and Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State in Southwest Nigeria. His father Nathaniel Oshokoya was born in 1881.”
However, the nomenclature of the grandfather of Henry Adefope was Chief AdarinijoAdefowope (not Adefope).
Even before the main course, we are treated to a spell-binding history of the Yorubas regardless of “………this mass of contradictory and sometimes confusing information.”
The authors have taken the plunge by reminding us of what we already know:
“Among the Yoruba, the Ijebu people are reputed to be exceedingly enterprising and industrious. Their acumen for managing business enterprises is such that they have been described as “money minters” (“Owo Ijebu”).
However, the subject of the book chose medicine as his carrier after leaving C.M.S. Grammar School, Lagos before joining the army.
What awaited Dr. Henry Adefope was a baptism of fire:
“During the 15 January 1966 coup, Adefope was given the unenviable task of evacuating to the Military Hospital, military officers and prominent civilians who were killed in Lagos. With the tense situation in the country at this time, he had to strictly conceal their identities in order to prevent reprisal attacks.
Also, as the Director of Nigerian Army Medical Services, he led the party that went to Ibadan to bring back the bodies of the Head of State (Major-General J.T.U. Aguyi-Ironsi); the Military Governor of Western Region (Lt-Col. Festus A. Fajuyi) and other military men who were killed in the 29 July 1966 counter coup.”
For three days there was virtually no government!!
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