Buried in a blaze of glory
At his exit, fades chapters of a world that had turned his life into part of its own projected biography. But while the world mourns the demise of General Adeyinka Adebayo, his son, Niyi Adebayo, accords him a grand and enchanting funeral rite. General Adebayo could not witness his funeral; nobody ever does. And if, somehow, he earned a sneak peek, no one could know what he thought of it. All those flowers and all those wishes; the pageant train and wreath of sorrows unhesitatingly cast for a full life coming to a close.
The wistful wishes and pomp of homage probably elicited from his soul, the hapless tribute of a sigh and perhaps a gleeful tear. The elaborate burial, penultimate Friday, of former Governor of the old Western Region, Major General Adeyinka Adebayo, was no show of decadence but a celebration of a life decidedly well lived. Adebayo died March 8th, a day to his 89th birthday. He was no ordinary Nigerian. The first indigenous Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Army, he was, until his death, the oldest living Nigerian Army officer and retired as a Major General in 1975. And his life could not have been more glittering and fulfilling. His eldest son, Otunba Adeniyi, was Governor of Ekiti State between 1999 and 2003 while another son, Adesola, served as Commissioner for Works and Transport in the Dr. Kayode Fayemi administration in Ekiti State. His other children are equally forces in their fields. It beggared no surprise therefore that a glittering array of Nigerian aristocrats, top government functionaries and career socialites thronged the bucolic town of IyinEkiti, otherwise a blip on the state’s map, to witness the state burial of a fine officer and gentleman. The Adebayo patriarch was known for his fine epicurean taste and his thoroughbred children honoured his memory by ensuring that they plied their guests with fine and fitting entertainment. Who else, but juju maestro, King Sunny Ade, could have been on the bandstand to entertain the colourful guests, remind them of the memorable life of Adebayo, yet, keep them on their toes as they danced into the wee hours of the morning? For the Adebayo children, they merried, not mourned, in realisation that everyone dies, but not everyone lives. Their father lived, and very well too.