Debo Akande's Aunt Laments As Remains Arrives
FROM IYABO SOTUNDE (IBADAN) AND GBOLAHAN GBADAMOSI (LAGOS)
When news of the death of her beloved brother and benefactor was eventually broken to her, the octogenarian, Alhaja Muili Garuba collapsed. She threw the entire members of Ekotedo compound in Ibadan, Oyo State into confusion.
For a moment, the long, mourning faces which many of the family members had worn for about a week, following the death of an illustrious son of the family, became enlivened with tension as they struggled to revive the aged woman.
Though in her long years on earth, she has seen and heard many tragic situations, the weight of this particular news was just too much for Alhaja Garuba's frail shoulder. She fell.
At the end of each month, Alhaja Garuba, an aunt of the late Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Debo Akande, would look forward to receiving her 'salary' - from the deceased.
It was learnt that Akande's death had been kept away from Alhaja Garuba to avert any untoward development until a sympathiser walked into the old woman's room to commiserate with her.
The bewildered octogenarian could not believe the news. Subsequently, she fainted. When she regained consciousness about 25 minutes later, she wailed: "I have lost my salary."
The expansive family house of the Akandes located inside Dugbe, the popular commercial centre in the capital city, wore a melancholic look when The Guardian visited at the weekend.
Just then, the neighbours had joined some of the family members to revive Alhaja Garuba.
No doubt, the death of the prominent lawyer and Ibadan chief, whose body arrived unannounced yesterday in the country, has not only shattered her hope for the future, but has also brought an abrupt end to her monthly stipend; what she called 'salary'.
Akande's younger brother, Chief Lamidi, who described his brother's death as "a big blow to all of us," consoled Alhaja Garuba.
The remains of the legal icon and chairman, Body of Benchers, arrived at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja yesterday morning aboard Virgin Atlantic aircraft.
The remains, brought in around 4.30am, was immediately taken to the Maryland Medical Centre at Maryland Crescent, Onigbongbo, Lagos.
At about 3.30pm, few family members were seen at the hospital, including a Lagos-based lawyer who specialises in aviation law.
Some personalities at the airport yesterday, it was gathered, were the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos Branch, Mr. Akin Akinbote and Dr. Mcgregor, a friend of the Akandes.
A popular Lagos-based undertaker, MIC, managed by Mr. Tunji Okusanya handled the remains. It was learnt that the remains of the late Akande would be interred on Thursday. He is said to have informed his family of his desire to be buried at the Ikoyi cemetery.
Alhaja Garuba is not the only relative that is terribly hit by the sudden death of Chief Akande. The entire family of "Baale Joe Akande" of Ekotedo compound has been thrown into mourning since the sad incident.
Chief Lamidi summed up the situation against the background of the unfulfilled plans by Akande.
His words: "When I saw him three weeks ago, he never showed any sign of illness, neither did I know that I was seeing him for the last time.
"During his visit, we had discussion extensively about family matters particularly, the renovation of our father's house at Ile-Ife where he was to be honoured with a chieftaincy title before the end of the year."
The 64-year-old Lamidi, who retired as a Warrant Officer in the Nigerian Army, recalled their younger days at the family compound where they grew up and the roles played by the late Akande.
Describing him as a family man par excellence, he said: "We grew up together in this compound and we both attended the Quranic school inside the mosque built by our father, who was a Muslim. Then we were all Muslims and my brother was the first person to complete the reading of the Quran."
Born 66 years ago to Pa Joe Akande, who was the first "Baale of Ekotedo" (their family compound), the erudite lawyer attended Sabo primary school where he distinguished himself from his peers. Said to be "very brilliant and rascally," Chief Akande, the first in a family of six, was described by his relations as a lover of children.
"He used to take us out to the Race Course and other exciting places. He would tell us stories, helped with our studies, and even taught us how to play football. As the first born of the family, he was always particular about our wellbeing right from our younger days till the time he breathed his last.
"It was fun growing up together in this compound. When he eventually left for Lagos for his secondary education, we all missed his words of wisdom," Chief Lamidi said.
Outlining the late Akande as a family man and a pillar of support to his kinsmen, the younger Akande said his brother was responsible for footing the bills for every ceremony in the family, adding, "he was the one who made me a chief in the capital city."
On what he would miss as a result of his brother's death, Lamidi said, "I am not the only person that is affected by his death; the whole family and even outsiders. As the Daodu (family head), he was particular about the welfare of his members even the children."
"Chief Akande placed the aged people in the family compound on monthly salary among whom is Alhaja Garuba. Besides, he used to distribute food items to members of the family.
"Not only that, he was a God-fearing man. Though he became a Christian later in his lifetime, Akande never forgot the fact that he came from a Muslim background. He had renovated at least two mosques and plans were in top gear to rehabilitate four others in the neighbourhood before his sudden death," Lamidi said.
He recounted that during the Ramadan period, the late Akande normally distributed food items and cash gifts to family members and Imams, besides buying rams and clothing.
According to Lamidi, four persons were pencilled down by his brother for the holy pilgrimage in Mecca this year and this, he said, the legal luminary normally did every year.
"My brother was generous with his money. Not only did he distribute food and cash gifts during the fasting periods, but also sent for some of those he had planned to sponsor this year. One of them just left this place now and we could not tell him what had happened because he would not be able to withstand the shock."
Akande, who was 17 years old when his father died, had planned to go back to his root in Ile-Ife, to renovate his family house.
Unknown to many, the Akandes migrated from Ife after their great grandfather lost the Obaship tussle to the late Ooni Adesoji Aderemi. They settled in Ibadan and Pa Joe (Akande's father) was the 11th to the Olubadan throne before his death in 1955.
Chief Lamidi recalled that when he met his brother three weeks ago, his main preoccupation was to renovate some mosques and also put their family house in order, noting that the deceased had already sent some people to draw the plan of the house.
He had promised to commence work after his trip abroad, "but this was not to be as fate had another thing in stock for him," he lamented.
On whether he suspected any foul play in the death of his brother, the younger Akande said the family had left everything in the hand of God, stressing, "God giveth and taketh."
Although he wished that the remains of the legal luminary would be interred besides his father in the family compound, Chief Lamidi said the choice of Lagos was in order as his brother was "very committed to the development of the country."
"It is true Chief Akande was born in Ibadan but he achieved so many things in his life in Lagos. Both places are his home. We just pray God to grant him eternal rest," Lamidi said.
Meanwhile, the first NBA Secretary-General, after it was resuscitated in 1998, Mr. Obi Okwusogu, yesterday described the late jurist as "a stabilising factor in the NBA."
"When Akande lost the NBA presidential election to Ebele Nwokoye at Jos in 1987, he was a gallant loser. As a true democrat, he accepted the result. He embraced the winner," Okwusogu recalled.
A Kaduna-based Senior Advocate, who is eyeing the NBA presidency at the
August 22-27 NBA conference in Abuja, Mr. Joseph Bodunrin Daudu, also paid tribute to Akande, saying, "the vacuum he left will be difficult to fill. He is larger than life."
