By Lanre Arogundade
It was in joyous tones that the news spread across the streets of Osi-Ekiti that Oga Peter had become an Anglican priest.
Like the triumphant wrestler in Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart, Oga Peter’s fame spread like the bush fire.
His fame was actually spreading further. For he had been an organist and catechist at the St Paul’s Anglican Church; and he had also been a good footballer in the town’s Community Modern School.
The whole town literally turned up when he soon returned home from Ado-Ekiti where he had been ordained a Reverend by Bishop Abiodun Adetiloye of the old Ekiti Diocese of the Anglican Communion, to mount the pulpit and deliver the sermon as a baby Priest that Sunday in the 1970s.
That maiden sermon was captivating. He rounded it off with a song he had specially composed and which would be on our lips for a long time:
“Jeesu n ki gbee,
Oni ke gba tohun gbo
Orisa te gbe kale, te gbojule
Sigidi te gbe kale, te globule
Alenu ma le fo hun tegbojule
Jeesu n ki gbee,
Oni ke gba tohun gbo”.
Beyond being melodious, there was a significance to the song. In a town-environment characterised by tense relationship between traditionalists and Christians in those days, the lyrics came from a heart of courage.
If later in life, especially as Bishop of Owo Diocese during the period of General Sani Abacha’s brutal military dictatorship, he daringly spoke the truth to power, so much so that he was labelled a NADECO Bishop, we Osi-Ekiti folks could say we saw it coming.
Incidentally, I was there in 1997 as Chairman of the Lagos State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists and Assistant Editor of Vanguard newspapers to attend and cover the funeral service for late Chief Adekunle Ajasin, the then NADECO leader, when he delivered a stinging sermon against the atrocities of the regime and eulogised him for being a true people’s leader despite the presence of Lt. General Oladipo Diya, Abacha’s deputy at the Cathedral Church of St Andrew, Owo. Diya was so infuriated that at the grave side he couldn’t bear to listen to another round of scathing remarks. He simply snatched the microphone, mumbled his tribute and zoomed off.
Unlike in Osi-Ekiti where as kid-member of the choir at St Paul’s Anglican church, I didn’t and couldn’t have seen his sermon coming, as a journalist covering Ajasin’s funeral service, I already had an inkling of what was to come from Bishop Adebiyi. For myself and Iyobosa Uwugiaren of The News/Tempo magazine had spent the night at Bishop Adebiyi’s residence at the Bishop’s Court where over dinner we had exciting discussion on the state of the Nation and the condemnable hounding of pro-democracy activists and journalists especially in the aftermath of the annulment of the June 12 elections.
Such fearless messages delivered with erudition from his repertoire of knowledge, characterised Dr. Peter Awelewa Adebiyi’s charismatic odyssey as Bishop of Owo and Lagos West Dioceses of the Anglican Communion. He would be missed for this and many other contributions he made in the course of his remarkable academic and church career.
But we the Arogundades will additionally miss him for his closeness to and love for our family. On July 13th, 2002, he officiated at my 40th birthday service at the Archbishop Vining Cathedral.
But in a sense, we are only second generation witnesses to the bond between his family and ours. My father, Thomas Akinyemi Arogundade, had lived in the same neighbourhood with Bishop Adebiyi’s father, Samuel Ogunmola, in the early stages of his cocoa trading sojourn in Osi-Ekiti in the 1950s.
Bishop Adebiyi himself further attested to the close relationship during his sermon at the funeral thanksgiving service of our father on October 6, 2012 at the St Mathew’s Cathedral, Ijebu-Jesa.
Among others, he disclosed that it was our father, a Lay Reader at St Paul’s Anglican Church, Osi-Ekiti, who encouraged him to train as a Cathecist having seen the potential of being a priest in him. And on the day he was going to sit for the examination in another town, my father actually accompanied him for moral support and encouragement. He was also classmate and friend to our Dad’s younger brother, Pastor Olu Arijesudade at the Community Modern School where both played football.
The trio are now set to be reunited in the world beyond as the remains of our Oga Peter who became Bishop Adebiyi were buried on Friday, 29 April, 2022, in Osi-Ekiti where he started his earthly journey 79 years ago.
It is the exit of a likeable handsome personality, who was aptly named Awelewa by his parents. It is the exit of a charming character, an intellectual crusader, and a man who touched many lives in several inspiring ways.
It is certainly a glorious exit, which would not diminish the fact that the Adebiyis deserve a place in the Guiness Book of Records as the Nigerian family with probably the highest number of Anglican priests. Before Bishop Adebiyi there was his cousin, late Canon G.O. Adebiyi, whose son, Tokunbo, is a serving Venerable. There are two other Adebiyi retired Venerables, Tunde and Dupe, the later being Bishop Adebiyi’s immediate elder brother. The late Bishop’s younger brother, Johnson, is a serving Venerable while two of his sons, Wemimo and Tunji are Canons. A third, Dayo, is a Reverend.