Prince Tajudeen Oluyole Olusi @90, by Uthman Ademilade Shodipe-Dosunmu

Author, historian, cultural icon, arch defender of Lagosian heritage, Prince Tajudeen Oluyole Olusi, brings with him a certain debonair royal bearing, a strong and instinctive understanding of the ways of our ancestors, a razor-sharp tenacity in defining the cultural traditions of the summative truths of that sacred beginning called Isaleko.

Born on October 13, 1936, just five years after his father’s abandonment of the throne, the infallible oracle had pronounced his meaning and importance from his mother’s womb, heralding his earthly presence as a precocious character, heralding his incessant pursuit of knowledge, predicting his formidable boldness in the search for the right, the instinctive protection of the beloved integrity and truth.

He was but a child when his father Oba Sanusi Olusi, who had once ascended the precious throne of that great pioneer, Oba Ado Keme, was then in the peaceful habitation of a new palace built by the colonial government, far from the turmoil and rancor of the monarchy.

He witnessed from that early age the nightly visits of Oba Falolu Dosunmu to the Ereko palace of the former Oba Olusi and the reciprocal visits of Oba Olusi to the royal king of Iga Idunganran.

From these two elder princes he learned the morality of humility, the wisdom in peaceful resolution, the endurance of leadership built on reconciliation and mutual friendship.

The young prince often sat at Oba Olusi’s feet as the elderly ex-king regaled his impressionable young son with the oral history of Lagos.

From the settlement of Ogunfunminire in Isheri Ọlọfin to the waters of Iddo, from the expanses of idumoyingbo, to the sprawling expanses of Idunganran, the sobering spatiality of Ita-Ado, the clusters of Iduntafa, the unflinching real meaning of Oripasan and the enduring spirituality of Enu-Ọwa to all the sacred arcana and primordial grooves of our common beginning: the young prince absorbed the incredible folklore of the ancestral characters who once lived, thrived and fought on those sacred grounds that still bear the engravings of battles won and lost; the ceaseless patterns of power, the storms and furies in high places, the betrayal, the conflicts and the eventual healing that still maintain our common bond, strengthening our legacy in that formidable power and imperishable memory that no alien force can erase nor defeat.

Prince Olusi has journeyed from that uncertain beginning through varied twists of fate, maturing with each storm, seeking with unwavering determination every challenging barrier, facing life’s odds with resolute courage; calm, imperturbable, standing like a ram, facing the vicissitudes of life with that rare constancy of trust and faith in the infallible God.

Although he is not Oba Olusi’s first, second or third son, his elder brothers often push him to anchor family matters, to guide and sift through the sometimes difficult and confusing phases of the royal corridors.

A councilor in the Lagos City Council when he was barely 25, he had navigated the choppy and invariably turbulent waters of politics with very old men and the ruling giants of the day such as Alhaji Ganiu Olawale Dawodu, Chief Adeyemi Lawson, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Dr Babatunde Williams, Barrister Sikiru Shitta-Bey, Reverend Akin Adesola, Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, Mr Bolaji Senu Hudeyin, Chief Safi Lawal Edu, Chief Sanni Ishawu Adewale and many other Lagosian leaders whose names now resonate with echoic reverence, grandeur and historical reverence wherever the original natives of Lagos are still remembered with nostalgic appreciation.

Prince Olusi, Baba Oba of Egbe Kingdom, Baba Adini of Yorubaland, Atobatele of Ekiti where his mother hailed from – has been fortunate to occupy various political heights, from a young Councilor to maturing leadership of various political formations and parties ranging from AG, UPN Justice Forum, PFN, UNCP, SDP, AD, AC, ACN and now with the crowning crescent of the Chairman of the Advisory Council on Governance in his ancestral soil of the state of Lagos under the aegis of the APC.

He was a member of the House Representatives in the Second Republic, Commissioner in military times and a leading voice in the dark days of Abacha, maneuvering in dangerous places with Dr. Wahab Dosunmu, Prince Ademola Adeniji Adele, Chief Dapo Sarumi and many other democratic stalwarts who insisted on the primacy of Abiola’s mandate.

Despite his varied contributions to his home state, his nation, his early days in Olowogbowo and Isaleko, it is as an oral historian of Lagosian provenance that Prince Olusi, in my opinion, excelled to an undisputed supremacy still unmatched by anyone living or dead.

I knew him as a child, sitting at his feet in Iga Olusi as he recounted different episodes of Lagos history with gripping gusto, painting the stories in vivid pictorial narratives, lacing the trajectories of a long-forgotten past even with songs, with gripping anecdotes for endless hours.

Its narrative force, the majesty of its historical oral tradition is enormously enchanting, genuinely effortless in cadence and elaborate in the gradation of events that the listener can endure for hours of its mastery of folkloric excellence, unable to leave the storyteller who himself exuded and triumphed in that vivid narrative glow as he engraved on the younger generations a complete immersion in the ancient traditions that defined us all.

At 90, the humble Prince remains towering in truth and honor, in selflessness and philanthropic totality, holding out his hands with kindness in unflagging respect. He always looks far beyond himself, far beyond his immediate farm, indifferent to the narrow acquisition of wealth, ultimately satisfied with what the good Lord has granted him.

Like the restless Tennysonian Ulysses, Prince Olusi has now reached a height that no one can contest or erode. He had gone through the dark passages and the bright days, determined like Ulysses to “strive to seek, to find and never to give in”.

His fame is assured. His work, although complete, nevertheless continues to be constantly updated.

It is an honor to have benefited from its almost limitless expanses of folkloric riches, broadening one’s horizon with ancient tales, broadening one’s vision on a glorious beginning, now almost faded without the enlightening excellence of Olusi’s undying eminence of awe-inspiring narrative potency.

Omo Ajibike Omo Ajibise
Mogun Oba
Mogun Awurin
Ara Ibinni
Arokun Tayo
Omo Ado keme
Omo Alapa jagbo
Omo Ologunkutere esa logun mo atose mase, Ato seka se suru
Omo Atọrọ gbogbo
lọwọ Ọlọrun layi kanju
Omo Olusi Ogbolu
Omo Afinju Oba tinle Tiro Ataa.

*Prince Uthman Ademilade Shodipe-Dosunmu, the Oloriekun of Olowogbowo and Apesinola of Eyọ Ọba Alakẹtẹ Pupa, Laba Ẹkun is a blood cousin of Prince Olusi through Oba Ologunkutere Asalogun.