Engagements with Chidi Amuta
As we trickled into Yemi Ogunbiyi’s cosy bungalow in the Staff Quarters at Ife, we were greeted by pulsating calypso tunes playing from a real stereo equipment. The trending hit songs of Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow were softly booming in the background. A rich whiff of good food and rare fine wines added to the spirit of momentary opulence and release from academic Alcatraz. At the bar, there was a wide choice of fine cognac and champagne. Yemi’s habitual sense of welcoming friendship was everywhere in evidence.
The atmosphere defied the austere and often suffocating spartan modesty of a typical academic environment. But Yemi was a free spirit. Free always to mingle town and gown without missing the essence of his cardinal mission as a scholar. His extensive linkages with contacts and friends in high places outside the campus meant that he was constantly receiving external friends at his residence on campus.
On this particular evening, Yemi had invited like-minded colleagues to his home in honour of two sets of guests. A good friend of his called , I believe, Yemi Adefulu had been appointed a commissioner in Ogun state under the military. In addition, he was receiving the late Dele Giwa and a select group of the Lagos media high priesthood to grace the occasion. Stanley Macebuh was in attendance, So was, I believe, Eddie Iroh and the Newswatch collective. The atmosphere was electric and the company lively. Fine cognac and Cuban cigars were freely on offer.
For those of us literally jailed in the secluded intellectual aloofness of campus life, occasions such as this were a refreshing rarity, an escape to exhale from the boring embrace of ideas. Occasions like this only served to remind us that there was indeed another life outside. Very few of us knew much about that other life.
In the monastic contentment of university campus life, the prospect of meeting and mixing with opinion leaders from the world of high journalism was a refreshing departure from the humdrum of academia. Ife was even more of a cocoon of eggheads in the 1980s. Lagos was the abode of the new military rulers and the hotbed of high journalism, recently infiltrated by the intellectual and literary stars. The new journalism was pioneered by the likes of Stanley Macebuh, Patrick Dele Cole, Dele Giwa, Doyin Abiola and a few others. Yet because the university at Ife had been founded on a template of free flow of ideas and cross influences between town and gown, there was a generous infusion of ‘scholars of the world’ among the younger breed of lecturers.
Besides our star guests, Dele Giwa, Stanley Macebuh and the glittering media cast from Lagos, the real stars of this unusual evening on campus were Yemi Ogunbiyi and his bubbly amiable wife ‘Sade. Yemi was his usual self, ever friendly and cheerful to us all. He had on this one evening brought to our campus staff quarters a spark of life to animate our humdrum life of research, seminars, lectures, useless arguments about intangible and mostly irrelevant things, arguments with thousands of people, mostly dead, at Oduduwas library.
‘Sade was a natural hostess. Bubbly and infinitely cheerful, she was all over the place exuding good breeding and a sophisticated sense of hospitality. Her friendship was spontaneous. She danced towards every guest to take your food orders. ‘Sade was alive to our every need. Her expansive friendship was a natural complement to Yemi’s instinctively boisterous sense of life. She danced around the living room, making sure we were all being taken care of and were all taking in the air of life lived and celebrated. We literally danced away the evening!
For the 45 odd years that I have known the Ogunbiyis as close family friends from our Ife days, ‘Sade has remain essentially unchanged. Ever friendly, mature and a habitual problem solver. As an Assistant Registrar at Ife, many ex -students recall taking recourse to her to resolve their routine issues with the university administration because she had a listening ear and a caring heart. This instinctive maturity and friendliness was carried over to her tenure as Human Resources manager at NAL Merchant Bank in Lagos. What made her stand out in these human relations roles is her natural friendliness and natural gift of compassion.
Active in both professional life, religious activities and traditional/cultural life, Sade has remained active in diverse roles. In the process, she has been recognized and variously rewarded with leadership roles in various women’s organizations and has worked in these roles to influence positive change. She is active in church societies, community work in Ipara-Remo Ogun state and Lagos. She is also an avid golfer to keep fit and active.
‘Sade comes from a very illustrious background. She is a prime daughter of the Osiberu family of Shagamu, Ogun State. In addition to her traditional titles in Remo-land, ‘Sade has been conferred with many other traditional titles by various communities in the country. These include: The Yeye-Oba of Ipara-Remo, Yeye Looyin of Ile-Ife, and Yeye Meso of Ijebu Ife.
In recognition of her royal heritage, leadership qualities and outstanding character, she was Installed as the Iyalode of Remo-land in 2016 as the virtual successor to the late Mrs. H.I.D Awolowo. She has in this capacity continued to play a key leadership role in different apex women’s organizations in Remo and beyond with the aim of mobilizing and empowering women through micro credit schemes aimed at supporting women to be economically independent.
Easily one of Sade’s major triumphs in life is her stable marriage to my friend and brother, Yemi Ogunbiyi. On account of Yemi’s natural restlessness and boundless energy as a person, being married to him for a life time must be quite a task. It is to the credit of Sade’s moderating calmness and friendship that she has remained not only Yemi’s stabilizer but also best friend and ‘manager’.
In a sense, ‘Sade has remained an unflinching ally and most reliable life partner. Even in managing this boundless vortex of human energy, ‘Sade has remained calm, resolute, unshaken and unmoved. The result is an unusually calm and stable family life. To both Yemi and all the children, the atmosphere that Sade has created at the home of the Ogunbiyis is that of a friend, not that of a howling matron.
In the process of carrying on her maternal duties, ‘Sade dutifully travels around the world to wherever duty calls her as a grand mother to oversee her daughters -in -law in the business of raising young children. This is a role that she undertakes with instinctive eagerness.
Not one to be indifferent when friends are in distress, Sade is always on hand when a friend is challenged. I recall her personal interventions in my personal health and family challenges. She remains a rock of a friend but always fair in her judgment and counsel.
Therefore, as she celebrates this enviable milestone, I join family and friends to celebrate this rare person and icon of womanhood. Happy birthday Iyalode. We love you.
