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ABRAHAM ADESANYA

Late Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya, a Nigerian politician, lawyer, prodemocracy activist, welfarist, Awoist, was born on July 24, 1922 in Ijebu Igbo. He was a son of a powerful and famous traditional healer, late Pa Ezekiel Adesanya aka Baba Obu’kagbo who lived in the 20th century. Late Abraham Adesanya attended Ijebu Ode grammar School after which he briefly worked as a teacher before travelling to United Kingdom to study law at the then Holborn College of Law. In 1959, he returned to Nigeria having qualified as a lawyer and joined the action group led by late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The same year, he was nominated and eventually elected to the defunct Western House of Assembly to represent Ijebu Igbo constituency. Having qualified as one of the ambassadors of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s penchant for people’s welfare, this rather than his political prowess saw him securing another nomination (or selection as it was then under Chief Obafemi Awolowo) and later the real mandate to the second republic Senate which he was famously remarked to have preferred to the Governorship position that was originally slated for him by his party, the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). As a religious Awoist, he went through thick and thin with Chief Obafemi Awolowo including all the persecutions and imprisonment experienced by the late Sage. On one occasion, he led a team of lawyers that defended Chief Obafemi Awolowo in a case of Treasonable Felony preferred against him by the Federal Government of Nigeria. His position in this regard was to be further justified in what role he played in Nigerian politics till the rest of his life. Like many other world class leaders, Late Abraham Adesanya also suffered persecutions at his country home; he suffered persecutions for not accepting the governorship position which they deemed more beneficial to them than the senate. But history will find justification in the fact that rather than enforcing draconian laws as a governor, Adesanya was more interested in legislating friendly laws to his people and the generality of Nigerians, and so exactly he did. Adesanya was the deputy leader, National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), a prodemocracy movement formed in 1994 during the dark days of Abacha military regime to fight the military and rescue Nigeria and Nigerians from its wicked claws. Though Adesanya was second in command but he was more virulent to the military - more heard and more brutal. His leader, Chief Anthony Enahoro fled the country to Britain on exile. Tuesday, 14th of January, 1997, his uncompromising stance to the military misrule earned him an attempt on his life at the behest of the then head of state, late dictator General Sanni Abacha. On the faithful day, Adesanya had just left his law chambers, sitting at the back of his car when an unknown killer squad (later unveiled to be Sgt Rogers and others) struck. The front and back screens of his Mercedes Benz car were shattered from the rain of bullets but the man escaped unhurt with his driver. The same period saw Adesanya ascertain his position as a progressively minded politician and Yoruba leader by backing Nigerians in condemning the annulment of June 12 Presidential election of late Chief MKO Abiola, and calling for the convocation of a national conference, where new confederating terms would be determined for the Nigerian constituent regions. The fourth republic saw him engaged politically more than ever. He utilised all he had in his political arsenal to fill the gap created by the death of Chief Obafemi Awolowo as he assumed the position of leadership along with others like Chiefs Bola Ige (late), Ayo Adebanjo, Ayo Fasanmi, Ganiyu Dawodu (late) to ensure victory for their political party, Alliance for Democracy (AD). The result of which was to win them the five Yoruba states of the defunct Western region. Adesanya later became incapacitated by illness and remained confined to his Lagos Apapa residence where his role scaled down to offering advice only on important matters of the state. He died on the 27th of April 2008 while having lunch at the ripe age of 85.