By Itafa Olayemi Olaboye

The copyright to this title belongs to Dr Festus Adedayo who is the author to the book *Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala legend*. Oloburo is a metaphor for the legendary Apala meastro, late Alhaji Waidi Ayinla Yusuf Anigilaje Gbogbolowo (popularly known as Ayinla Omowura 1933 - 1980). Oloburo is a songbird which has the loudest cries in the bush that belies its smallish size. Yoruba has a maxim for the bird *Igbe ki ke Oloburo ko jo ti Eiyekeye ninu igbo* (the cries of Oloburo is distinct from other birds in the bush). So was Ayinla Omowura's song which has no equal in the Apala genre. Omowura's reign on the musical throne lasted just 10.years but 42 years after his death, his music still pervades the airwaves. How did Oloburo meet his death. Omowura himself asked another great musician - Yusuf Olatunji (Baba l'Egba) this question post-humously two years earlier when the latter died in 1978. So how did Ayinla Omowura meet his death?

To fully interrogate Omowura's death, we need to know who was Fatai Baiyewumi on whose neck the death of Ayinla Omowura hung. Baiyewumi and Omowura had been friends in their younger days before the latter rose to stardom. Then, Baiyewumi who read up to standard 5 education was working as an insurance agent with African Alliance Insurance Company in Abeokuta. He had collected premiums from clients but failed to remit same into the insurance company coffers. When the fraud was discovered, Baiyewumi fled to the northern part of Nigeria to evade arrest. Sometime in 1974, Ayinla Omowura who had become a star in the music industry went to play in Maiduguri, Kaduna and Jos. He met his old friend, Baiyewumi on this tour and Ayinla, in dire need of an educated person requested his friend to join his band. Baiyewumi expressed the fear of being arrested if he showed up in Abeokuta to Omowura. The latter assured him of his safety and promised to offset the amount involved to the insurance company. Baiyewumi returned with the band to Abeokuta and Ayinla Omowura fulfilled his promise. Baiyewumi became the Band Manager of the Ayinla Omowura Apala Group. It was a symbiotic relationship (or so it seemed).

Apparently, Baiyewumi had been cutting corners with the booking fees collected capitalizing on Omowura's illiteracy. He would collect multiple bookings for a single date but remit only one to the group's coffers. This had let to many embarrassing moments for the band and arrests of Ayinla Omowura as the band leader by disappointed fans. The friendship wall between Ayinla and Baiyewumi started cracking from this point.

Prior to this time, Baiyewumi was the man-friday of Omowura. There was nothing the latter did that Baiyewumi didn't know about including spiritual fortifications. But from the beginning of 1980, Ayinla Omowura kept mouthing the possibility of Baiyewumi being his killer. His usual line laced in his Egba dialect was 'Baiyewumi! Fatai! Iwo rè Júdàsì, èmi rè Jésù, iwo re ma pa mi' (Fatai Baiyewumi, you're the Judas, I'm Jesus, you would be the one to kill me). Omowura was repeating these words at every instance he encountered Baiyewumi that the latter begun to avoid his presence.

Matter reached its peak around April 1980 when Baiyewumi stopped coming to work due to a domestic accident which resulted in a broken ankle. Omowura wasn't aware of this accident and never cared to find out why his manager wasn't coming to work for days. He concluded Baiyewumi had quit the band but he must return the band's property in his care. Few months before this time, following Baiyewumi's protests to Ayinla to buy him a car (by this time EMI the recording label of the band had bought Ayinla Omowura 2 Mercedes Benz 230 cars among other vehicles gifted the musician), Ayinla instead bought his manager a Honda CD motorcycle. This motorcycle was the band's property Ayinla insisted Baiyewumi must return.

Ayinla sent emissaries to Baiyewumi to return the Honda motorcycle but the band manager refused and went to hide the motorcycle somewhere.

On Tuesday, April 29, 1980, Ayinla reported a case of theft of Honda CD motorcycle against Baiyewumi at the Ago'ka police station in Abeokuta. Sergeant Temitayo Oyebanjo was assigned to investigate the case. The police officer visited Baiyewumi's house in Ita Are area of Abeokuta but couldn't effect his arrest as he had fled home. A repeat visit on April 30 and May 2 didn't yield results either. The battle line was drawn, Ayinla set up a manhunt for Baiyewumi in the entire Rock City of Abeokuta.

On Monday, May 5, 1980, Ayinla Omowura had a live show at the house-warming event of Chief Bashiru Inufele (the president of Ayinla Omowura fans club) at Kuto area of Abeokuta. At the show, Ayinla put up his usual showmanship and didn't show any sign of imminent departure from stage forever. It was an all night show and he returned home very early after the show, for he had another one later in the day where he was billed to play at the burial event at Ijeja area of Abeokuta. The celebrant, Zoro who was burying his mother had to shift the event by a day to allow Ayinla play for Inufele on the actual date of Zoro's mum's burial. Such was Ayinla Omowura's high demand.

At about 8am, on Tuesday, May 6, 1980, Omowura asked his driver to get ready his Peugeot 504 with registered number plate OG 9821 AB. He must have remembered an early morning appointment with someone. He only removed the agbada of the blue Wonyosi lace fabrics he wore to the Inufele show the previous night, leaving him with just the buba and sokoto, of course with the full ornamental accessories (necklace, bangles, rings etc) that's why he was known as Hadji Costly. In few minutes he came downstairs, hopped into the back seat of the car and directed his driver - Raufu Oloyede on the route to take. After keeping the initial early morning appointment (probably a tryst from the previous night show), Ayinla headed for the house of Tajudeen Komolafe one of his band boys and requested he followed him to meet a client who wanted to engage the band for a live show. Time was about 11 am. After meeting this client, Ayinla headed for the home of Ramota, one of his numerous wives to have his breakfast.

He was heading back to his Itoko home when one of his band boys waved his car down and informed him that Baiyewumi was seen drinking somewhere in Ago'ka area of Abeokuta. Ayinla ordered Oloyede to speed down to Ago'ka immediately. In few minutes they were within the vicinity of the beer parlour. Time was 12.30pm.

The beer parlour was a decrepit 8x8 rectangular structure located near a cluster of bamboo trees in Adedotun area of Ago'ka, Abeokuta operated by one Risikatu Adekola. Ayinla asked his driver to park the car few meters away from Adekola's beer parlour and stealthily walked towards the beer parlour. On getting there, he peeped through the curtains at the entrance and indeed confirmed that Fatai Baiyewumi was inside the place nursing his drinks. Ayinla beckoned on Oloyede, his driver, to go to the police station (same Ago'ka where the case was earlier reported) and bring policemen to arrest Baiyewumi.

By now, Baiyewumi had seen and heard Ayinla and the plan he had for his arrest. He stood up still carrying the mug containing his beer. The mug was the tortoise shell design type popular in the late 70s. Baiyewumi headed for the door in a bid to escape before the arrival of policemen Ayinla asked his driver to bring. Ayinla would not allow such to happen this time around. He held Baiyewumi's cloth by the neck tightly. Knowing the stuff Ayinla was made of when it comes to street fights, Baiyewumi quickly thought out a way to free himself from Omowura's grip. He splashed the remaining beer in the mug on Omowura's face but Ayinla refused to let go, he merely wiped his face with the edge of his buba lace material and held Baiyewumi even more tightly.

Sensing Omowura's resolve to hold him down for the policemen, Baiyewumi used his last joker; he smashed the empty mug on Omowura's left side of head. By reflex action, he let go of Baiyewumi's cloth and slumped at the entrance of Adekola's beer parlour. Pandemonium ensued and Baiyewumi made his escape.

Tajudeen Komolafe and Aliu Abiala (both band boys of Omowura) rushed to where Ayinla had slumped and vomited the whole meal he took about an hour earlier at his wife Ramota's place. His driver, Oloyede was yet to return from where he had gone to fetch policemen to arrest Baiyewumi. In his absence, a taxi was quickly hailed and Ayinla, still unconscious, was rushed to the Akin Olugbade Hospital in Lafenwa area of Abeokuta. On examination, doctors told the two band boys who brought Ayinla that the case cannot be managed in their facility they therefore referred him to the State Hospital Abeokuta. Time was 1pm.

By now, Oloyede had caught up with Abiala and Komolafe, and Ayinla had been transferred into his own Peugeot 504 as they sped towards the State Hospital in Ijaiye area of the same Abeokuta. There, the Chief Consultant Surgeon, Dr Akin Majekodunmi admitted Ayinla and put everything in place to commence a life-saving surgery. Sadly, it was too late. *Ayinla passed on few minutes after his admission.* He was 47 years old. Dr Majekodunmi advised both Komolafe and Abiala to make a formal report at the police station which was done immediately.

On Wednesday, May 7 1980, Omowura's body was identified by his cousin, Akin Soderu, to Dr Majekodunmi who carried out a post-mortem on Omowura's corpse, the result shows that the glass mug Baiyewumi smashed on Omowura's head ' " *caused a comminuted depressed fracture of about 2 ins. x 1¹↓⁴ ins. in the left temporal region which was associated with a large intercranial haemorrhage of the brain."* The cause of death according to Dr Majekodunmi was *Cerebral Shock.*

Omowura's corpse was released to the family and he was buried in front of his one-storey building Itoko home that same day, May 7, 1980.

🎼🎼Aaah omi nbo
L'oju anybody lojo yen. Omowuramo to d'arale
Baba Kubure to rele ogbo🎼🎼

Expectedly, Omowura's fans went berserk and combed every corner of Abeokuta looking for not just Baiyewumi alone but all perceived enemies of Ayinla Omowura destroying any structure linked to such person. Baiyewumi's rented room and parlour as well as his mother's house were razed by the irate mob.

By 6pm on May 7, 1980 while the pandemonium was still raging in Abeokuta, Mushin and Agege (which were Omowura's major fans bases), the police received a tip-off that the culprit, Baiyewumi was hiding somewhere. Assistant Superintendent of Police Tiamiyu led a team of police detectives which included Corporal Babatunde Akan, the Investigating Police Officer with service number 23484, to Olukosi compound in Gbagura Quarters of Abeokuta where Baiyewumi was found locked up in a room in the house of one Yunusa Sani, his maternal relation. He was promptly arrested.

On May 8, 1980, the police took Baiyewumi to the _locus delicti_ (scene of the crime) which was Risikatu Adekola's beer parlour but the team couldn't retrieve the weapon of murder - the tortoise shell design mug.

Fatai Baiyewumi was charged for the murder of Ayinla Omowura before Justice Kolawole J. of the Ogun State High Court in the suit *The State v Baiyewumi.* The case lasted about 5 months and judgement was eventually delivered on Tuesday, September 30, 1980. The judge found Fatai Baiyewumi guilty of the murder of Alhaji Ayinla Omowura on May 6, 1980 at Ago'ka Abeokuta and convicted him of the offence accordingly. *He was sentenced to death by hanging.* The sentence was carried out as ordered at the Abeokuta prison's gallows.

Additional Source: Ayinla Omowura: The live and times of an Apala legend (by Festus Adedayo).

Eeyah

He was a maestro but shouldn't have handled Baiyewu by himself after all two band boys were with him

RIP