ADIEU! THE SPEECHIFIER
An elegy written in honour of Late Senator Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi

By Olaoluwa Omotayo P.

The whopper slept like a mountain, the tree fell!
The rat died and its treaded path closes up
The bird flee and the nest becomes empty
Behold, the succulent game has vanished!
On the 25th day of June, the year 2020

Abiola took his last breath to our shock
After his last breath, behold!
A great uproar pervaded the city
A great noise imbued the rural settlements
The ancient city of Oluyole has lost a gem

The corridor of power is perturbed
Now listen, you, as the inner sage admonishes:
On a particular day, we would be sipping honey
On a particular day, we would be munching delicacy
On a particular day we would sleep not to wake

When a yam roaster would lose the magnitude of his
Kindled fire to ashes
When the cock would crow at the demise of man
The thumb would be embalmed with cotton wool
Both the mouth and eyes would be covered with small

White pieces of cloth
The person who loved one would mourn
The person that detested one would gossip
Termites would devour the head, ants would gobble the back
The hip that was once clad with beads, the earth would Ingest…

A word is enough for the wise
Akanji, eat neither centipede nor earthworm
Isiaq, any food that is edible in heaven
Eat with the denizens there
Oh, I even forgot, 30
Since the great leader did not eat centipede on earth
What will he do with the earthworm beyond?
Ajimobi, you lived a fulfilled life
Akanji, you left behind a great legacy
The great son of Ibadan, the home of Oluyole

The offspring of the one who eats snail and uses its shell to drink pap
The offspring of the one who has the rattle
Do not sound it now, the war is yet to rage
Akanji, despite your demise
Your achievements cannot be eroded

Your good deeds have become history
The craftmaster has produced the ornament
Critique! You living Crit and Canary
You aren’t immuned, it’s an inevitable passage

In this Nigeria, every Dead man is a good person.
But no matter what you to try to paint to us, we know the impression he left in our mind.