Why I want to be Alaafin- US-based surgeon

Dr Ajibade Adebayo Adeladan is a US-based Psychiatrist and Neurologist. He is one of the candidates aiming to become the next Alaafin of Oyo. In this interview with Newspeakonline, Adeladan explains why he wants to become Alaafin and  his plans for Oyo town. Excerpts

 What can you tell us about yourself?

My name is Prince (Dr.) Ajibade Adebayo Adeladan of Ilaka Lawuwo Compound, Oyo. And I was born into the royal family of the Agunloye dynasty in Oyo on January 4, 1961, to my parents, Prince Samuel Ademola Adeladan, the Mogaji and the current head of the Agunloye Ruling House and Mrs. Rachael Folorunsho Adeladan. I attended Nazareth Convent at Ibonwon in Epe for both my nursery and primary School.

I later attended Olivet Baptist High School, Olivet Height, Oyo, for my secondary school where I later graduated with flying colours as a science student from 1973 to 1977. After my secondary schooling at Olivet Height, I attended the Federal Government College, Ijanikin  in Lagos State for my Higher Certificate Education (HSC) from 1977 to 1979 where I studied Physics, Chemistry and Biology. I graduated with the best results from the Federal Government College. I attended the University of Ibadan where I studied Medicine and did my clinical at the University Teaching Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. I graduated as a medical doctor where I later proceeded to do my housemanship at Adeoyo Hospital in Ibadan from 1984 to 1985. I served as a Youth Corps Medical Doctor at Kukawa Community Hospital, in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State from 1985-1986, where I was the only medical doctor in that local government at the time.

I later worked at various hospitals in Lagos, private hospitals like Ajayi memorial hospital and Alalade memorial hospital, helping to save lives and improve the health and well-being of many different people from all walks of life. I also attended the Lagos Teaching Hospital where I specialised in surgery and then became a Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons (FWACS) in 1995, within a record time. In search of knowledge and in a quest to offer and provide the best medical service to humankind, I left the shores of Nigeria.

I worked as a surgeon in several Caribbean nations, Including Jamaica, The Turks and Caicos Islands, British Virgin Islands and finally at the United States Virgin Islands. After acquiring much knowledge in my profession, I decided to move to the United States, where I did a specialist training in Psychiatry at the Ivy League Colombia University in Manhattan, New York City. I was appointed Chief Resident at this institution. Few years later, I became certified in Psychiatry and Neurology in April, 2009. I also became board certified in Addiction Medicine In 2012. In the USA, I have worked in different states and medical facilities, including New York, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado and the state of California. Despite my travels of the world, I still visit home periodically making consultations and helping people medically and providing health care for many indigent people in Oyo and in Nigeria at large. I never for once forgot my roots, where I came from and who I am. I keep up to date with the situation at home in Oyo.

Why did you  join the race late?

Not that I am coming so late. Even though I work in the United State, I have actually been coming to Oyo, virtually every year. Late king passed on in April 2022 and shortly after he passed, we began to talk about all of these.

I have participated in the process, including taking my name to the relevant people, the Babayaji in Oyo town. We were about 89. Actually we were initially about 119 candidates, then it dropped to 89.  Then, 65 of us were interviewed. The kingmakers are aware of my candidacy.

 You said you slowed down the process in the course of your discussion, now you are igniting your process, why?

Yes! At the time we initially started, you know we had to do interviews, I had to do an interview with just an individual from the Tribune but we were being advised because of what was going on at that time. There were still bone of contention. People coming out, saying they are this when they are not. They said, well everybody should calm down, that we should hold on and do what we need to do but Oyomesi have interviewed all of us. But there are people who wanted to take the government to court, who wanted to take the Oyomesi to court and which they actually did and some of them are still in court, that they were not allowed to be interviewed and they also belong to the royal family. The general elections were coming on that  time and other things. The government will not even have time to look into that and Ogbomoso also are having their issues. Iseyin,  also lost their monarch then. So there were many things taking the time of the government. So, it was generally advised that we should slow down at that time.

 Why do you want to return to Nigeria at this time that many young people are japaing?  With your beautiful career, why do you want to come back to Nigeria? Why do you want to come back to Oyo?

You will not be the first person to ask me that question, even in the United States, even my co-workers, they ask me every now and then. Just before I came, they asked me, why do you want to leave California for Nigeria. But I always tell them, Nigeria is the biggest economy in the whole of Africa and there are many opportunities in Nigeria and also, there are many people I think, I can be of help to, in Nigeria. With all my experience, with how  I have seen how things are done, even though I have been on the medical field, I am very much interested about Agriculture. Why? Because I worked in Nebraska. Nebraska is an agricultural state. I have interacted with farmers, I interacted with ranchers and I come to Nigeria, those things are not there, those things are not readily available, farms are small. In Nebraska, you are driving like 100 miles, you see corns, maize, wheat for more than 100 miles.

So, I said to myself, we can do all these too in Nigeria. We may not be able to build planes, build rockets or submarines but we can at least do all those things. We should be able to generate electricity, we should be able to have agriculture, especially in Nigeria. We should be able to take care of all of them. And now came the opportunity, biologically, I belong to the royal family and it is now the turn of our ruling house and I see myself as eminently qualified to do it and my family are also in support of that. So I said well, I think, I can do this and my interest has been growing since then.

Now, I am more confident that it’s something I ought do to be of help to people. If you are in the western world and you are comfortable, it’s okay. But if you come back to your own place, with the experience that you have and the idea that you have, you can begin to do things differently, you can begin to do things that will be of benefit to your people when you are back here. I always tell people, I have been to the Caribbean for instance, these are very small countries. Jamaica, you know the population is probably 5 million, the most popular country there  is Cuba, about 10 million. Lagos alone is about 20 million and in all these small countries, they have everything. There is water supply, electricity is 24 hours, they have all these things and yet we have about 250 million people, we can not take care of things. I feel that with all those experiences I have had, if I come to a place like this, I should be able to be of help, I should be able to contribute my own quota. And I think that being an Alaafin, it is going to be an Alaafin that is experienced and it is going to be of huge benefit, not only to the people of Oyo but to the people of Oyo State, South West and Nigeria as a whole.

Is your family still based in the USA?

Yes! They are based in the United State.

 Are they thinking of coming back to Nigeria with you?

Well, not now because I have a 12-year-old son and he is going to be schooling there for sometime. He is going to be coming to Oyo as frequently as possible. Everybody is going to be here.

 You were talking about agriculture, have you started? Do you have land that you are already cultivating in Oyo?

No! But I have identified land. I have identified places where these things can be done. I would say, sometimes, when you get to a point like you want to retire, then you want to begin to think of other things you can do. For instance, the agriculture thing,  like I said, I have identified land in Oyo. If you look at places that are outside Oyo, leaving Oyo and going to other cities, there are a lot of plans that one can bring in and those contacts of farmers that I collected in Nebraska and even in California that I am now.

 Have you started doing anything on Agriculture in Oyo?

No! We are on it. Remember my father is an agriculturist, we talked about that. We are coming up with plans. We have talked about that. Even things like palm oil and all that, we are already working on them. Only that we don’t have anything on groun. But we are already planning on things like palm oil, maize and other things, even coming down to the level of acres, how much can be produced per acre and all that.

 When you look at the medical sector, the capital flight, how do you intend to turn Oyo State into a medical tourist center? Secondly, Nigerians are migrating at record rate this time, you have experienced both worlds and you are a medical practitioner,  what do you think the government of Nigeria needs to do to stem the tide or do you think Nigeria should just allow all the skilled labour to just migrate?

On the long term plan, for instance at Oyo, Oyo is now a university town. There are three universities there. One of the universities, Ajayi Crowther University,  is well established. All of them are well established but I see that university as an institution that can have a medical school. Because when you have a medical school, you always have doctors. They may staff like 20 doctors every year and that will be very helpful to the community. There is no country in the world that has enough doctors but in Nigeria, there are doctors that will finish NYSC and they say they can not find a job. That tells you that there is something wrong with the system.

Because Israel has one doctor to 160 people and yet they say they don’t have enough. US have 50,000 shortfall of doctors. Right now, they need 50,000 doctors and there is no way that can be met because it will involve only medical schools and others. And to now say they quickly need 50,000 doctors, it is going to be a difficult thing. That is why they always attract doctors from all over the world, because people are retiring. So many doctors are retiring in their thousand every year and they need to replace all of those.

So, one of the things I want to do that I will be looking at on a long term is medical  school. I will facilitate a medical school to Oyo. On a short term, as long as the economy of Nigeria is how it is now, they would find doctors that would also want to leave and again, there are no positions for them. There are not enough positions for them. One of the things that we do in this country is like, when you finish your specialist training,  you are not allowed to work as a consultant until you pass certain exams, but in the US for instance, once you go through with the five-year programme, it is more of training. For example, if you are in surgery everyday you go there, you assist and do surgery and in five-years you have all the experience and then you are a consultant.

 You can go to rural hospital and begin to work as a consultant and write your exams and become board certified. But here you have to pass all the exams and all that before you can work as a consultant. So there is going to be  shortfall of doctors. They won’t have enough specialist that way.  For instance, if somebody has the experience, you have done all the necessary things, you  can go to rural area, you have done the five years, then you can work there, and do everything doctors are doing at the medical school. But they will say because you have not pass the exams, therefore, you cannot work as a consultant. That is the problem and the economy too does not allow doctors to have positions as they should. Even in UCH, I think they have about a thousand beds for a city of Ibadan.

Whereas there should be probably about 20 of it in this city. So, they won’t be talking that doctors are done with NYSC and they did not have jobs. We don’t have enough hospitals in Nigeria. I think the government is not helping that sector enough as they should.

For now we have Primary Health Centers in Oyo State or all over Nigeria and there are many things that can be done with those Primary Health Centers. I understand also they have healthcare insurance, which is a big thing, which every community should have. I understand in Oyo State they have the Oyo State Health Insurance Agency (OYSHIA) and people are paying certain amount of money every year like N13,500. I will like to encourage Oyo indigenes that are investors, that have not been wanting to come home, that are even in diaspora to come in to sponsor people. They can sponsor as many as they want, pay those fees for them,  in order to have access to healthcare. I personally intend to sponsor people as soon as possible. I have many Nigerians in the US that don’t know about this and if they knew about this,  they will  do something quickly. If they know that you can sponsor people, there are people that can sponsor 100, 200, 1000 people. If it is N13,500 every year, they can do that. So I’m going to be vocal among Nigerians in diaspora and I myself will want to sponsor people

 The late Alaafin left Oyo on a pedestal that is very high in terms of culture and tradition, do you have what it takes to fit into that shoes? Secondly, one of the things that are lacking in Yoruba land is unity, what is your advice for the traditional rulers?

Thank you so much for that question, starting with the second question, it is a big thing. I’ve been thinking about that actually. If you look at Oyo, there are some other smaller towns in Oyo like Awe, Fiditi, Ilora, Afijio– all these towns, settlement or areas are part of Oyo. You remember that Oyo empire extended from River Niger in the North to the Atlantic ocean in Lagos, that was the extent. So, even Oyo as it is now, the surrounding areas that are purely modern – Awe and all that, there have to be interactions. Alaafin as the head needs to be meeting with the heads of those places, they need to meet, they need to sit down and talk about how culture can be promoted, how the whole place can be developed. You know when development starts, the whole place will just be like a warm place, the land between Fiditi will be occupied, there will be factories and so you will not be able to tell if this is Oyo or is this Fiditi.

All of those things with time will all be one city, one city in terms of development. There has to be unity and this is why I am saying meeting with people, the heads of those places; letting people speak out their minds about what has been wrong, what has not been done well, what has been problematic in the past and what has been preventing people from coming to develop the place, who is standing against the development of those places. So we need to sit and talk about those things that are the unity part. There are some other facet that  we will be looking at  if we can be united in Oyo, then the whole of Oyo State can be united, then the whole of Yoruba land.

The first part of your question, there’s a lot to be said about that. Remember I mentioned when I was talking initially about Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi. He has peaked on culture and to a large extent that is to be continued. For example the promotion of Yoruba language is going to be paramount. It used to be, you have to pass English and Mathematics before going to the university in Nigeria. But I think Yoruba should be included for you to go to university in South West. You need to be able to speak Yoruba language very well, you need to have  a pass in Yoruba language. It’s going to  start from there. Now Oyo is full of traditions and there are people who try to bring modern religion into things, everybody should be able to do what they want.

Alaafin is the head of all–the Muslims, Christians and  Onisese (traditionalist). They are all under him, he should encourage traditional things, not religion. When you talk of religion there are Christians, Muslims that will stand up against such, as an Alaafin you must encourage in everything that needs to be done.  It doesn’t mean he has to participate in everything that people are doing but he should encourage the culture.

There are a lot of things that people are doing, cultural things that we don’t practice anymore, some are good and some are not good. Everywhere in the world, there used to be a time when people come out naked or are doing sacrifice  but they don’t do that anymore. There was a time when the king die some has to die with him, but they don’t do that anymore. There are other things you can encourage. For instance, children must respect their parents and all that, like the Omoluabi – all those things has to be encouraged and promoted.