Majekodunmi: A name that turned tragedy into legacy, and legacy into duty

My plea to the entire Majekodunmi family is that the gravity of our mourning should be mitigated and the depth of our collective sense of irreparable loss should also be assuaged by a peep into history.

Some years ago when I was researching the history of the Egbas, of which the Majekodunmi family is a formidable pillar, I came across the following:

“Based on Egba oral history and the book ‘The Egba and Their Neighbours 1842-1872’, the Majekodunmi family of Abeokuta descends from Ogundele, a son of Ogundipe. After a tragedy involving the death of a child, Ogundele took the name “Majekodunmi” – Ma je ki odun mi (“Let my year not be spoilt/let sorrow not ruin my year”.)

That is why you’ll see both “Ogundele” and “Majekodunmi” in 19th-century Egba records referring to the same lineage. Ogundele, son of Ogundipe, later called Majekodunmi after the death of his child, is the ancestor of the Majekodunmi house. ‘Majekodunmi” is the oruko amutorunwa/oruko isele – a name taken after an event, not the birth name.”

The event to which reference is being made involved either Femi’s grandfather (J.B. Majekodunmi) or his grandfather who had hired someone to teach his favourite son how to ride a horse. Unfortunately, the child fell off the horse and died. The whole of Abeokuta trooped to the house of the bereaved father. To their astonishment, the father bore his grief with calm dignity and promptly resumed his business with fierce determination. He bluntly refused to succumb to pathos or despair. Thereafter, “Majekodunmi” became both his sobriquet and name.

Also, in 1955, when Chief J.B. Majekodunmi (Femi’s grandfather) died, my dad (Chief J.K. Randle), my cousin Adeyinka Majekodunmi and I drove from Lagos to Abeokuta to attend the funeral. It was Femi’s dad, Chief (Dr) Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi, who invited my dad. It was a really grand affair. At the end of the funeral, Chief (Dr) Majekodunmi summoned the family members to the inner sanctum of the family house at Ikereku. That was seventy-one years ago when tape recorders had just surfaced in Nigeria. Anyway, Dr Majekodunmi had persuaded his father to record a message on his deathbed to be released after his death.

Without any prior warning, Dr Majekodunmi pressed the button, and what followed was the authentic voice (in thick Egba dialect) of the departed patriarch of the family. He pleaded for peace and unity amongst all his children. There must be no litigation or squabbles over his vast estate. Technology had berthed on our shores and landed in Abeokuta.

The audience took to their heels and fled in various directions. The whole of Abeokuta was in panic. It was pandemonium everywhere.

Word quickly spread that the departed Chief J.B. Majekodunmi had risen from the dead and had spoken to his family.

Something else I recall from the funeral was a photograph of Chief (Dr) Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi resplendent in his “aso ebi” in the midst of his closest friends – Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief F.R.A. Williams and Chief J.K. Randle. Those who are familiar with Nigeria’s turbulent history would no doubt appreciate the irony and significance of that poignant photograph. Following the turmoil in the Western Region of Nigeria, Chief (Dr) Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi was appointed by the Prime Minister Alhaji (Sir) Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as the Sole Administrator of the Western Region. His first task on resuming in Ibadan was to sign the detention order which confined Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the erstwhile Premier of the Western Region, to the then-remote (and mosquito-infested) Lekki Peninsula and later to Calabar. Chief F.R.A. Williams resigned as the minister of justice and attorney-general of the Western Region to set up his law chambers in Lagos. Chief J.K. Randle had died in 1956 at the age of 47 years.

Last year, I handed over a photograph of Chief (Dr) Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi, sole administrator of the Western Region, worshipping at a church in Oke Padre, Ibadan. Standing at attention was Captain Murtala Muhammed, who was the aide-de-camp to the sole administrator.

You do not need to be a historian to remember that Murtala Muhammed rose to the rank of general and became the head of state of Nigeria on July 29, 1975. He was assassinated on Friday 13th February 1976.

At the risk of telling you what most, if not all of you know already – Femi wanted most for his father, who was a titan in the medical profession, to be proud of him. It is self-evident that Femi has not only met his father’s expectations but also exceeded them. He surpassed them by miles.

Here is the testimonial to these superlative achievements:

Arc (Chief) Olufemi Adetokunbo Majekodunmi, FNIA; ARIBA (1940-2026)

(i) Personal background

Olufemi was born in London, England, on 1st May 1940, to Moses Majekodunmi and Tomi Agbebi. He grew up in Nigeria and attended St Gregory’s College, Lagos. He later returned to the United Kingdom to study architecture at the Glasgow School of Art and Kingston College of Art (now Kingston University) and graduated in 1966.

Being a tribute to Arc (Chief) Olufemi Majekodunmi!