Oba

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Musendiku Buraimoh Adeniji Adele II, KBE (13 November 1893 – 12 July 1964) was the Oba (King) of Lagos from 1 October 1949 to 12 July 1964.

Life

Adele was born in Lagos in 1893 to Buraimoh Adele and Moriamo Lalugbi. His grandfather was Oba

Adele Ajosun Oba Adele or Adele Ajosun (died 1837) reigned twice as Oba of Lagos; first, from c1811 to 1821, and a second time from 1835 to 1837. His father was Oba Ologun Kutere and his siblings were Obas Osinlokun and Akitoye, thus the Ologun Kutere line h ...

. He studied at Holy Trinity Primary School, Ebutte-Ero and then at

CMS Grammar School, Lagos The CMS Grammar School in Bariga, a suburb of Lagos in Lagos State, is the oldest secondary school in Nigeria, founded on 6 June 1859 by the Church Missionary Society. For decades it was the main source of African clergymen and administrators in ...

. After his secondary education, he joined the colonial service as a trainee surveyor, after completing his training, he was posted to

Kano Kano may refer to: Places *Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria * Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State **Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries **Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between ...

as a surveyor. He served as a land surveyor with the Cameroon Expeditionary Force during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. In 1920, Prince Adeniji Adele escorted Chief Amodu Tijani Oluwa to London to appear before the

privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

in the Oluwa Land Case, which the chief ultimately won. Adele later worked with the treasury department and became a chief clerk in 1937. He was awarded the titles of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1956) and Knight of the Order of the British Empire (1962) by the

Queen of the United Kingdom The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...

Politics and legal challenge

Oba Adele II was a supporter of the Nigerian Youth Movement and a member of Egbe Omo Oduduwa led by Obafemi Awolowo. His political affiliation was therefore in opposition to the ruling NCNC/ NNDP (whose political bedrock was the House of Docemo) founded by

Herbert Macaulay Olayinka Herbert Samuel Heelas Badmus Macaulay (14 November 1864 – 7 May 1946) was a Nigerian nationalist, politician, surveyor, engineer, architect, journalist, and musician and is considered by many Nigerians as the founder of Niger ...

and later led by

Nnamdi Azikiwe Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, (16 November 1904 – 11 May 1996), usually referred to as "Zik", was a Nigerian statesman and political leader who served as the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966. Considered a driving force behind the n ...

. NNDP was opposed to Oba Adele's ascension, him not being descended from

Dosunmu Dosunmu (c. 1823 – 1885), referred to in British documents as Docemo, reigned as Oba of Lagos from 1853, when he succeeded his father Oba Akitoye, until his own death in 1885. He was forced to run away to Britain under the threat of force in A ...

, and filed legal challenges to thwart his coronation. Oba Adele's right to the throne was finally sustained by the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Aug ...

in England in 1957.

References

People from Lagos Nigerian Muslims 1893 births 1964 deaths Obas of Lagos Nigerian recipients of British titles Nigerian knights Nigerian royalty 20th-century Nigerian people History of Lagos Yoruba kings Burials in Lagos State Nigerian Ahmadis 19th-century Nigerian people Muslim monarchs People of colonial Nigeria Ologun-Kutere family CMS Grammar School, Lagos alumni {{Africa-royal-stub