Aiyedatiwa: Beyond the literal name interpretations

Add as a preferred source

People who are spiritually inclined readily remember the ‘good luck’ story of former President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan. His emergence as the substantive president of Nigeria after the death of his principal, former President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, gave enough fodder to this. Goodluck Jonathan’s subsequent election in 2011 further gave ample roots to the contention that good luck was indeed accompanying the man. This conclusion was reinforced when his political trajectory, which was not roiled in crushing odyssey, is tabled. Today, the meaning of Jonathan’s first name (Goodluck) and the circumstances of his rather smooth journey to the very pinnacle of Nigeria’s tumultuous political heights are replaying before our very eyes. The good luck story has come back to Nigerians’ memories and rekindled a nominal syllogism in Ondo State.

Yes, Ondo State comes to mind. In the last few days, the state has witnessed tremendous changes and realignments in the state’s political setup. There have also been diverse verbal and spiritual interpretations of the name: Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa by those who understand the Yoruba and English languages. The various presentations about the man Aiyedatiwa have the same conclusion: He has good fortune or, put differently, he has good luck. After all, his first name is Lucky. Among the lot who have brought everything about the emergence of Governor Aiyedatiwa as the new helmsman in the Sunshine State to his good fortune, some have even made jokes. They cited the story of Goodluck and Lucky along the line. One said: “If I’m contesting an election as president or a governor, I will not settle for a running mate whose name is Goodluck or Lucky.”

The selection of Mr Aiyedatiwa as the running mate after the late Governor Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu SAN, fell out with Mr Agboola Ajayi was fortuitous. That is the claim by many in the political and sundry arenas. There is no beguiling their conviction as there is an element of fortune in many things human. Even the late Governor Akeredolu, known more commonly as Aketi among his admirers, expressed the same sentiments about luck, good fortune, and loyalty at his inauguration for a second term of office three years ago.

Akeredolu pointedly declared that Aiyedatiwa is a man who has shown firm and constant support to him and the institutions he represented in the state as the governor. That, simply, is the definition of loyalty. Beyond this, Akeredolu also admitted that the man Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa was buoyed by the name of his father and the ones they called him at his christening. His first name is Lucky. Akeredolu acknowledged that the man is indeed bestowed with good luck to have risen to that level in the politics of the state. Agreed. Only the fortunate among the many eligible Ondo State citizens and politicians would be selected to contest as a running mate. This is sometimes regardless of political clout.

He also went mythological in his analysis of Orimisan, Governor Aiyedatiwa’s Yoruba name. Orimisan – Orí mi sàn literally means “my head is good”. “Good” here encompasses good fortune, good luck, and everything that has to do with these desirables. The concept of Ori in Yoruba is so deep and precious. The Ifa diviner will give suasion that Ori la o ba bo, ki a fi orisa si’lè. “Worship the head and let the orisa be.” Ori is way deeper than can be explained in English. It is the same thing with Chi in Igbo mythology. The Igbo believe that Chi is everything to a mortal. That which your Chi brings you is yours. Akeredolu knew the depth of Ori and said Ori in Orimisan was a credible component in the emergence of his deputy.

The late governor wrapped up his analysis of his deputy’s name with his surname: Aiyedatiwa. In simple terms, Aiye da tiwa means the earth/world has become ours. We have inherited the earth. The late governor, in his speech on that day, took the name as it is… That Aiye has become that of his lucky deputy. It is gratifying that Akeredolu left it at that and decided not to bring the concept of Aiye in Yoruba mythology into the discourse. Aiye, like the Igbo call Uwa, is deep, mysterious, and − of course − fearsome. This phenomenon is even among popular names in Igboland: Uwadiegwu.

However, as the 14th-century English poet and dramatist, James Shirley, famously put it, “There is no armour against fate; death lays his icy hands on kings.” The icy hands of death took Akeredolu during a protracted illness on Wednesday, December 27, 2023. In the evening of that day, Aiyedatiwa was sworn in as the substantive governor of Ondo State to replace him. He had been serving as acting governor since 13 December. Akeredolu went the way of all mortals and, like Shirley continued in ‘The Triumph of Death’ in which he describes death as “a leveler”:

Scepter and crown must tumble down,

And, in the dust, be equal made,

With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

All of us will soon drop our wreaths and eulogies and leave Oluwarotimi Akeredolu’s head to his fate in the cold tomb. We all, including unconcerned outsiders cum commentators; his immediate and political families, and the man all have come to see as the greatest beneficiary of the phenomenon, Aiyedatiwa, would move on. Aketi’s is fait accompli; he stooped to fate and has come to the cold tomb. The onus has crept in on Aiyedatiwa, but he is not a novice. And from his origins, he is not a coward and should not become one because the cold hands of death handed him the responsibility. He saw the game and played it with his late boss. He also knows the game and had been on it when Akeredolu was incapacitated. It’s Aiyedatiwa’s call now. He has the arena to prove how worthy or otherwise he is.

The politics of what would happen in next year’s governorship election in Ondo State isn’t the issue here. It’s far from it. Of course it was the issue when the state got to a dangerous precipice only recently. Aiyedatiwa must know that there was a governor also named Lucky. That Lucky didn’t do well for his people and it was reported that his wealthy and hugely influential father told a campaign rally for his shaky second-term bid, that “when a child fails a class, he should be made to repeat it.” He was actually lucky because he got a second term of office even after he had squandered the people’s goodwill of his first. In that state, they are now saying Edo no be Lagos. It is trite to tell anyone here that Ondo no be Edo. I think that should form part of the lessons for Aiyedatiwa.

Beyond Aiyedatiwa’s name and its metaphysical connotations, the people of Ondo State deserve a government they can relate with. There have been allegations in the cries that they didn’t have this in Akeredolu. The case of the state’s forests (known among the people as Reserve) is just one of the many which the people would want a closure on. It doesn’t seem that tension among the farmers in the ‘reserves’ has been doused. There have been talks about the relegation of the achievements of Mimiko in healthcare and education in the state. Regarding that, it sounded like the painful and regrettable slip from Akunyili to Adeyeye in NAFDAC. These are just a glimpse of the billowing mass clouding out of people’s reckoning the many things some insist Akeredolu did as governor.

In the overall, whether for or against, Ondo needs a rebirth. Aiyedatiwa must let the accolades and the name myth flow by as quickly as he can. He must rise to the occasion and look promptly into the cracks and crookedness in the political structure left by Aketi. He is a part of it, it’s his political home, and might need the shelter. There must be a deliberate design to not allow the state to relapse into those things for which many people were verbally lurid at the death of Governor Akeredolu.

Ondo State is known as the land of the valiant and must now rise from the ashes of the recent political shenanigans. Governor Aiyedatiwa, the ball is now in your court. Ga fili, ga doki…

READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE