The first Ibadan-born female colonel, Adenike Akerele (rtd) has expressed how shocked she was when she was robbed of her pension, seven hundred and fifty thousand naira (N750,000;00) by two armed men in broad daylight at Bodija area of Ibadan in 2020.
She gave the revelation while featuring on a podcast, ‘Mic Uncensored’ anchored by Hazeez Ayansola recently.
Col. Akerele disclosed that she was Ibadan on official assignment as Chairman of Ibadan Cultural Week in 2021 having been appointed by then President-General, Chief Yemi Soladoye. She added that she and other committee members have been reaching out to prominent Ibadan indigenes for their support for the success of the annual cultural festival and they have been responding.
Contrary to their assumption of the informants that donations are paying into my account, all the donations we received were paid into the CCII account and I am not a signatory to the account.
Colonel Akerele said that the robbed incident happened at Bodija after she had collected a sum of N750,000, from her pension paid by the Nigerian Army. She explained that her appointment by the CCII was at the time she retired from the Nigerian Army giving her the opportunity to accept the offer.
“They collected my N750,000 at Bodija, the money I wanted to use to do a supply job given to me by someone. They thought the money was part of donations for the cultural week. The two of them came on a bike, one stood very close and pointed a gun at me, the other one entered my car through the other door because I had already unlocked the car. I was confused because if something like this could happen in broad daylight, being robbed of a sum of N750,000 at gunpoint around 2pm. I called some people and the police, they swung into action but at the end of the day, nothing was recovered and I told the police to rest the case.”
Akerele appreciated late Governor Abiola Ajimobi for his intervention, ingenuity and love for Ibadan, saying that the late Ajimobi wanted to refund her when she mentioned the robbery incident in his presence at the venue of the cultural week.
She used the avenue to pray for the wife and the family the late Abiola Ajimobi left behind.
“I thanked the family of the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi, he was a complete and real Ibadan man, though he was blunt but a very good man. I talked about the robbery incident in his present during Ibadan Cultural Week, and he called me ‘sister mi’ because that’s how he used to call me, he took a picture with me on that day and promised to appreciate me in return for the money collected. He asked me to drive to follow his convoy but I told him time has gone, he promised to see me when he returned from Abuja because he said he was traveling the next day. But unfortunately, that next day was when his sickness was announced before he passed away. It was painful. May God continue to hold his wife and the family left behind.”
Speaking on why she stepped down as Chairman of Ibadan Cultural Week 2020, Akerele, who is the Iyalode Akinrogun of Ibadanland, disclosed that she needed to save her life and preserve her virtues.
She said that the appointment turned her to a ‘beggar’ because she needed to engage other prominent Ibadan indigenes to seek financial assistance for the success of the programme, emphasizing that she accepted the offer because of her passion for Ibadan.
“I was appointed as Chairman, Ibadan Cultural Week 2020/21, I was appointed by Chief Yemi Soladoye, then President General, though I have been informed earlier by late General Abdullahi Muraina of blessed memory, I used to call him my egbon because we were closed. When I came to Ibadan to meet him, he handed me a letter of appointment as Chairman, Ibadan Cultural Week, 2020/21, said I would go and pray over it, he said I should collect my letter first. So, I left without knowing that there is an issue underground and they didn’t tell me. I accepted and we started with other members of the committee, we had our meeting. I have been given the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes’s (CCII) account number because it is money that we are going to use to carry out the assignment. They turned me to a beggar then because with myself and other members with drum and all other things we would go and meet various prominent people to seek financial assistance for the success of Ibadan Cultural Week, and people are paying into the CCII account.
“At some points I would ask them to do some certain things but they would tell me to be patient and based on the training I have our patience does not reach that level. It got to a stage that I wanted to leave their assignment because I was fed up, but when I prayed that spirit told me not to fight with anybody, whatever I can do, whoever I can speak to I should go. So, with committee members, those babas were very good people, they don’t look at me as their daughter, we went to meet Chief Jubril Dotun Sanusi and explained the stage we were and we have drew our programmes that will bring money to the purse of CCII and we will use it to prepare for the main event. I told him that we have been making money but CCII is releasing funds for the preparations. The second part is the Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, he is a very lovely person, that is why I dedicated the award I received during Ibadan Week to him because he is someone I really love and appreciate, he loves Ibadan.
“So, Engineer Dotun wanted to give us money because he said he would not pay into the account we gave him, so he asked what we wanted and we showed him the list of our programmes, he wanted to give us cash but we did not want cash so we called printer and the person in charge of Aso-Oke and he paid them on the spot, I was so happy that I would not be embarrassed. I also called General Muraina; he also gave us money. That was how we started. They didn’t tell us what to do; I was just using my wisdom and the contributions from the elderly ones to move on. The one that made me happy most was that of the governor, with a lot of efforts from the late Baba Lere Adigun of blessed memory and Chief Bode Amao and the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism will see the governor. We have written letters, even I have sent text messages to him, and he would read but didn’t reply. He received us with joy and expressed his feelings and mentioned his contributions to Ibadanland. Within two weeks he fulfilled his promise, I was perplexed. I went to deposit the money into the CCII account because they gave us cash. the decision I was blamed for, they wanted me to bring the money to them. The kind of money I never received as a pension from the Nigerian Army.”
