Robert Adeyinka Adebayo (9 March 1928 – 8 March 2017) was a

Nigerian Army The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is governed by the Nigerian Army Council (NAC). The Chief of Army Staff is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Army. History Formation The Nigerian ...

major general who served as governor of the now defunct Western State of Nigeria, 1966–1971. He was also Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Army and was Commandant of the

Nigerian Defence Academy The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) is a military university based in Kaduna, Nigeria that trains officer cadets for commissioning into one of the three services of the Nigerian Armed Forces: the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. The duration of t ...

Early life

Adeyinka Adebayo was born in 1928, the son of a Public Works employee from Iyin Ekiti, near Ado Ekiti, (present day Ekiti State),

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. He was educated at All Saints School, Iyin-Ekiti, and later attended Eko Boys High School and

Christ's School Ado Ekiti Christ's School, Ado Ekiti is a day and boarding, government-owned secondary school located in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. Originally conceived as a boys school, it attained a co-educational status when, in 1966, it was merged with its girls ...

. He joined the

West African Frontier Force The West African Frontier Force (WAFF) was a multi-battalion field force, formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia. In 1928, it received royal recognition ...

in 1948 as a regiment

signaller A signaller, signalman, colloquially referred to as a radioman or signaleer in the armed forces is a specialist soldier, sailor or airman responsible for military communications. Signallers, a.k.a. Combat Signallers or signalmen or women, are ...

and later completed the

Officer Cadet Officer Cadet is a rank held by military cadets during their training to become commissioned officers. In the United Kingdom, the rank is also used by members of University Royal Naval Units, University Officer Training Corps and University Air ...

Training Course in Teshie,

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

from 1950 to 1952. After passing the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

Examination for Commonwealth cadets in 1952 as well as the West African qualifying examination in 1953, he was commissioned as an officer in the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF) as the 23rd West African military officer with number WA23 and 7th Nigerian military officer with number N7 after completing the War Office Cadet Training in Eaton Hall, England. He later attended the

Staff College Staff colleges (also command and staff colleges and War colleges) train military officers in the administrative, military staff and policy aspects of their profession. It is usual for such training to occur at several levels in a career. For ex ...

course in Camberley, Surrey in 1960 and the prestigious Imperial Defence College, London in late 1965 where he was the only African officer.

Career

Adeyinka Adebayo became an officer in 1953. His key career milestones are listed below: *Platoon Commander, 1954–1955 *Regimental signal officer, 1955–1957 *Between 1957 and 1958, he was an aide-de-camp to a British

governor-general Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

(''the last British governor-general of Nigeria''-

Sir James Robertson Sir James Wilson Robertson, (27 October 189923 September 1983) was a British civil servant who served as the last colonial governor-general of Nigeria from 1955 to 1960. Early life and education He was educated at Merchiston Castle School ...

-1957) *Company and Detachment Commander, Ikoyi, 1958 to 1960 *First Nigerian general

staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

, Grade 2 (Intelligence) at the United Nations Headquarters in 1961 *First national general staff officer, Grade 2 Nigerian Army Headquarters, 1961–1962 *First Nigerian to be appointed general staff officer Grade 1, 1962–1963 *Commander, Nigerian contingent in the Congo, 1963 *He served as staff officer in the United Nations peacekeeping force during the Congo crisis, 1961–1963 *Chief of staff, Nigerian Army Headquarters, February 1964 – November 1965 (He was the first indigenous chief of staff of the Nigerian Army) *Chairman,

Organization of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; french: Organisation de l'unité africaine, OUA) was an intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 32 signatory governments. One of the main heads for OAU's ...

(OAU) Defence Planning Committee, 1963–1965 *Head of Nigerian delegation to the OAU Summit in Ethiopia, November 1966 *Military governor, Western Nigeria, 1966–1971 *Commandant,

, 1971–1972 *Ceremonial military duties, 1972–1975 *Retired from the Nigerian Army with the rank of major-general, July 1975 *One of the founders of and vice chairman of the

National Party of Nigeria The National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was the dominant political party in Nigeria during the Second Republic (1979–1983). History Formation The party's beginning could be traced to private and sometimes secret meetings among key Northern Nigerian ...

(NPN), 1979–1983

Governor of Western State of Nigeria

As governor of the Western region he promoted agricultural extension services in particular the establishment of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Moor Plantation, Ibadan.

Biafra War

Adebayo advised against the use of force in resolving the

Biafran Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised Secession, secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo peop ...

crisis. In one of the most prescient and articulate quotations of the war, he declared:

I need not tell you what horror, what devastation and what extreme human suffering will attend the use of force. When it is all over and the smoke and dust have lifted, and the dead are buried, we shall find, as other people have found, that it has all been futile, entirely futile, in solving the problems we set out to solve.

At the onset of war,

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Adebayo, then governor of the then Western State ordered all bridges into the West be

demolished Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...

to prevent the Biafran

rebels Rebels may refer to: * Participants in a rebellion * Rebel groups, people who refuse obedience or order * Rebels (American Revolution), patriots who rejected British rule in 1776 Film and television * ''Rebels'' (film) or ''Rebelles'', a 2019 ...

from reaching

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

the capital of Nigeria via his state. The rebels went as far as Ore in present-day

Ondo State Ondo State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Oǹdó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. It borders Ekiti State to the north, Kogi State to the northeast, Edo State to the east, Delta State to t ...

about from

. After the war, he was appointed by the head of state, General

Yakubu Gowon Yakubu Dan-Yumma 'Jack' Gowon (born 19 October 1934) is a retired Nigerian Army general and military leader. As Head of State of Nigeria, Gowon presided over a controversial Nigerian Civil War and delivered the famous "no victor, no vanquish ...

, as the chairman of the

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

on the

reconciliation Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Sculpture * ''Reconciliation'' (Josefina de Vasconcellos sculpture), a sculpture by Josefina de Vasconcellos in Coventry Cathedra ...

and

integration Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...

of the Ibos (Biafrans) back into the Nigerian fold.

Farmers Revolt

Major General Adebayo was the governor during the infamous farmers' "

Agbekoya The Agbekoya Parapo Revolt of 1968–1969, popularly known as Agbekoya or the Egbe Agbekoya Revolt, was a peasant revolt in Nigeria's former Western region, home to the majority of the country's Yoruba population. The war was fought and won again ...

" revolt over taxation which was eventually resolved peacefully and harmoniously. Robert Adeyinka Adebayo retired from the Nigeria Army as a

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in 1975.

Later life

Adebayo is the chairman of the

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

Council of Elders. His eldest son Otunba Niyi Adebayo was a governor of Ekiti State in Nigeria from 1999 to 2003. Another son,

Adedayo Adebayo Adedayo Adeyemi Adebayo (born 30 November 1970 in Ibadan, Nigeria) is a rugby union footballer, who played on the wing for England 8 times between 1996 and 1998. He played club rugby for Bath and Parma and then went on to coach the Scottish-ba ...

, played

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

for

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and for the England National team winning six international caps between 1996 and 1999.

Death

One day prior to his 89th birthday, Adebayo died on 8 March 2017 in his

residence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adebayo, Robert Adeyinka 1928 births 2017 deaths Yoruba politicians People from Ekiti State Nigerian military governors Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Yoruba military personnel Royal West African Frontier Force officers Nigerian Defence Academy Commandants Christ's School, Ado Ekiti alumni Nigerian generals Eko Boys' High School alumni