daughter of the Emir was no other person than the brave and powerful Balogun of Igbonna. He took advantage of the routine task of Adepeju trip to Asa River to bring her back to Igbonna. In appreciation, Adepeju was given in marriage to Balogun in 1906 as the second wife. She bore him 5 children the first of whom was Sa’adatu Adebola Abejo.
Sa’adatu Adebola (later the first Iyalaje of Offa) married Alfa (Prince) Summonu Olarinoye Oyeleke of Ile Labalu (later Ile Obatiwajoye). The union produced 6 children; Hawau Omoronike Adesina(2nd Iyalaje of Offa), Yunus Abioye Oyeleke (chartered accountant), Ambassador Zakariyyah Oyetunde Oyeleke (Nigeria’s ambassador to USSR), Raliat Oyenike Sanni (the first female graduate in Offa), Moshood Oyebisi Oyeleke (chartered accountant/taxation), and Nasir Oyebanji Oyeleke (former Rector Kwara Polytechnic Ilorin).
Firmly established in Lagos, Waidi (now William) traced his roots back to Igbonna and reunited with his older sister, Adepeju (now Mrs Balogun) and her children especially the eldest, Sa’adatu Adebola Oyeleke who married in Offa.
When the Association of Offa indigenes was formed in Lagos, William Adedoyin being educated and the oldest among the pioneers was appointed the first and life President. Adedoyin took up the leadership with all the resources he had. The major agendum was to free Offa from the bondage of Ilorin. Giving his antecedents as a victim of Ilorin expansionist venture, William was in the pole position to lead the agitation. He was imprisoned in the process. He and others believed that the major way out of the bondage was through the education of Offa people. A move that culminated in the establishment of Offa Grammar School in 1943.
Pa William Adedoyin died on the 10th of March 1969. A number of posthumous honour and monument were erected in his memory. The major one being the Library constructed and donated to Olalomi Comprehensive College (later inherited by Federal Polytechnic Offa) by Prince Yunus Abioye Oyeleke and named after William Adedoyin.
One of the prominent Adedoyin children is Mrs Tinu Gbadamosi (who married Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi from Ikorodu of the Ragolis Water fame).
Additional source: Cock Crow and a Morning Blessings by Nasir Oyebanji Oyeleke PhD
Culled from News bulletin
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