Memories of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther in a shambles in hometown

Osoogun, where memories of Samuel Ajayi Crowther are in shambles

Segun Ajiboye and Innocent Duru

 Crowther

 Bashorun Bolatito

 Fatimo

The tree he tied to before he was taken into slavery



The crumbling Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther Anglican Church

Fourteen-year old Adeola Adeoye looked thoroughly confused when asked what he knows about Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther.  Adeola, a senior secondary student of Lanlate High School, Lanlate, Oyo State, has heard about Samuel Ajayi Crowther being a kinsman, but he knows little or nothing about the exploits of the man who single-handedly put the town of Osoogun on the world map.

The young man, and indeed most young boys and girls of his age in Osoogun are not alone in this total or partial ignorance about the deeds and history of their kinsman who was taken into slavery, but who later returned to become the first black African Bishop and was credited with the translation of the Holy Bible into Yoruba language.

Even among the elders, late Samuel Ajayi Crowther exists only in the minds. With few or no important edifice to his name in the town, it is only a matter of time before the memory of the former slave boy is deleted from their consciousness.
Osoogun, according to Chief Bolatito Bambi, Bashorun of Osoogun, was a large happy settlement until it was torn apart by invaders who seized its inhabitants and sold them captives into slavery in 1821, leaving the town desolate because those lucky enough to escape never returned.

“Osoogun was a large town where people from neighbouring towns came to trade. But invaders came and took our fathers and mothers and sold them into slavery, leaving the lucky ones to abandon the town.”    

Among the unfortunate indigenes of Osoogun sold into slavery in 1821 was a little boy named Ajayi, but who would later become a world-renowned missionary. 

It was credit to the effort of Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther that the town, made desolate after the attack in 1821 was reestablished around 1912.

“When papa (Crowther) was on his death bed, he told his daughter that he would wish that his town was reestablished. So after his death, they gathered the remnants of our people scattered everywhere and sought permission from the Alaafin to reestablish the town.”

Fast-forward to 2012, a period of  a century, Osoogun, sadly is still firmly rooted a few steps away from pre-civilization era, with electricity, an abandoned hospital building and a secondary school, overgrown with weeds, as the only notable presence of government.

Osoogun, hometown of the forgotten legend, is located in Iseyin Local Government Area of Oyo State. It is bordered by fellow Ibarapa tribes like Lanlate, Maya, Eruwa and Iseyin, a little farther away.

To access Osoogun, the erosion-battered mud road may leave you visiting the mechanic for a change of your shock absorbers. In the town, as you move round, you are left to believe that the people are definitely not aware of the first stanza of the national anthem: ‘the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain'.

A visit to Osoogun, the home town of the late Black Bishop, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, points to the direction that the memories of his labours are fast going down the drain, except something drastic is done.

If urgent steps are not taken to remedy the situation, it would be only a matter of time before his contribution are perpetually dumped in refuse heap.

Findings by The Nation showed that no remarkable edifice that can stand the test of time is named after him in his home town. In the outskirt of town, the tree to which he and others who were taken into slavery were tied before their journey into the world of the unknown, stands, with some makeshift brick blocks as the only sign that the tree holds an important place in the history of the town.

A few distant away from the tree, a rusted signboard stands in the middle of the bush, with its message cleaned off by age and weather.  According to Pa, the board was erected in 1975, a bore a sign that the site would be made a tourist centre in memory of Ajayi Crowther.

“The government came and promised us that they want to turn the site into a tourist site. We were all happy, we bought cows and celebrated that papa was finally being honoured. But that was where it ended.”

That was not the first time the lofty dreams of the people of Osoogun would be turned into mirage. Almost two decades ago, the women society of the Anglican Church in the town established a hospital to take care of the health needs of the people.

The hospital, named Samuel Ajayi Crowther Memorial Hospital, was the best in the entire Ibarapa area and as far as Iseyin. According to pa Bambi, “Sick people from neighbouring towns came to the hospital. It had the best facilities that you can find in any hospital. Even the white people donated cars and equipment to run the hospital.”

But the tides changed when the military government took over the hospital and handed it over to the local government arm of government. Today, the Samuel Ajayi Memorial Hospital in Igboora is desolate and dilapidated, with rodents and reptiles as its occupants, and leaving the people to go as far as Eruwa, a neighbouring town about 40 kilometres away to see a doctor.

Today, the sign post announcing the hospital has been partially wiped-off by weather, and making it difficult for passer-byes to read the inscription at a glance. A larger part of the buildings have been overgrown with weed, while other parts not yet taken over by weed are already in state of disrepair.

Also, the church, school named in his honnour has seen better days, as they are either dilapidated or barely able to stand. For example, the mud structure Samuel Ajayi Crowther Memorial Anglican Church, Ossogun, has multiple cracks on its walls, while the roof is riddled with holes.

The church building is probably exercising patience for a heavy down pour to finally cave in. Given its deplorable state, the building named after the first Anglican Bishop qualifies for a sheep pen than a place of worship.

At the present rate, it will probably take a few more years for the next generations of Osoogun to forget about their famous kinsman that took the name of the obscure village to international recognition.
Though members of the community feel very proud to hail from the same community with the deceased bishop, they lamented the poor state of all that was named in his honour.
Decrying what he described as an undeserving treatment to late Crowther, Chief Bolatito Bambi said: "We are very proud that Late Samuel Ajayi Crowther came from our community. We treasure him so much and we have made efforts to bring his remains to this village to no avail. We have still not given up because we believe that there would be a tremendous change in our fortunes if we succeed in bringing his remains here from Lagos. When we tried years ago we had his remains exhumed. There were still some strands of hair on his skull. I carried it in my hands and used it to touch my head. At the end of the day, they said we would not be able to take it away because as a bishop, he would have to be buried where he worked until his death. His grave is still there at Ebutte Metta. But we feel very sad that even if we cannot have his remains buried here, there is nothing tangible in terms of monumental buildings in this community that he was named after. The few places like the church and the hospital are not in good shape. While we are still managing the building for church service, the hospital has long been shut."
Going down memory lane he recalled that, "The present church was initially not named after Crowther. It was established together with a primary school in 1949 and named St Mary's Anglican Church and Primary School respectively. While we retained the name for the primary school we later renamed the church Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther Memorial Anglican Church. Good part of the primary school buildings have collapsed. The church we named after Crowther is also not in good shape. It is a mud building and from all indication it is neither a befitting place of worship nor good enough to be named in honour of Bishop Crowther.

“We have really been putting in our best to make sure that his memories are kept for as long as mankind lives, but our efforts are seriously limited by finance. In 1989, there was a move by Iseyin Local Government Chairman named Alawode to turn this area to a tourist centre. We welcomed the idea. Even though most of us are paupers we gladly contributed money to buy two cows and other necessary things for the celebration.

“We invited people from all walks of life because we thought our dream had finally come through. Shortly after the celebration, the chairman could not execute the plan because his tenure ended almost immediately he came up with the idea. Unfortunately, the man that succeeded him did not pick interest in the project. That was how the plans died naturally. The whole money we spent planning for the project went down the drain.”

The Bashorun, and indeed, several people in the town are unhappy with men of God, who they chorused make use of the Yoruba language bible without giving a thought to the man who did the translation.
"It pains us that Christians, especially pastors here in the south-west, who have immensely benefitted from Crowther's effort of his translation of the bible to Yoruba language, have refused to show any concern about his legacies. Most of them have become billonaires using the Yoruba Bible that Crowther translated, but careless about immortalizing him, particularly in his home town. Such wealth that does not remember its roots does not last."
The indigenes of Osoogun are also unhappy about the situation of the only hospital in the town.

"The hospital which was named after him ceased to function several years ago. The hospital was built by the women wing of the church. They equipped it so well that it became the best hospital in the whole of this environment. People from Lanlate, Iseyin and other communities always come here for medical care then. The women managed the hospital for about three years after which they handed it over to the government because the cost of running it was too much for them.
"It was when the military came that the whole thing went bad. They ordered that the hospital should be managed by the local government. Before we knew what was happening, all equipment disappeared one after the other till we got to the sorry state we find ourselves now. We solely depend on prayers and God on health matters. We thank God that we have not been having outbreak of sicknesses since the hospital closed down. We recently got information that medical personnel would be sent to the hospital very soon to commence work afresh."

Sure enough, God has been merciful to the people of Osoogun. Despite the absence of a hospital in the town, the people, who are majorly farmers and petty traders, have enjoyed good health, making the death rate in the town relatively low.

 
However, the people's headache has been compounded by the backward state of the community in terms of development. Osoogun of 2012 still wears the primitive look of the Osoogun ravaged by fierce war in 1821. And going by the account of the people, the community is unarguably worse off than it was a century ago when Crowther was taken away as a slave by the Portuguese slave traders.
Around the town, no single sign of a modern drainage system or tarred roads. Instead the community is littered by collapsed and dilapidated mud buildings and red earth roads bordered on both sides by shallow water ways created by erosion.

Apart from epileptic power supply and only one functional of three bore holes in the town (two of the boreholes were sunk by private people, the only notable presence of government in the town is a government-sponsored Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) public toilet, named: VIP Toilet.

The toilet, constructed in 2009, is antithetical to a community where the use of a modern toilet would probably be strange. In its place would have been a structure that would have more impact on a larger set of people.

The community is totally not in sync with basic developments in the modern age. They had remained incommunicado until MTN and Airtel erected their masts in the community recently.
That most members of the community are emaciated and look much older than their real ages, is simply an indication to the fact that poverty walks on all fours in the community.

The males are predominantly peasant farmers while some of the women engaged in petty business.
Felix Ogunniyi, an elder in the community decried the backward state of the community. According to him, Osoogun is the oldest and previously the centre of business in the whole of the area. He traced the woes of the community to the invasion of Fulani warriors that left the community desolate.
He recalled that after the Fulani invasion, most members of the community fled the area and resettled in other neighbouring communities. He said it took the initiative of late Crowther for the community resettle in its present base. 
He said: "We are living in abject poverty here. We are the oldest in this area yet we are the poorest. No other community in this area has produced an outstanding person like Crowther yet we are totally abandoned and left to rot away in abject poverty. We are peasant farmers.

“We have no good roads, no good market, and no single industry where our children can get employment after their education. The males resort to riding okada and the females petty trading after secondary education. Other communities that came after us and have no record of outstanding personality have become big cities.

“We always travel for about an hour to Awojobi Hospital in Eruwa whenever there is need to get medical care. Imagine what would happen if we are to have emergency case. Apart from a Millenium Development Goal VIP toilet, electricity and bore hole we have no other social amenities as you can see.
"We don't toy with the memories of late Crowther in this community. Apart from translating the bible to Yoruba, we regard him as the father of present day Osoogun. After Fulani invasion, many of our people ran away and resettled in other communities. It was Crowther that instructed his children to get the permission of Alaafin to resettle where we are today.

“He took that decision because he never wanted his root to perish. Unfortunately, there is practically nothing to keep his memory alive in a community that he made popular and resettled after a tribal war. If the government can give awards to people who have done little or nothing to shape the image of the country, Crowther deserve a posthumous award and befitting edifice in his name here in Osoogun," he said.
Pa Mathew Olalekan, the Otun Olosoogun, is angry that the spirits of the people have been dashed several times after lofty promises. For him, our presence in Osoogun may end up as part of the failed promises of the past.

While not sparing past administrations, who he said have failed the town, he also blamed some prominent members of the community for its underdevelopment. He regretted that some of the successful members of the community have ceased to come home or have anything to do with the development of area.
"We have many members of this community that are doing brilliantly well in their various life endeavours, but they don't come back home to see the condition of the community, let alone contribute to its development.

“If they have been as concerned as we are about future of this area, they would have used their clout to influence the government at state and federal levels to do something about the community. We have called several meetings to discuss the way forward for the community but it seems not to work.

“People only came for the meeting twice and thereafter they stopped coming. One thing we are sure of is that God who raised late Bishop Crowther to this community's name of world map would raise people that would develop it. We have tried our best and will continue to do more until we can no longer do anything again because of age," he said.
A female member of the community, who identified herself as Fatimo, appealed to government to come to aid of the community. At her age she said she has not been to a bank nor have the idea of how it operates.
"The idea of bank that I have is the small safe we keep money. I don't know any place called bank or have idea about what they do there. I fry garri using the cassava I get from the farm. The income I make from this is very small and barely enough for us to eat. When I don't have cassava, I stay at home doing nothing.
"We wish to live a good life like people in other communities. The government should come and help us because we have been neglected for too long. We need tarred roads, hospital, schools and banks like you said. Christians in the Yoruba speaking states irrespective of denomination should also come together to do something in this community in honour of Late Bishop Crowther because it is his sweat that they are enjoying today"

As the people of Osoogun continue in their struggle to honour the late Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the man who translated the holy bible into Yoruba language, and first black African bishop, the chorus is for governments at all levels to come their rescue.