Yeyelua Abosede Adedibu, wife of the late Ibadan political strongman, Chief Lamidi Ariyibi Adedibu, has recounted the circumstances surrounding his final hours, revealing how concerns about his health, an unusual change in his behaviour, preparations for a trip to Lagos and a subsequent medical examination preceded the moment she was informed that he had been taken to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
In her account, Yeyelua described a series of events that began with her insistence that her husband undergo a medical check-up, following concerns that his political engagements were taking a toll on his health. She recalled that Adedibu, despite her repeated appeals, initially appeared reluctant to undergo the examination but eventually agreed to travel to Lagos, where arrangements had been made for him to see his doctor.
According to her, her husband’s health had become a source of concern because of his longstanding commitment to politics and his habit of travelling abroad periodically to visit his children.
She explained that Adedibu usually travelled once every six months to check on the children, a routine that, on this occasion, prompted her to question his decision to continue prioritising political activities over his health.
“He used to travel once in six months to go and check the children. So this time, I was angry, asking him, ‘Why do you want to forget your health all in the name of politics?'” she recalled.
Yeyelua said she insisted that her husband undergo a medical examination, stressing that she was concerned about his well-being and wanted him to take his health more seriously.
Although he was initially reluctant, she maintained that she did not abandon the matter. She contacted his doctor in Lagos and explained the need for him to undergo a medical check-up.
“I insisted that he should go for a medical check-up. He felt reluctant, but I insisted, so I called his doctor, who is in Lagos, and asked him to help me call him and tell him that he should go for a check-up. The doctor said okay,” she recounted.
Her account suggests that the medical examination was not merely an incidental arrangement but an issue she had pursued because of her concerns about her husband’s health and the physical demands of his political engagements.
Beyond the medical arrangements, Yeyelua also recalled that Adedibu’s international passport had expired at the time he was preparing to travel to visit his children abroad. This presented another issue that needed to be resolved before his trip could proceed.
She said she subsequently contacted a former commissioner, identified as Mr Asimi, who was also deceased at the time of her account, to help facilitate the passport arrangements.
According to her, both of them went to the immigration office to submit the passport, with the plan that Adedibu would stop there on his return to have his photograph taken and collect a new passport.
She explained that the arrangement was intended to ensure that the passport matter would not become an obstacle to his travel plans.
However, the events of that morning would soon take an unexpected turn.
Yeyelua recalled that she became particularly concerned when she noticed that her husband, who ordinarily did not eat inside his room, appeared to be in an unusual mood.
She said she went to his room and observed a change in his demeanour. Although she could not immediately determine what was wrong, she decided to ask what he wanted to eat before leaving for the hospital.
According to her, Adedibu requested Coca-Cola and “oath,” as she described the food item in her account. She subsequently went downstairs to prepare the requested breakfast and placed it in hot water to keep it warm.
After preparing the food, she returned upstairs to inform him that his breakfast was ready.
“I climbed up again to call him that his breakfast was ready, so I saw him. He had taken his bath and wrapped himself with towels on the bed,” she said.
The scene prompted her to make further enquiries about his condition. She also noticed one of his aides, identified as Super, checking through his clothes to determine what he would wear.
Yeyelua said she was not alone in the upstairs sitting room at the time, as other members of Adedibu’s entourage were also waiting for him to get ready for the journey.
She recalled that, without much warning, her husband suddenly opened the door forcefully, using his cap to cover his face, and proceeded directly to the downstairs sitting room.
The abrupt movement and his apparent unwillingness to continue with the breakfast heightened her curiosity.
She followed him downstairs and asked whether he was ready to eat, but, according to her, he responded angrily that he would no longer eat.
“He banged the door and opened it with force, using his cap to cover his face, and went straight to the downstairs sitting room. So I followed him to ask if he was ready for the breakfast, and angrily he shouted at me that he was not eating again,” she recalled.
Yeyelua said she could not immediately understand the reason for his sudden change in attitude. She therefore approached another person, identified as Ado, and asked him to help find out what might have upset her husband.
However, she said the people around Adedibu advised her to leave him alone, suggesting that he might simply be angry.
According to her, the members of the entourage subsequently left for Lagos that morning, while she remained behind with unanswered questions about his behaviour.
Another aspect of the morning that struck Yeyelua was the scale of the food preparation Adedibu had reportedly ordered.
She recalled being informed that a full bag of beans was to be cooked that day, an unusual quantity compared with the half bag normally prepared on an ordinary day.
She said the instruction was that the beans would be used to prepare akara, moi-moi and other food items, while arrangements had also been made for bread to be supplied by bakeries.
“He sent someone to tell me that we were cooking one bag of beans that day, whereas, on a normal day, it was usually half a bag of beans that we cooked,” she said.
She added that she initially dismissed the information because she believed the people relaying the instruction might not have fully understood what was expected.
However, she subsequently learnt that Adedibu had directed that the beans be used to prepare bean cakes and moi-moi, with bread also forming part of the food arrangements.
“He said we were using that bag of beans to cook bean cakes and moi-moi and bread, and he had sent messages to all the bakeries to supply bread to us,” she recalled.
The unusual volume of food and the arrangements for supplies from several bakeries left her wondering what was happening, particularly against the backdrop of the tension she had observed earlier that morning.
Yeyelua also recalled another incident in which her husband sent someone to ask her for the telephone number of her first daughter’s husband, who she identified as the husband of Senator Babalola.
She said the request angered her, prompting her to tell the person that Adedibu should contact the family himself rather than asking her to provide the number.
She later realised that her husband had apparently heard her response.
The incident added to the series of unusual exchanges that characterised the morning, although she did not establish a definite explanation for his behaviour.
Following their departure for Lagos, the members of the entourage reportedly stopped at the Tollgate area of Ibadan to buy akara and other snacks before continuing their journey.
Yeyelua said that, according to the account she followed, Adedibu spent much of the journey singing songs associated with Yusuf Olatunji and Saka.
She described the journey as one during which he continued engaging in familiar activities, an observation that later contrasted with the alarming report she received about his condition.
Upon arriving in Lagos, Adedibu reportedly telephoned his first daughter and advised her to listen to her mother and accept whatever decisions or requests her mother made.
Yeyelua recalled the message as a significant moment in the sequence of events, particularly because of what followed.
“On getting to Lagos, he called my first daughter and told her to always listen to her mother and accept whatever she always wanted,” she said.
Meanwhile, she said she continued monitoring the situation by telephone, contacting Ado and seeking updates about her husband’s movements and condition.
She also contacted Commissioner Ado and asked that the telephone be handed to Dr Lawan, who was involved in the medical examination.
Yeyelua explained that she wanted the doctor to conduct a thorough assessment of her husband because of the concerns she had developed from his behaviour that morning.
She said she narrated the events to the doctor, including Adedibu’s refusal to eat and the unusual change in his mood, hoping that the information would help the medical team assess his condition more carefully.
She also disclosed that she mentioned her husband’s relationship with a younger woman because she wanted the doctor to consider whether any issue connected with that relationship might be affecting his health.
According to her, she was concerned that the matter should not be overlooked during the assessment.
However, she recalled that Adedibu became aware of the discussion and asked who was speaking on the telephone.
When he was told that it was his wife, whom he referred to as Alaja, he reportedly dismissed her concerns as jealousy.
“He asked the doctor who was on the call, and he said I was the one, Alaja. He responded that the doctor should not mind me, that I was only being jealous,” she recounted.
Yeyelua said the telephone conversation continued, during which Adedibu reportedly explained that he was trying to help her by looking for a younger woman who could assist her.
Despite the personal exchange, the medical examination proceeded.
According to Yeyelua, Adedibu was taken for tests, and she understood that he was interacting freely with the doctor throughout the process.
She recalled that he discussed the history of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and continued telling stories, giving the impression that he was mentally alert and able to sustain a conversation.
“He was just gisting with the doctor and was sharing the story of Awolowo. So nothing was wrong with him, and he was very sharp and healthy. They said it was only old age and stress,” she recalled.
Her account of the examination presents a striking contrast between her earlier concerns and the apparent ease with which her husband reportedly conversed with the doctor.
While she had observed changes in his mood and his refusal to eat before the journey, she said his ability to engage in extended conversation during the examination left her with the impression that he was still alert.
However, the account does not establish what the medical tests revealed or provide a definitive medical explanation for the subsequent deterioration in his condition.
Yeyelua said that, after the examination, she returned to the kitchen to prepare food for her husband so that he would have something to eat when he returned.
She explained that the decision was consistent with her earlier concern about his refusal to eat breakfast and her desire to ensure that he had food available after the medical visit.
But while she was making preparations, the situation took a dramatic turn.
According to her, she received a telephone call informing her that she should come to the University College Hospital, Ibadan, because those with Adedibu could no longer understand what was happening to him.
She recalled that the message was alarming because it suggested that his condition had changed significantly after the earlier medical examination.
“I quickly entered the kitchen to cook for him so that when he came back, he would have something to eat. That was how I received the call that I should be coming to UCH, that they did not know how Alaji was behaving again,” she said.
The telephone call marked a decisive break in the day’s events, transforming what had begun as a routine medical check-up into an emergency that required her immediate presence at the hospital.
Yeyelua said she hurried to UCH, where she found her husband already admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.
She recalled going to him and attempting to find out what had happened, but, by the time she arrived, he could no longer respond verbally.
“On getting to UCH, he was already inside the ICU, lying down. So I went there and asked him what was going on, but he couldn’t talk again. He was just looking at me, and that was all,” she said.
Her recollection ended with the image of Adedibu lying in the ICU, unable to speak, while looking at her as she tried to understand the sudden change in his condition.
The account captures the distress of a wife who had spent the morning urging her husband to take his health seriously, observing changes in his behaviour, arranging breakfast and seeking medical attention, only to be confronted hours later with a situation in which he could no longer communicate with her.
It also highlights the uncertainty surrounding the sequence of events. Although Yeyelua described the refusal to eat, the change in mood, the journey to Lagos, the medical examination and the subsequent emergency at UCH, her account alone does not establish the medical cause of his deterioration.
Her recollections nevertheless offer a personal perspective on the final hours of one of Ibadan’s most influential political figures, bringing attention to the domestic circumstances and private interactions that surrounded his last period of illness.
For Yeyelua, the most painful part of the experience was the abruptness of the change: a husband who had reportedly spent part of the journey singing and later engaged in conversation with a doctor was, by the time she reached the hospital, lying in intensive care and unable to answer her questions.
The episode remains a deeply personal recollection of the final hours she described, centred on her concern for her husband’s health, the unusual developments of that morning and the moment she found him unable to speak in the hospital.
