My plea to the entire Majekodunmi family is that the gravity of our mourning should be mitigated and the depth of our collective sense of irreparable loss should also be assuaged by a peep into history.
Some years ago when I was researching the history of the Egbas, of which the Majekodunmi family is a formidable pillar, I came across the following:
“Based on Egba oral history and the book ‘The Egba and Their Neighbours 1842-1872’, the Majekodunmi family of Abeokuta descends from Ogundele, a son of Ogundipe. After a tragedy involving the death of a child, Ogundele took the name “Majekodunmi” – Ma je ki odun mi (“Let my year not be spoilt/let sorrow not ruin my year”.)
That is why you’ll see both “Ogundele” and “Majekodunmi” in 19th-century Egba records referring to the same lineage. Ogundele, son of Ogundipe, later called Majekodunmi after the death of his child, is the ancestor of the Majekodunmi house. ‘Majekodunmi” is the oruko amutorunwa/oruko isele – a name taken after an event, not the birth name.”
The event to which reference is being made involved either Femi’s grandfather (J.B. Majekodunmi) or his grandfather who had hired someone to teach his favourite son how to ride a horse. Unfortunately, the child fell off the horse and died. The whole of Abeokuta trooped to the house of the bereaved father. To their astonishment, the father bore his grief with calm dignity and promptly resumed his business with fierce determination. He bluntly refused to succumb to pathos or despair. Thereafter, “Majekodunmi” became both his sobriquet and name.
