Historical background of Late King Timothy Talabi Dada

CHAPTER   ONE

INTRODUCTION

Theoretical   Framework

A biography is the story of a real person's life written by someone other than the person. Biographies explore the events in a person's life and found meaning within them. A biography involves a whole life, building a bridge between generations, bringing us closer, to future generations, planting in their hearts the pride of belongin¹.  It entails more than basic facts like education, work relationship and death.  A   biography presents a subject life story, highlighting various aspects of subjects life including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subjects personality ². The word Biography comes from the Greek word bios which mean life and graphiens which means to write.  Biography is the writing about someone else's life. Biography is in one sense, the history of a life time. It narrates the most important events of someone else’s. The Longman Dictionary of contemporary English define biography as ‘an account of a person's life written by someone else it also refers to it as a branch of literature that consists of biographies.³

The Oxford dictionary defines biography as a branch of literature' an account of a person's life written by someone else. Historical biography (from the Greek historian) reconstruction of a human life, and a representation of an historical individual. Thus the notion of biography encompassing   more  than  a pure  life  depiction,  to include  narrative  of a  life  and the interpretation of its characteristics traditionally, biography places the individual at the center of the narrative, instead of larger analysis of dynamics, structures and events⁴. A complex definition of biography was by Plutarch (1727)⁵‘Biography is a detailed description or account of; Person's life. It entails move basic factor like; Education, work, relationships and death. A biography also portrays a subject's experience of the events. It presents a subject life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including details of experience and may include an analysis of subjects personality. Osunkoya, (2009) opined that: ‘A work is biographical if it covers all of a person's life such as his parental background, childhood days, peer group influence, educational career, personal interest, likes and dislikes, believes and practices, as well as a table of significant date in the heroes life which provides chronological guide to which one might refer when considering a particular pamphlet or treatise which wrote⁷. Indeed, Biography provides alternative point of analysis of the workings of social group's situation and events which is the normal frame of reference for historical research. Siyan Oyeweso in his Biography of S.L Eduf (1996) expressed that: ‘In virtually all societies and ages, biographies have been utilized to preserve the deeds and achievements of leaders who have shaped or influenced the course of history .This tradition is particularly strong in American and Europe⁸.

Currently this tradition is gaining ground in Nigeria particularly in the department of Historian Diplomatic studies of Tai Solarin University of Education Ijagun. Some of the biography studies carried out by the department include: Foundation for University of Education Administration in Nigeria  the legacy of Kayode Oyesiku , others are biography of  Chief Imam of Ijebu ode , late musical icon ; Haruna Isola , ak.a Baba Ngani among others⁹.

In every land and clime, God in his infinite wisdom do make certain men and women on whom their societies would depend on for direction. Wherever such people are found, the socio-political, economic, cultural and or religious life of their people revolves around them. As Shakespeare posited, such men are either "born great, achieve greatness or have greatness thrust upon them.¹⁰

One of the earliest of the biographers was Plutarch, and his Parallel Lives, published about 80 A.D, covers prominent figures in the classical world.¹¹ In 44 B.C. Cornelius Nepos published a biographical work, his Vitae Imperatorum (Lives of Commanders). Perhaps the earliest extant biography that does not contain mythological material is The Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius. In Medieval Islamic Civilization (c. AD 750 to 1258), similar traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad and other important figures in the early history of Islam began to be written, beginning the Prophetic biography tradition¹². By the late middle Ages, biographies became less church-oriented in Europe as biographies of kings, knights, and tyrants began to appear. The most famous of such biographies was Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory ¹³. The first modern biography, and a work which exerted considerable influence on the evolution of the genre, was James Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson, a biography of lexicographer and man-of-letters Samuel Johnson published in 1791.^14. British critic Lytton Strachey revolutionized the art of biographical writing with his 1918 work Eminent Victorians, consisting of biographies of four leading figures from the Victorian era, Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Arnold and General Gordon.¹⁵

In recent years, multimedia biography has become more popular than traditional literary forms. Along with documentary biographical films, Hollywood produced numerous commercial films based on the lives of famous people. Biographical research is defined by Miller and Brewer  as a research method that collects and analyses a person’s whole life, or portion of a life, through the in-depth and unstructured interview, or sometimes reinforced by semi-structured interview or personal documents. It is a way of viewing social life in procedural terms, rather than static terms.¹⁶ The information can come from “oral history, personal narrative, biography and autobiography” or “diaries, letters, memoranda and other materials”.  The central aim of biographical research is producing rich descriptions of persons or “conceptualize structural types of actions” which means to “understand the action logics or how persons and structures are interlinked”, and this method can be used to understand an individual’s life within its social context or understand the cultural phenomena.  ¹⁷

 It becomes therefore important to study the lives of these distinguished persons who give direction to society,  in doing this, we are not only extending the frontiers of historical knowledge but also are equipping ourselves with the necessary data to appreciate our individual efforts, which would place us in a better position to predict the future. However, the use of biographies for historical knowledge has been made by several eminent historians such as Kenneth Dike, G.N. Uzoigwe, J.F Ade Ajayi and R.O Ajetunmobi among others. In fact, K.O Dike was reported to have advocated for the use of collective biographies which he termed Prosopography for historical knowledge.¹⁸

Few topics have evoked much controversy in the approach to the study of history as the subject-of biography. The nature and age of the problem is attested in the book edited by J.J Clifford, titled Biography as an Art; selected criticism 1560-1920. ¹⁹ If a good biography is as rare as a life of an individual without a blemish, what are the rules a biographer should to produce a work that can be accepted as a legitimate form of history? Why does some historian oppose biography as a form of history, while others project it as the only true form of history? These are some of the issues highlighted in the study of biography.

 Furthermore, Thomas Carlyle argued that "History is the essence of in numerable biographies" Elsewhere, he was to add that "Biography is the most universally pleasant, the most universally profitable of all reading.²⁰ Finally, in this study it is our intention to study the life of late kings Timothy Talabi Dada and his achievements from his humble beginning to his sublimity and his challenges in life. This work will serve as inspiration to coming generation so that the readers can be inspired to act like those who have shown universal courage like Late king T.T. Dada, generosity and kindness. The subject ruled in Otaland between December 16 1954 - 1992. 

Statement of the Problem

There are many conflicting traditions the enthronement of late King Timothy Talabi Dada of Otta in Ogun State.  The ever changing nature of people through time makes it difficult to study traditional rulership and makes previous works on the topic incomplete.  Also, kingship ceremony varies among Nigerian and indeed the Yoruba culture groups.  Many of the traditional institutions of the people Ota are also changing due to the influence of religion, modern civilization, and westernization on traditional customs.

Many kings in Yoruba land has ridden on their maternal lineage to become king a good example   n a society where nothing is properly documented anything can happen.  Today the Otun Mayegun of Ibadan is Orji Uzor Kalu former Governor of Abia State and the late Bashorun of Ibadan and Are Onakankanfo of Yorubal land was late M.K.O Abiola. it is against this background that the reaseracher view  the changing structure of tradition in Yoruba land to be ever changing while some are static , many  kings had rode on their maternal lineage to the throne, a good example is Dapo Tejuosho in   and when late king Talabi dada was made a regent king after the exile of late King Timothy Fadina

Also many cultural practices that were respected by the natives have faded away and new ones have been introduced.  There are no doubt that several literatures abound on tradition of history of the Ota people, but this work will bring to light the biography of late king monthly Talabi Dada of Otta in Ogun State.

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