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  Mukaila’s birth, he thought was a clear indication that his marriage to the boys mother held a couple of exciting and delicious promises about a brighter future. He smiled repeatedly, overwhelmed by the gripping surge of excitement that built up inside of him, he tried as much as he could to fight back the urge and temptation to cast the baby up in the air and catch him back again. He could trust that the of gravity would do its duty of bringing the boy down to his waiting arms, but decided against such dangerous acrobatics, and held the infant boy closely to his chest instead, pronouncing silent prayers upon him and tapping his back gently, before breaking into a loud rendition of the family’s panegyrics, (oriki) Omo ikulodoto ti igbomiwa omo ara iresa omo sogbe omo momu momu omo abi layeni aye npa omo oje ki je I gabeni wok o gbodo orofo omo afi fi oti me omo wo ni ile Ajibojuni ile Akinroye omo ati han Ayo lo ja si Nile wa**

The very core of Mukaila Lamidi’s earthly existence has its tap roots traced to a family tree of great adventurers and craftsmen whose pursuit of material prosperity and search for pastures new made them permanent residents of Ibadan, sequel to the fall of old Oyo (Oyo ile).  The greater parts of the ancient Yoruba civilizations and towns had been obliterated by external conflicts and aggressions which necessitated the springing up of Ibadan in 1829 as a war camp which proved to be a safe haven for the adventurers, craftsmen and persons seeking to leave the bitter trails of war far behind them. Lamidi’s progenitors belonged in the group of early settlers and explorers of Ibadan, the land of divers ranges of lofty and protective hills.  Mukaila’s forbearers lived and thrived alongside the strings of the new family units that emerged to make Ibadan a great metropolitan centre as well as the contemporary nucleus of the Yoruba socio-political life and point of reference. This