IGBOZURUOKE MEDIA

As a core Igbo man that has no blood link with the Yoruba in any way, my concern  this time, should not be about Yoruba squabbles over chieftaincy matters, especially, when the Igbo are facing numerous problems of their own and gasping for air under Tinubu’s maladministration.  

However, as a septuagenarian that has lived and studied in Yoruba land since 1960, I owed it to myself—if not to others—to understand why the Yoruba are desperate to roast the newly crowned Oba Owoade, the Alaafin of Oyo.

To in fuse clarity and make reference before continuing, I present an article, representing the Yoruba leaning on this matter:   

Alaafin, Emperor, Engr. Akeem Owoade

Let me dive into the matter fully and stop skirting the edges.

My generation grew into consciousness knowing Ooni Adesoji Aderemi as the unchallenged, unchallengeable chairman of the Western State’s council of Obas.

Before Oyo State was created, there was Western State, created along with 11 other states by Head of State Yakubu Gowon.

Ooni  Aderemi had been on the throne since 1930. (He died in 1980.)

As the most prominent traditional ruler so recognized by the existing native political structures and hierarchy, the colonial masters apppinted Ooni Aderemi as the first Governor of the Western Region in 1960.

No consideration whatsoever was given to the Alaafin and the moribund Oyo Empire.

Remember, Western Region included what are now known as Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun, and parts of Edo and Delta states.

Prior to the appointment of Ooni Aderemi as Governor in 1960,  Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi II had been enthroned in 1945 and deposed in 1954, banished first to Ilesa and later to Lagos where he died in 1959.

Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi II was the father of the immediate past Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi III.

Please note that Alaafin Gbadegesin Ladigbolu II succeeded Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi II, before Alaafin Adeyemi III ascended the throne in 1970.

I know it’s getting a bit convoluted but please stay with me for a minute.

The immediate past Alaafin ascended the throne in 1970.

Ooni  Aderemi ascended the throne in 1930.

That’s a 40-year gap.

Young (31 years old) Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi III, whose father was deposed and banished for rudeness to the government of Obafemi Awolowo of the Western Region, could not be challenging Ooni Aderemi for supremacy even though he ascended the throne during the military era. Ooni Aderemi, an enlightened, influential, revered traditional ruler was not in the same league with Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi.

But 10 years later (in 1980) and four years after the creation of Oyo State (consisting of the present Oyo and Osun states in 1976) Ooni Aderemi died and was succeeded by 50 years old shipping magnate, Ooni Okunade Sijuade, who was eight years older than Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi.

That was when Alaafin Adeyemi started to assert his supremacy as “permanent chairman” of Oyo State Council of Obas.

Ooni Sijuade would not have any of that. The Olubadans (there were many in that period) and Soun Ajagungbade would not have any of that.

So, the Council rarely ever sat with the Soun, the Olubadan, the Alaafin, and the Ooni all in attendance at the same time.

In fact, things got so bad between 1979 and 1983 (during the civilian administration) when Alaafin Adeyemi was perceived as leaning towards the NPN (his father had been deposed by Awolowo, remember?) and Ooni Sijuade was clearly a UPN-Awolowo person.

Neither Alaafin Adeyemi nor Ooni Sijuade yielded for each other until 1991 when Osun State was created and Ife fell under Osun.

No Oba in Osun State challenged Ooni Sijuade for supremacy.

But the Olubadans and the Soun continued to give cold shoulders to Alaafin Adeyemi in terms on supremacy. So, the Oyo State’s council of Obas continued to be in limbo.

Soon after the current Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi (now 52 years old) ascended the throne in 2015, he embarked on a tour of Obas’ palaces – prominent and not-so-prominent, in and outside of Osun State, spreading good tidings and emphasizing that he was not interested in any supremacy fight.

In fact, he toured so much that folks began to complain that he was lowering the status/stature of the Ooni stool.

Then Alaafin Adeyemi passed and was succeeded by the current Alaafin – 51 years old Akeem Owoade – in January last year.

And since then, this Alaafin has embarked on the quest to return the current Oyo town to its old, inglorious, Oyo Empire era – with supremacy over every Yoruba city, town, village, and hamlet – even including the Ekitis that never came under the old Empire.

Alaafin Owoade has apparently forgotten that the current geographical location of Oyo town is not the same geographical location of the Old Oyo Empire capital (Oyo-Ile). The Fulani’s had sacked Oyo-Ile in 1835 or thereabout!

He has also forgotten that after the Fulanis sacked Oyo Empire and killed the reigning Alaafin, Oyo people fled to today’s Igboho, and later relocated to Ago D’Oyo – the current location of Oyo Town.

Throughout the time that Oyo was moving around, Ogbomoso never moved. Ibadan never moved. In fact, Ibadan and Ogbomoso began to explode in population.

Oyo people and their Alaafins were able to remain in present-day location through the grace of Ibadan warriors who protected them against the rampaging Fulanis and guaranteed their survival.

Alaafin Owoade must shed the imperialistic tendency associated with Oyo since the 14th century.

Times have changed. No one cares about nor respects any emperors anymore.

People enthrone young, modern traditional rulers so that they can influence/facilitate public and private investments/developments to their towns and cities.

I know Oyo town very well. The town can use a lot of agro-allied industries to begin with. It can use a lot of modern residential estates and 4-Star hotels. It can use a railway linkage and so many other job-creating entities.

This Alaafin who’s had a stint in Canada should eschew all this supremacy nonsense and take a cue from Ooni Ogunwusi on humility and networking.

He should also learn to smile a little.

No one is going to respect him if he is demanding respect. People are just going to respect the stool; not the arrogant man sitting on it.

Ko je bo se je.

By Abiodun Ladepo

After the independence celebrations in 1960, my parents brought me to Ibadan to continue my primary education at a school at Makola. Later, I became a pioneer pupil at the New Eden Primary School, Bodija, before the January coup of 1966 interrupted the progrmme. Subsequently, I completed my higher education, in Lagos. I made these disclosures to indicate my association with the Yoruba nation and my appreciation for their well-documented History.

There were two sets of History about the Yoruba that are prominent and have held my attention till date. One is how the Hausa states evolved, next, is the configuration, hierarchy and customs that shaped Yoruba chieftaincy affairs.

In the story of the evolution of the Hausa states, the story as it was told and still remains today is that the Yoruba nation is one of the seven Hausa Banza states linked to the Bayagida dynasty and to the best of my knowledge, no Yoruba man  has authoritatively debunked this assertion. So, when I hear some Yoruba coining a different narrative of the Yoruba coming from Egypt, falling from the sky or coming from the Middle-East I get worried because, if History becomes a victim of alteration on flimsy impulse or excuses, accounts of human existence would assume a speculative exercise.  

Secondly, from my primary school to tertiary institutions, I have been thought have seen copious of lectures on Yoruba History, where the central theme has always revolved around the Oduduwa/Oramiyan, lineage that produced the seven progenies who are the sons of Oduduwa and founded the core Yoruba kingdoms. Among these progenies that include the Oba of Benin, the Alaafin, has always remained preeminent. Furthermore, not all Yoruba trace their ancestry to Oduduwa. The Ijebus, Egbas Ekitis etc., are in this group. 

In fact, the History I was thought in Yoruba schools did not confer royalty to the Ooni of Ife as it did not list the latter as a son of the Yoruba progenitor; rather, it described the Ooni as a loyal and trusted innkeeper in the court of Ooni. The History further stated that given the fact that the Ooni became a loyal and trustworthy aid to Oduduwa, the latter bequeathed the custody of Ile-Ife’s royal and sacred paraphernalia to Ooni before he joined his ancestors since none of his biological sons deemed it fit to visit him before his death. For this reason, the offspring’s of the Oduduwa sons use to visit the Ooni, at Ile Ife as one of the rites towards Obaship in ancient times.

I have gone this far to announce what I was thought as Yoruba History in order to properly deal with the issue at hand. In reference to the above article by Abiodun Ladepo, that his generation grew up to acknowledge Ooni Adesoji Aderemi as the unchallenged, unchallengeable chairman of the Western State’s council of Obas.  To use this assertion as oxygen to input the superiority of the Ooni is dubious because Ladepo’s time in reference, was when Yoruba chieftaincy affairs had been contaminated with Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s brand of politics. Before then, the Alaafin was paramount as he is, today.

To cut this matter short, let us look at the following scenarios.The only empire the Yoruba had was the Oyo Empire that stretched into Dahomey, now Benin etc., then, the Alaafin was the master and protector of all the Yoruba.

 Long before Nigeria’s independence, the colonial masters were interacting with the Yoruba Obas at the court of the Alaafin in the new Oyo. It was the pomposity of then Alaafin that angered the colonial masters to shift such meetings to Ibadan.

In all Yoruba, only the Alaafin is vested with the authority to appoint or honour anyone with a post or honour that covers all Yoruba land. To start with, what does Alaafn mean in Yoruba land?

The position of Alaafin as preeminent in Yoruba land was never in doubt or challenged until Chief Awolowo come up with his do-or-die politics.

If Owoade, the new Alaafin is cocky or disrespectful, it is a different issue that can be addressed behind the scene he is still young and has been a resident of Canada and not Oyo. The Yoruba cannot use that as an excuse to deprive him of his privileges or usurp his authority.

If on the other hand, the Yoruba nation has decided that chairmanship of council of Obas in every state would become rotational, fine but, it must not start and end in Oyo State. The Ooni of Ife holds the permanent chairmanship of Osun council, ditto, the Oba of Lagos, The Oba of Benin etc., since that is the case; the liberalization should go round in all Yoruba states. The hatred of the new Alaafin by the Yoruba nation is uncalled for. To a large extent, he is fighting for his right. You cannot start conferring titles that covers the Yoruba nation if you are not an Alaafin. Traditionally, the Alaafin is the Yoruba Oba that does not bow to another oba in Yoruba land. Like the Igbo would say: “You cannot strip the mice of his conjugal rights by withdrawing his wives because he has grown a tiny penis.”

Governor Makinde has victimized the Alaafin of Oyo, by ignoring precedence for reasons known to him. I urge Alaafin Owoade to challenge this injustice decisively. If what I can boast of is one Naira, I will send it to the Alaafin to help prosecute this case.

This orchestrated Yoruba wuru-wuru and mago-mago must be nipped in the bud before it expands and cause confusion; that was how the Yoruba’s  mishandling of the Western elections before independence turned into chaos and led to the January 1966 coup.

Boniface Alanwoko