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Alaafin Owoade: Thy Bata Drum Is Sounding Too Loudly (2)

Published

7 months ago

May 16, 2025

Tunde Odesola

With three horizontal lines on each side of his mulatto cheeks complementing the three vertical lines on his forehead, the abaja tribal marks beautifying the face of Adejuyigbe Adefunmi were not sculpted in the heart of Yorubaland, they were incised in the United States of America, when the prince was eight days old.

His father, Oba Efuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I, who founded Oyotunji, an African village near Sheldon, Beaufort County, South Carolina, joined his ancestors on February 11, 2005, after living for seven decades and six years.

Oba Adefunmi I embarked on the journey to the great beyond after decades on the throne, bestowing a legacy of Yoruba cultural reawakening. His son and successor, Oba Adejuyigbe Adefunmi II, was the 19th among 23 children, all of whom were born to Efuntola in the polygamous family he ran in the US.

Tragically, the successor Oba Adefunmi II succumbed to multiple knife injuries inflicted by his elder sister, Akiba Kasale Meredith, 53, on Monday, July 29, 2024, after the village celebrated Sango festival the previous Saturday and Sunday.

But, in a viral video recorded years before his death, the 47-year-old Oba Adefunmi II, spoke with pride about the vision and enduring relevance of Oyotunji, saying, “Oyotunji African Village is one of its kind in North America today. It’s the only African village with a king, king’s wives, with chiefs, a school, a library and all of those good things. Oyotunji was configured to be a monastery of sorts for the reconfiguration, restoration, and, of course, researching our traditional African culture. We’re descendants of West Africa. Of course, as we know, people without a culture are lost.”

He continued, “The future of Oyotunji remains relevant in that we continue to educate, we continue to cater to all of those who are soul-searching, looking for their ancestors and who they are. By coming to Oyotunji, you can get a snapshot of how our ancestors lived before. You are going to get a splash of Africa in one day, from the cuisine to the dancing, the drumming, the atmosphere, and the heat from the sun is really reminiscent of Africa.

“Our gates are always open to people to come and we offer them spiritual services. We do not practice a religion, we practice a culture, and that’s why we want people to know about Oyotunji, and you can be a part of this culture.”

In an interview published in The PUNCH, on April 15, 2017, the young ruler of the village, which sits on 27 acres, said Oyotunji, over the years, had been sustained by God and the selfless commitment of villagers.

His words, “Our forefathers and mothers were the ones who pulled their small resources together to get the land and the rest was up to Eledumare. We had the men in the village who were the builders and the women in the village were the protectors of the village and the children were the future. There was no funding from the government, Africa or Europe. We utilised our African culture to create income, so Oyotunji became a tourist destination.”

On the origin of tribal marks in the community, the king explained, “The tribal marks began in Oyotunji in 1975. Each person in Oyotunji began to receive tribal marks. I received my ila oju (tribal marks) when I was eight days old, just before the isomo loruko (naming ceremony). Men and women receive them. However, today, it is not mandatory as it was. Now it is up to the parents and children if they want to receive them. Today, many adults are coming to us to receive tribal marks but I tell them we don’t do it when you are old because it is very painful.

“As a child, it is just like circumcision. It is the child’s first cut in the community. When you bleed, they put ewé (leaves) and àsè (traditional powder). When those things are put, they make you powerful. We chose to bear marks similar to the Oyo people because my father was so mystified by the Oyo Empire. I don’t think there has been an empire like that since and that is why he named the village after Oyo. As we know, Oyo was the political capital of the Yoruba people while Ile-Ife is the spiritual capital of the Yoruba race.”

Oba Adefunmi II also spoke about how his father became king. The title was not self-proclaimed, he emphasised, recalling that the people of Oyotunji made his father king in 1972 when they felt the village needed a leader.

“Some of our descendants were stolen and taken to America but my father always knew that he had royal blood. It was not until 1972 when the people of Oyotunji after 20 years of Yoruba culture development, realised that my father should become a king. My father did not make himself a king, he was just the builder and constructor. One day, the people woke up and decided to make him king…They told him to sit down and said that from that day, there was no more work for him and he would become the ruler of the village,” he said.

Explaining how Oyotunji drew its spiritual legitimacy from Ile-Ife, Oba Adefunmi II recalled his father’s visit to Nigeria in 1981 for the Orisa World Conference, and how Ooni Okunade Sijuwade made his father king.

Adefunmi said, “My father visited Ile-Ife on November 16, 1981 for the Orisa world conference held at the University of Ife. Meanwhile, Oyotunji had been in existence for about 11 years while the Yoruba culture movement had been in existence in North-America for about 20 years. Baba came to the conference and Oba Sijuwade was there.”

According to Adefunmi, Oba Sijuwade was impressed when his father showed pictures and slides of Oyotunji on a projector, saying this prompted the paramount ruler to invite his father, along with all the dignitaries that attended the conference, to a reception inside the palace.

“During the reception, he (Ooni) surprised my father by singling him out and he told his kingmakers to take him to the back (of the palace). (There,) my father said they sacrificed a goat to the Ada Oba Akogun (the sword), and the Ooni consecrated it by saying that from that day forward, he (Efuntola) would be the king of all the Yoruba in North America. This was the second coronation for my father. He then received his official status from the Source of the Yoruba kingdom. Baba came back to the United States with that and began to expand the royal family, the crowns, royal insignia, and the Yoruba culture, but this time with the spiritual backing of the source,” he said.

For any Yoruba king to fight over the control of Oyotunji is tantamount to the parable of ‘Eni ri n kan e’ – ‘someone who finds a prized jewel and is dying out of excitement over his find; what should the one that lost the jewel do?’

Oyotunji means ‘Oyo has risen again’. Its conception was the sole work of African-Americans inspired to retrace their ancestry. No Ooni or Alaafin supplied manpower nor contributed a dime to the creation of Oyotunji, thereby making any claim to the community by any traditional ruler an attempt to reap where they did not sow.

“Ko si gbe ru mi laafin” is an ancient proverb which validates the palace as a silo, where the poor drop choice foods and ware. But some Yoruba monarchs are changing this narrative. One such example is the Orangun of Oke-Ila, Oba Adedokun Abolarin, who built a school for indigent students. Another example is the new Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba Adesuyi Haastrup, who has deployed his funds to the construction of roads within his domain and the sponsoring of 50 Ilesa youths to Nasarawa State for an agric empowerment programme.

Retired broadcaster and cousin to the kabiyesi, Folasade Odunlade, nee Haastrup, also said the Owa Obokun has given 1,000 indigent students in the community bursary awards.

“Baba o gbodo so wipe o di owo omo ohun lorun,” a father shall never seek help in the hands of his children in heaven. No matter how successful the child is, he’s the son of his father.

There’s no gainsaying the fact that Oyo played a prominent role in the protection of Yorubaland hundreds of years ago, but the place of Ile-Ife as ‘The Source’ is evergreen. When scholars speak about the Old Oyo Empire, they refer to it in the past, using the verb ‘was’ because it no longer exists. But Ile-Ife is past, present and continuous because it is the source of Yoruba.

After the fall of the Oyo Empire, Ibadan warriors also protected Yorubaland. Is it, therefore, right for the Olubadan to claim equality or supremacy over the Ooni? NO!

After Nigeria’s independence, Ibadan rose to become the political capital of the Western Region, while Lagos rose to become the commercial capital of the entire country, and later became more politically powerful than Ibadan from 1999. But, won’t it be childish for Ibadan and Lagos to bicker over who is greater when there are many issues confronting the Yoruba race?

In the Ogbori Elemoso epic by Lere Paimo, the antagonist, Elemoso, warns Soun Ogunlola, the protagonist, “O ma je ki awon ara Oyo o tan e?” – Don’t let Oyo people deceive you. This is a piece of advice for Alaafin. The Alaafin shouldn’t allow bad counsel to mislead him. He started well, he should not derail now. The Ooni too will find this counsel and the ‘agba ni n gba’ counsel invaluable because, truly, tolerance is the forte of the elderly.

The Awise Agbaye, Prof Wande Abimbola, said plans were afoot to settle the alleged bickering between the two prominent rulers, saying it was unnecessary.

In an interview with me, Abimbola said, “Yoruba elders shall look into it. We shall settle it. The Yoruba do not need such a quarrel. Ife is the source of Yoruba, and Oyo played a crucial role in the history of the Yoruba. So, both rulers should show respect to each other. We must find a middle ground for both respected kings to stand upon – a middle ground of honour and solidarity for us all.”

No Ooni in history ever wore tribal marks, though the ‘pele’ tribal marks are the commonest in Ife. ‘Abaja’ is the most common tribal mark among Oyo people. Therefore, if ‘onipele’ – the ‘pele’ tribal mark wearer – is angry, let the ‘alabaja’ hug him: The Alaafin and the Ooni should unite.

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com

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News

OPINION: Time For The Abachas To Rejoice

Published

6 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Editor

By Lasisi Olagunju

General Sani Abacha was a great teacher. He pioneered the doctrine of consensus candidacy in Nigeria. He founded a country of five political parties and when it was time for the parties to pick their candidates for the presidency, all the five reached a consensus that the man fit for the job was Abacha himself. Today, from party primaries to consensus candidacy; from setting the opposition on fire, to everything and every thing, Abacha’s students are showing exceptionally remarkable brilliance.

Anti-Abacha democrats of 28 years ago are orchestrating and celebrating the collapse of opposition parties today. They are rejoicing at the prospect of a one-party, one-candidate presidential election in 2027. Abacha did the same. So, what are we saying? Children who set out to resemble their parents almost always exceed their mark; they recreate the parents in perfect form and format. Abacha was a democrat; his pupils inherited his political estate and have, today, turned it into an academy. Its classes are bursting at the seams with students and scholars. Aristotle and his Lyceum will be green with envy, and very jealous of this busy academy.

Like it was under Abacha, the opposition suffers from a blaze ignited by the palace. But, and this is where I am going: fires, once started, rarely obey and respect their makers.

My friend, the storyteller, gave me an old folktale of a man who thought the world must revolve around him, alone. One cold night, the man set his neighbours’ huts on fire so he alone would stand as the ‘big man’ of the village. The man watched with satisfaction as the flames rose, dancing dangerously close to the skies. But the wind had a scheme of its own. It hijacked the fire, lifted it, and dropped it squarely on the arsonist’s own thatched roof. By dawn, all huts in the village had become small heaps of ash.

Fire, in all cultures, is a communal danger; whoever releases it cannot control its path. The Fulani warn that he who lights a fire in the savannah must not sleep among dry grass, a wisdom another African people echo by saying that the man who sets a field ablaze should not lie beside raffia in the same field. Yet our rulers strike anti-opposition matches with reckless confidence, believing fire is a loyal servant that burns only the huts of opponents. They forget that power is a strong wind, and wind has no party card and respects none.

When it is state policy to weaken institutions, criminalise dissent and have rivals crushed with the excuse of order, the blaze spreads quietly, patiently, until it reaches the bed of its maker. Fire does not negotiate; it does not remember or know who started it (iná ò mo eni ó dáa). In politics, as in the grassland, those who weaponise flames rarely die with unburnt roofs over their heads.

The folktale above is the story of today’s ruling party. People in power think it is wisdom to weaken, scatter, or destroy opposition platforms outright. They have forgotten the ancient lesson of the village: When you burn every hut around you, you leave nothing to break the wind when it blows back. A democratic system that cannibalises opposition always ends up consuming itself. Our First Republic is a golden example to cite here. History is full of parties that dug graves for their rivals and ended up falling inside.

Literature is rich with warnings about the danger of lighting fires; they more often than not get out of control. In Duro Ladipo’s ‘Oba Koso’, Sango is the lord of fire and ultimately victim of his fire. In Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’, we see how a single spark of regicide grows into a blaze of paranoia and bloodshed that ultimately consumes Macbeth himself. In D. O. Fagunwa’s Adiitu Olodumare, we see how Èsù lé̟̟hìn ìbejì is consumed by the fire of his intrigues; Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ shows a similar pattern with Macbeth: Okonkwo’s role in Ikemefuna’s death ignites a chain of misfortunes that destroys his honour and his life. In ‘The Crucible’, Arthur Miller’s characters take turns to unleash hysteria through lies, only to be trapped by the inferno they created. Ola Rotimi’s ‘The Gods Are Not to Blame’ and even Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ echo the same lesson. Again and again, literature insists that those who start dangerous fires whether of ambition, deceit, violence, or pride, should never expect to sleep safely. Always, the tongue of the flames turns and returns home.

Abacha must be very proud that the democrats who fought and hounded him to death have turned out his faithful students. From NADECO to labour unions and to the media, every snail that smeared Abacha with its slime is today rubbing its mouth on the hallowed hallways of his palace.

Under Abacha, to be in opposition was to toy with trouble. Under this democracy, all opposition parties suffer pains of fracture. Parallel excos here; factional groups there. Opposition figures are in greater trouble. It does not take much discernment before anyone knows that Tiger it is that is behind Oloruntowo’s troubles; Oloruntowo is not at all a bad dog. But how long in comfort can the troubler be?

In 1996, Professor Jeffrey Herbst of the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, United States, asked: “Is Nigeria a Viable State?” He went on to assert – and predict – that “Nigeria does not work and probably cannot work.” He said the country was failing not from any other cause but “from a particular pattern of politics …that threatens to even further impoverish the population and to cause a catastrophic collapse…” That was Nigeria under Abacha. We struggled to avert that “catastrophic collapse”; with death’s help, we got Abacha off the cockpit, and birthed for ourselves this democracy. Now, we are not even sure of the definitions of ‘state’, ‘viable’ and ‘viability’. What is sure is that the “particular pattern of politics” that caught the attention of the American in 1996, is here in 2025. As it was under Sani Abacha, everyone today sings one song, the same song.

Abacha died in 1998; Abacha is alive in 2025. It is strange that his family members are not celebrating. How can you win a race and shut yourself up? My people say happiness is too sweet to be endured. The default response to joy is celebration but we are not seeing it in the family of the victorious Abacha. Because the man in dark goggles professed this democracy, this democracy and its democrats have apotheosised Abacha; he is their prophet. They take their lessons from his sacred texts; his shrine is their preferred place of worship.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: Absurd Wars, Absurd Lords

“As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before Me; every tongue will confess to God.” – Romans 14:11. Our political lords copied those words and, in profaned arrogance, read it to Nigeria and its terrorised people. Now, everyone, from governors to the governed, bows; their tongue confesses that the president is king, unqueriable and unquestionable.

When a man is truly blessed, all the world, big and small, will line up to bless him and the work of his hand. Governors of all parties are singing ‘Bola on Your Mandate We Shall Stand.’ In the whole of southern Nigeria, only one or two governors are not singing his anthem. Northern governors sing ‘Asiwaju’ better and with greater gusto than the owners of the word. In their obsessive love for the big man’s power and the largesse it dispenses, they assume that ‘Asiwaju’ is the president’s first name. They say “President Asiwaju.” The last time a leader was this blessed was 1998 – twenty-seven years ago.

Our thirst for disaster is unslaked. All that the man wanted was to be president; he became president and our progressive democrats are making a king out of him. And we watch them and what they do either in sheepish horror, complicit acquiescence or in criminal collusion. We should not blame the leader for seeing in himself Kabiyesi. That is the status we conferred on him. Even the humblest person begins to gallop once put on a horse. True. Humility or simplicity disappears the moment power unlimited is offered.

The chant of the president’s personal anthem is what Pawley and Müllensiefen call “Singing along.” It is never a stringless act. Worse than Abacha’s Two-Million-Man March, we see two hundred million people, crowds of crowds, move together in one voice, bound by an invisible script and spell. We feel a ‘terrorised’ democracy where citizens learn, through bowing, concurring and context rather than conviction, to sing the song of the kingly emperor. People who are not sure of anything again discover that synchronised voices create safety, and belonging. They proceed to stage it as a ritual for economic and political survival.

The popular Abacha badge decorated the left and right breasts of many fallen angels. Collective chanting signalled loyalty and reduced individual risk. Under this regime of democrats, the badge will soon come, but the chant is louder and wider cast. Unitarised voices have become instruments through which power is normalised, and by which dissent is dissolved.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: Kukah And A Nation Of Marabouts

Two years into this democracy in 2001, Nigerian-American professor of African history and global studies, Raphael Chijioke Njoku, warned that “new democracies often revert to dictatorships.” He was a prophet and his scholarship prescient. We are there.

There are sorries to say and apologies to drop. On September 8, 1971, Nigeria killed Ishola Oyenusi and his armed robbery gang members because they stole a few thousands of Nigerian pounds. Why did the past have to shoot them when it knew it would stage greater heists in the future? It is the same with Sani Abacha and his politics. Why did we fight him so viciously if this grim harbour was our destination? I do not have to say it before you know that the spirit of the dead is out celebrating its vindication.

American political scientist, Samuel Huntington, in his ‘The Third Wave’, lists four typologies of authoritarian regimes: one-party, personal, military and racial oligarchy. The last on this list (racial) we may never experience in Nigeria but we’ve seen military rule and its unseemly possibilities. The emergence of the first two (one-party and personal dictatorship) was what we fought and quenched in the struggle with Abacha. Unfortunately, the evil we ran out of town has now walked in to assert its invincibility. What did Abacha’s sons do that today’s children of Eli are not doing ten-fold? Democracy is a scam, or, at best, an ambush.

Politicians have borrowed God’s language without His temperament. They have restructured the Presidential Villa into Nigeria’s Mount Sinai where commandments descend on tablets of gold bars. The whole country has become an endless Sunday service; the president sits on the altar, ministers and party chieftains swing incense burners, emitting smokes of deceit and self-righteousness; the masses kneel in reverence and awe of power. They look up to their Lord Bishop, the president, as he dispenses sweet holy communion to the converted – and dips the bottom of the stubborn into baptismal hot waters. We were not fair to Sani Abacha.

We cannot eat banana and have swollen cheek. But we can eat banana and have swollen cheeks. What will account for the difference is the sacrifice we offer to the mouth of the world. The words of the world rebuke absolute power. By choking the space for alternative voices, my Fulani friend said the ruling party is setting the whole political village ablaze, including the patch of ground on which its own structure stands. No parties or leaders survive the inferno they unleash on others. The flame of the fire the ruling party ignites and fans today will, inevitably, find its way home tomorrow.

News

Ex-Nigerian Amb., Igali, To Deliver Keynote Address As IPF Holds Ijaw Media Conference

Published

7 hours ago

December 15, 2025

Editor

…invites general public to grace event

A former Nigerian ambassador to Scandinavian countries, Amb (Dr.) Godknows Igali, is billed to deliver a keynote address at the second edition of the Ijaw Media Conference, scheduled for Wednesday, December 17, 2025, in Warri, Delta State.

In a statement jointly issued by Arex Akemotubo and Tare Magbei, chairman and secretary of the planning committee respectively, said the conference, with the theme: ‘Safeguarding Niger Delta’s Natural Resources for Future Generations,’ speaks to the urgent need for responsible stewardship of the region’s land and waterways.

According to the statement, the conference will feature
Dr Dennis Otuaro, Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, as the chairman while a former president of the Ijaw Youth Council, Engr Udengs Eradiri, will deliver the lead presentation.

The statement described Otuaro’s chairing the event as a reflection of the conference focus on policy, accountability and sustainable development in the Niger Delta.

According to the statement, both the keynote speaker and the lead presenter are expected to shape discussions on environmental protection, governance and the role of the media.

According to the statement, the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Emomotimi Guwor, is expected to attend as Special Guest of Honour.

The statement further list Pere of Akugbene-Mein Kingdom, HRM Pere Luke Kalanama VIII, first Vice Chairman of the Delta State Traditional Rulers Council, as Royal Father of the Day, while Chief Tunde Smooth, the Bolowei of the Niger Delta, as Father of the Day.

Others include: Mr Lethemsay Braboke Ineibagha, Managing Director of Vettel Mega Services Nigeria Limited; Prof Benjamin Okaba, President of the Ijaw National Congress; Sir Jonathan Lokpobiri, President of the Ijaw Youth Council; Hon. Spencer Okpoye of DESOPADEC; Dr Paul Bebenimibo, Registrar of the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko; Chief Boro Opudu, Chairman of Delta Waterways and Land Security; and Chief Promise Lawuru, President of the Egbema Brotherhood.

The organising committee said the conference is expected to bring together journalists, policymakers, community leaders, and researchers to promote informed dialogue and collective action toward protecting the Niger Delta for future generations.

News

Okpebholo Pledges To Clear Inherited Salary Arrears, Gratuities At AAU

Published

7 hours ago

December 15, 2025

Editor

Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has assured the management of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, of his administration’s commitment to addressing accumulated unpaid salaries, gratuities and other critical challenges inherited from past administrations.

In a statement, Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Dr. Patrick Ebojele, said the governor gave the assurance when he received the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor (Mrs.) Eunice Eboserehimen Omonzejie, and members of her management team on a courtesy visit to Government House, Benin City.

Okpebholo, who congratulated the Vice-Chancellor and her team on their appointments, noted that their presentation underscored the depth of challenges confronting the institution.

“From what you have outlined today, it is clear that Ambrose Alli University was on life support. I must commend the progress you have recorded so far since assuming the office,” the governor said.

“I am impressed by your efforts, and I want to assure you that in any way possible, this administration will support the university to reposition it and restore its lost glory.”

Addressing the issue of accumulated salary arrears, the governor described the non-payment of staff salaries over several years as unfair and unacceptable.

“It is not right for people to work and not be paid. The issue of unpaid salaries, pensions and gratuities running into billions of naira is something I will take as a project,” he said.

“These are issues inherited from the past government, and we will address them.”

Okpebholo also acknowledged other concerns raised by the university management, including hostel infrastructure, accreditation-related challenges and facilities required for programmes such as Medical Laboratory Science.

“This year’s budget is already at an advanced stage, but I expect that these critical needs will be properly captured in your budget proposals. Once that is done, we will see how best to move the institution forward,” he added.

Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Omonzejie, explained that the delay in paying a courtesy visit to the governor was due to a recently concluded accreditation exercise and the need to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the state of the university.

She noted that the university she inherited was in a moribund state, plagued by infrastructural decay, unpaid salaries and accreditation challenges, among others.

Omonzejie expressed profound appreciation to Governor Okpebholo for what she described as “life-saving interventions” since his assumption of office.

According to her, the governor’s approval of an increased monthly subvention, restoration of affected staff to the payroll, support for graduating backlog medical students, improved security logistics, and the facilitation of road construction through the Niger Delta Development Commission have significantly revived the institution.

She also formally presented pressing needs requiring urgent attention, including accumulated unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities and union deductions, as well as the construction of lecture theatres and hostels to enhance accreditation and expand student intake, particularly in the College of Medicine.