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OPINION: ‘Alaafin’s Stool Is Not For Sale’

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By Lasisi Olagunju 

An oba is put on the throne to keep “the bush at bay.” Collectively and individually, the successful oba is praised as “so’gbó di’lé/sò’gbé dì’gboro/ oba a s’ààtàn d’ojà – the successful king is he who turns forest to home; the one who turns bush to town. Karin Barber’s ‘I Could Speak Until Tomorrow’ (published in 1991) is my book of reference here. An oba that would turn his town’s rubbish heap into a market would not be deficient in legitimacy; he would not owe his ascension to the throne solely to money and its filthy influence. A king whose reign would be well would come courtesy of the blessing of God and man. In the past, “nobody could be a good oba unless he had a very broad-based support in the town” (Ulli Beier). But royalty in Yorubaland today suffers the violence of money; money is the principal speaker that speaks and gets listened to. It is our parliament and our executive; it is the judiciary. It is true that a palace needs money to breathe; it is a necessity, but it should not be the reason for a king and his super elector.

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At a project inauguration event in Iseyin, Oyo State, on Friday, the state governor, Mr Seyi Makinde, announced that the vacant throne of the Alaafin of Oyo would not be allowed sold to the highest bidder. “Those of you fighting over Alaafin of Oyo’s stool should stop. Those who have collected money from people should know that Alaafin’s stool is not for sale. The stool is very important to Yoruba land; we will not allow it sold to the highest bidder.” That was quite cool, pleasing and reassuring. The governor spoke as an authentic Yoruba patriot who understands the place of the oba as the ori (head) and what it does in the life of the Yoruba society.

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One of the most difficult moments for a governor in Yorubaland is when a prominent oba’s stool falls vacant. The skies, at that moment, wear an incandescent shroud of lightning, thunder claps and storms of intrigues. Dr Omololu Olunloyo was Western State’s commissioner in charge of chieftaincy affairs when the last Alaafin was chosen in 1970. He tells dusky stories of what went into that decision. When a first class king dies and the governor allows the lowering of his guard, his face will suffer the ugliness of pimples. Where the soil is fertile, kingmakers sell thrones for princely sums and princes of means buy stools. Shortly after the immediate past Timi of Ede, Oba Tijani Oyewusi Agbonran II, joined his ancestors in August 2007, the then Osun State governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, asked the most senior kingmaker in that town which royal house’s turn it was to present the next oba. “It is everyone’s turn” was the answer the governor got. It cannot be every prince’s turn, the governor countered the kingmaker, asking him if what he was saying was that the family of the one who just died could also present a candidate. And the kingmaker replied the governor: “Ṣebí oyè bàbá won ni” (Why not? It is their father’s chieftaincy). That final answer was a code (or a red flag) for rent seeking and rent collection – a recipe for interminable litigious crisis. The governor understood what was not said, and, I am aware, he quickly closed all roads to trouble.

 

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Sometimes, it is the princes and their houses who run after kingmakers and assail them with irresistible cash. Throne purchasers pursue chiefs up the hill and down the valley. The same happens to key people around the approving authority, the governor. Even small me, as the governor’s spokesman, I received august visitors from the town of Ede who said they came to thank me. Thank me for what? They said I issued a statement in which I promised that government would “follow due process in filling the stool” and because of that they brought gifts. Where I come from, a child’s most precious possessions are his mother’s and father’s prayers. I got plenty of such prayers against missteps before I became an orphan, and I pray daily for those parental fortifications to dictate what I do, what I say, what I eat. My elderly guests said they brought kola nuts for me; I told them I inherited hectares of kola nut farms from my father but I don’t eat kola nuts. They fixed their gaze on me; I also looked at my ‘appreciative’ throne-seeking visitors and smiled. I showered them with rejective thanks. They left with their kola nuts in their pocket.

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Who or what should choose the next Alaafin? The answer is in tradition and religion, encased carefully in lore and anecdotes. Priest and professor of Ifa religion and a former vice chancellor of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile Ife, Professor Wande Abimbola, offered an insight in November 2022 in an interview published by the newspaper I edit. He told this story: “In ancient times, there was a vacancy in the stool of the Alaafin. In those days, Ifá would choose from among the princes. So they had the list of all the princes; they presented all to Ifá and Ifá rejected all of them. After exhausting the names of all the princes, the kingmakers were worried about what to do next. One of them said: ‘there is one person who lives in a village far away. He carries his load of firewood to the town once a week. He goes to the bush, cuts firewood, takes it to the town every week to sell. After selling, he would go back to the village. His name is Otonporo. Why don’t we try him?’ So they consulted Ifá if Otonporo would be fit for the throne, and if the Oyo Empire would be prosperous under his reign. Ifá said yes. At that time if Ifá had chosen you as the new Alaafin, the kingmakers would meet you in the house wherever you were. Otonporo had just put his heavy load of firewood on his head, coming to the town. They met him as he was leaving his abode in the forest. They shouted: ‘Otonporo, da’gi nùn; ire ti dé’lé kokoko’ (meaning ‘Otonporo, throw away your firewood; great fortune is awaiting you in the city.’) Otonporo became Alaafin and ruled for a long time. He was a successful king….” None of the rich princes in the metropolis got the throne; it was one hewer of wood somewhere deep in the bush who got the crown – and brought peace and prosperity to Oyo and its people.

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A good leader is to his people what a good child is to its parents. When a child takes the right steps, the mother sings delightsome tunes; when a child opens its arms, it delights its father (omo sí’sè o wù’yá/ omo sí’pá, omo wu baba). Every Yoruba person should be proud of Governor Makinde’s stance on the Alaafin stool. His vow that the stool won’t be sold to the highest bidder is good news. It means we won’t have an Alaafin that has no regard for etiquette and protocols; one who routinely violates values and would be beating up other obas in private and public places. When a government makes a vow to do good, the people would be assisting themselves by helping it to get the promise fulfilled. We should be interested in what is happening in Oyo town and what will happen to the stool there. We should particularly note the governor’s choice of words. What he said was not a guess-work; he was sure of what had happened and may still happen to the process. He hinted that some people had taken money to force an unworthy stuff into the vacant ààfin in Oyo. Who took money and who gave money?

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Things happen daily around us; only that we are too blind (or too drunk) to see them. But if the eyes are attentive enough, they should have no problem seeing through the dank alleys of nostrils. It is not as if the decay in our obaship system started today. Maggots and nestling peckers have, long before now, been gutting the Yoruba royalty. Pioneer arts, culture and tradition scholar, Ulli Beier, was here from 1950 through the ’70s. He observed the Yoruba society’s unique monarchy and its democratic mainframes. He noted that in the selection of an oba, every part of the community had a say in it. He added that the Yoruba held the belief that an oba that lacked broad-based support in the town could not be a good king. In exasperation, he lamented that “now, people more or less buy the office, or they are imposed by the government.” The German uttered those words decades ago. Ulli Beier said more about the journey with so much poignancy in this narration: “In the 1950s, I met a generation of oba like Timi Laoye of Ede, Oba Adenle of Osogbo, the Olokuku of Okuku (Oyinlola) and many more. They were Christians and they understood the changed political situation. They believed in education but they were also strongly committed to upholding the dignity of their office. They also understood the value and wisdom of ancient Yoruba traditions. They were an impressive group of men, of kings. They did not use their office to enrich themselves; and they were absolutely accessible to the people. Now, you have a generation of oba, many of them political appointees who have by-passed traditional election procedures in a shameless way. A surprisingly large number of these new oba have been accountants or big businessmen before ascending to the throne. Some see the office as a means of making money. Various governments keep them in tow by throwing a few contracts their way. You now have an oba who shamelessly asks: ‘where is my envelope?’ – a new euphemism for ‘haven’t you brought any money to give me?’ So, how is Yoruba society going to cope with such problems? Should this ancient institution be abolished? Can it be rejuvenated, and, in such a way that we can keep politics out of it? Can it still play a vital and positive part in contemporary and future Yoruba society? If not, can it be replaced by something else? And what will that ‘something else’ be? Who or what will give a sense of direction and cohesion to the Yoruba town?” (Ulli Beier in Conversations, 2012; page 84-85). Beier asked the right questions: in the face of this thing we called ‘democracy’, shouldn’t the institution of obaship be abolished? Or can it be saved with rejuvenation? How? Who will save it?

 

The kingmakers in the Otonporo case above had a choice: they could sell the Oyo throne and strut the metropolis in accursed beaded wealth. The priest too had a choice; he could collect money and pick a candidate his oracle did not command him to pick. But both sides did not take the route to personal and communal ruin. They knew that every bad behaviour had very bad consequences. A purchased throne, most times, results in having a bad oba. And, what is the effect of having a bad king? A bad king is exactly the public equivalent of a bad head. A town can survive lack of rains but no society survives the ravage of bad leadership. Leaders without legitimacy reverse gains no matter what riches they inherit – they make bush of their society and ruin their people’s good head. Look around you. It is real. I quote Karin Barber again: “…the ruins of abandoned houses overgrown with bush, the traces of whole ruined settlements, remain as a warning that at any time, the conquest of the bush can be reversed…” True. The quickest way to reverse “the conquest of the bush” is to invest the powers of the state in the wrong hands. Athens and Sparta were Ancient Greece’s powerhouses. They convulsed and lost their luster to bad choices. The frailty of the polis is a constant warning that we must never plant thorns and thistles where rose is desired. Oba Lamidi Adeyemi died in April 2022; he was a very successful king and a pride to the Yoruba, home and abroad. When he died, the question was: who steps into his shoes and when? That we are still asking that question in September 2023 is to our collective shame as a people.

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17-year-old Nigerian Named World Best In English At 2025 TeenEagle Finals In London

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…Outperforms over 20,000 participants from 69 countries

Nafisa Aminu, a 17-year-old student of Tulip International College, Yobe State, has emerged world’s best in English at the 2025 TeenEagle Global Finals.

The 17-year-old was named the World Best in English Language Skills at the 2025 TeenEagle Global Finals held in London, United Kingdom.

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The TeenEagle competition is an internationally recognised contest that tests English proficiency, critical thinking, and communication skills, attracting students from both English-speaking and non-English-speaking nations.

Nafisa’s triumph was confirmed in a statement by the head of her family, Hassan Salifu, who attributed her success to “dedication, discipline, and the enabling support of the state government.”

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Representing Nigeria, Nafisa outperformed over 20,000 participants from 69 countries, a historic feat that has thrust her into the global academic spotlight and brought honour to Nigeria.

 

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FG Promotes 30 Senior NCoS Officers To Assistant Controller General

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The Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board has approved the promotion of 30 senior officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service to the rank of Assistant Controller General of Corrections.

The announcement was made in a press statement signed by the NCoS spokesperson Umar Abubakar, on Tuesday.

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“The Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board has approved the promotion of 30 Controllers of Corrections to the prestigious rank of Assistant Controller General of Corrections,” the statement read.

Abubakar noted that the promotions were made in line with CDCFIB’s commitment to “merit-based advancement, professional excellence, and the continuous strengthening of leadership within the Nigerian Correctional Service.”

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“Among the newly promoted officers are twenty-seven general duty officers who have demonstrated exceptional dedication, leadership, and operational competence in various formations across the country.

“In addition, three professional officers have also been elevated in recognition of their outstanding service and specialized contributions in the areas of Medical Laboratory Science, Nursing, and Public Health,” the statement read.

According to the statement, the promotion exercise was said to align with the ongoing reforms in the Service, a key part of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

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The statement credited the reform momentum to the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, whose efforts were described as “unwavering” and “unprecedented.”

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Controller General of Corrections, Sylvester Nwakuche, congratulated the newly promoted officers, charging them to rise to the responsibilities of their new roles.

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“I urge them to redouble their effort to service delivery, strategic leadership, and the core mandates of reformation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of inmates,” he said.

He further stressed that the promotions are not merely rewards for past service but “a call to higher responsibility in line with global best practices in correctional management.”

“The Service remains committed to building a motivated, disciplined, and professional workforce capable of meeting the complex demands of modern corrections and public safety,” Nwakuche added.

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Adeleke Flies To US For Davido’s Wedding

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Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has travelled to the United States to attend the wedding ceremony of his nephew and music star, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido.

Recall, Davido confirmed that he and his wife, Chioma Avril Rowland, will have their white wedding in Miami, Florida, in August 2025.

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He made the announcement during an interview on The Breakfast Club, aired on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.

The governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, confirmed Adeleke’s trip in a statement issued on Tuesday, in response to concerns raised by the opposition All Progressives Congress over the governor’s whereabouts.

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Governor Adeleke left Nigeria for the United States via the family’s private jet a few days ago for the wedding of the global music icon, his beloved nephew, David Adeleke.

“His Excellency is extending an invitation to the opposition party to attend the event and share in the joy of the occasion with the Adeleke family.

“Those unable to attend may join virtually,” Rasheed stated.

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He noted that Adeleke had not taken any official vacation since assuming office in November 2022 and said the current trip would be short.

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Additionally, from the November 2022 date, the governor has not gone on official vacation.

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“For this current trip, the Governor has again chosen to make it a short one to continually attend to crucial state functions.

“Meanwhile, the Governor is in constant communication with his deputy, Prince Kola Adewusi, who is supervising activities of the government,” Rasheed added.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Osun APC had accused Adeleke of leaving the state without informing residents or formally transmitting power to his deputy. The party described the governor’s absence as “abnormal.”

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In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, the party said, “The question being asked in hushed tones in some public places, inside commercial buses and by motorcycle riders and their passengers in the state, is where could be the whereabouts of their governor for this long.

“As the governor of all and sundry, we as a party need to know the whereabouts of the governor and who has been holding fort for him during his absence from the state since two weeks ago.

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“Did the governor duly transmit power to his deputy who is constitutionally covered to temporarily step into the shoes of his principal in his absence?”

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