Obasanjo, Alaafin Adeyemi Epic – Lessons Therein!

Opinion:

History, has a unique way of repeating itself, thereby lending a historic credence to the ongoing hullabaloo, over former President Olusegun Obasanjo controversial statement/order by fiat, on some Yoruba Obas to stand up, at the Oyo state road inauguration, in Iseyin town, recently.

History, has it that, the then Oyo District Council Chairman, Chief Bode Thomas, in a similar version of Chief Obasanjo recent outburst, equally shouted at the then Alaafin of Oyo town, Oba Adeniran Adeyemi 11, the father of the last Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi 111, for not standing up for him, on his arrival for a council meeting, at Oyo.

Thereafter, Oba Adeyemi 11 was reported  to have mystically ordered him to continue barking like a dog, and Bode Thomas, eventually barked to death, days after!

The real question, now, is- ” se agbara, bi tii Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi 11, ko si mo ni”? (“Is there no more such a command traditional powers, like that of Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi 11, again?)

The answer is in the Yoruba wise saying, “eniti, o so ile baba e nu…o so apo iya ko” (the moment one loses one culture and  traditions…under whatever guise…be it modernity, religion or politics….one has lost it ALL). One will, therefore, occasionally suffer…outside….as an ostracized outcast…in the hands of the ‘miscreants’, having lost one’s ancestral home….as metaphorically explained in the above Yoruba wise saying, ‘eniti, o so ile baba e nu….’.

Examples abound of powerful Yoruba leaders….that have been cut down in their prime by the ‘world’… having been so deceived/brainwashed to abandon their culture.

Traditional stool is not an arena for charlatans or politico-religious bigotry, but for those who are inherently and naturally endowed to uphold the tenets/rituals involved, and are equally genuinely interested in following/fulfilling divine traditional practices, like abstaining from certain unguarded habits, outbursts, conducts, and cretan public social interactions, by becoming the adherents of truth, justice, fairness, divinity, holiness, utmost culture of dignity, glamour, and candour!

Traditionally, Obas don’t physically see dead human bodies or corpses….but, nowadays, Obas’ dead bodies/corpses, are being exposed to the non initiated, and lay on bare floors for their subjects to see, before religious interment….what an abomination with the dire consequences?

Religion and politics divide homes and nations- making once bossom friends become sworn enemies….but culture and traditions are unifying….which many modern day Yoruba Obas have abandoned, as the custodians, and turned their palaces into the divisive arena of politics and religion, instead of natural unifying centers for all their subjects.

E-signed

OLADIPO Oluwole
Public Affairs Analyst, and former Director of Information & Education, Ogun State Local Government Service, Abeokuta.
3/39, Mosorire Street, Soka, Ibadan. Oyo State.
oladipooluwole21@gmail.com. 08033598528.