Alaafin’s claims of supremacy-gctid30024

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Alaafin's claims of supremacy

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 By Aare Ayandotun Ayanlakin
 

 
IT is not unexpected that in their desperation for an Ibadan State, the elite of the town are leaving no stone unturned in order to realise their dream. In their bid for this, it is no wonder that they are applying old methods in their pursuit. It was established even within military circle at that time, that the protracted crisis of supremacy between the Alaafin and the Ooni which almost made the state ungovernable at that time was a major factor in the carving of Osun from Old Oyo State.
 
 But that was a battle of the titans between the two most important traditional rulers in Yorubaland. On the part of the Alaafin at that time, his contention was that whether in history or custom of the Yorubas, the Alaafin does not play second fiddle to any other traditional ruler in Yorubaland. Part of the documents which the Alaafin tendered before the court at that time to prove his pre-eminence were his interventions in various boundary disputes involving the territory of the Ooni and the Owa of Ilesa among other areas. He also referred to the fact that it was he who signed the Treaty of Cessation with the British government in his capacity as the Head of Yoruba nation. It was upon the avalanche of evidence which the respondents had no answer for, that made the authority chose political solution to the matter.
 
 Unfortunately, a section of Ibadan leadership had been taking the joining of the Olubadan and the Soun in the historic Alaafin/Ooni case as a big deal. They joined as a mark of honour and dignity to them based on the prospects of the case in view of facts of history at the disposal of Alaafin. Alaafin neither sought nor got any back up materials from the two of them.
 
According to Mogaji Gbade Ishola, the question of primacy and pre-eminence in the Oyo State Council of Obas had reached a level of obsession on the part of the Alaafin. What an insult. On August 8th, 1960 when Sir Adesoji Aderemi, the Ooni of Ife was sworn in as Governor of Western Region, the Alaafin of Oyo was appointed as the Chairman of the council of Obas for the region for a period of two years.
 
Following the political crisis that triggered the division in Action Group (AG). By 1962, when Ooni of Ife had ceased to be the Governor and Sir Odeleye Fadahunsi from Ilesa was appointed Governor.
 
The Ooni then reverted to his traditional stool as the Ooni of Ife and was attending the meeting of the Obas' when the first term of Alaafin Bello Gbadegesin Ladigbolu II expired, the Alaafin was re-appointed for another term of two years.
 
 The appointment letter, signed by A.O. Adebayo for Permanent Secretary Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs, was dated 15th March 1963. Reference No. CB.161/1/207.
 
The letter in part reads: "I am directed to inform you that in accordance with the provisions of section 3 of the Council of Obas and Chief Law, 1959, the Executive Council has been pleased to re-appoint you as the Chairman of the Council of Obas and Chiefs for another term of two years."
 
 "Memoranda on the matter to be placed before the Council are now being prepared and when they are completed, you will be informed so that an early date can be fixed for the meeting of the Council."
 
 The Alaafin was re-appointed for a third term of two years which took effect from 1965 until the military struck and truncated the political arrangement. For the period the Alaafin was the Chairman, no Oba protested.
 
 And the following Obas were members of the Council in this order:
 1. The Alaafin of Oyo
 2. The Ooni of Ife
 3. The Alake of Abeokuta
 4. The Awujale of Ijebuland
 5. The Owa Obokun of Ijesaland
 6. The Ewi of Ado-Ekiti
 7. The Osemawe of Ondo
 8. The Olowo of Owo
 9. The Deji of Akure
 10. The Orangun of Ila
 11. The Olubadan of Ibadan
 12. The Akarigbo of Ijebu-Remo
 
From that attendant register of the permanent members, Gbade Ishola and his team should observe the position of Olubadan who was on number 11 of the 12 permanent members. By the Edict number 11 of 1966 signed by the Late Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, the Military Governor (Western State), and principal law was amended and the Ooni was made the Chairman of the Council of Obas and Chiefs while the Alaafin was made the Deputy.
 
 Of course, Alaafin became the Deputy after he had protested and no other Oba protested.
 
In 1976, another Edict number 2 of 1976 was enacted by the government of the Western State which returned the Alaafin to number 1 on the list of the council members. In the same Edict that made the Alaafin the number 1 of the 12 permanent members, both Soun of Ogbomoso and Elejigbo of Ejigbo were paired to rotate membership representing Osun North-West in the council. The Olubadan in that Edict, retained his number 11 among the 12 permanent members. The Olubadan and the so called Ibadan elite never protested.
 
 Returning to Gbade Ishola claim of obsession of the part of Alaafin, I have used the above development to tell him that he and his sponsors are the ones now obsessed and wanted to lay claim to what their forebears had never claimed. In the history of Yoruba Obas, Olubadan had never protested the supremacy of the Alaafin and that of other senior Obas who take pre-eminence over him. And I still want to believe that even the incumbent Olubadan will not even think of equating himself with the Alaafin. It can only come from people with little or no respect for he history and tradition of the Yorubas. The supremacy battle in Yoruba among the Obas has always been between the Ooni and Alaafin. For anybody to wake up from the wrong side of the bed to begin to campaign for equality between the Alaafin and Olubadan or any other Oba for that matter in Oyo State is laughable and a sacrilege.
 
 It is also an unguarded obsession on the part of Ishola and his co-travellers to be distorting history in respect of the chronology of the conference of Yoruba Obas which met in Ibadan in 1933. The Daily Times of 1st June 1939 was unequivocal about the position of the Alaafin at the meeting when it reported that the Alaafin, as the chief host, of the meeting who responded to His Excellency the governor's address on behalf of other Obas.
 
 The implication of that, was that it was the Alaafin who hosted both the 1937 and 1939 conferences in both Oyo and Ibadan respectively. Also in its detailed report of the 1939 conference at Ibadan by the Daily Times of 5th June 1939, it listed the following Obas as those who attended with Olubadan coming on No. 16 of the 16 Obas.
 
 Those in attendance were:
 1. Ooni of Ife
 2. Alaafin of Oyo
 3. Alake of Abeokuta
 4. Awujale of Ijebu-Ode
 5. Oba of Benin
 6. Ewi of Ado-Ekiti
 7. Olowo of Owo
 8. Osemawe of Ondo
 9. Owa of Idanre
 10. Akarigbo of Ijebu-Remo
 11. Abodi of Ikoya
 12. Orangun of Ila
 13. Ore of Awtun
 14. Oba of Ipokia
 15. Owa of Ogbagi
 16. Olubadan of Ibadan.
 See the Nigerian Daily Times of 5th June, 1939.
 
From that list, the public can see that the Olubadan, coming on number 16 was ranked number 16 among the Obas in Western Region. So, if Gbade Ishola does not agree with the ranking of Olubadan since 69 years ago, the question is; why the long wait? Why didn't he or the Olubadan go to court to challenge that ranking about 69 years ago?
 
 The truth of the matter is that viewed against his historic pre-eminence which saw him raised to the status of god through Sango, no other Oba had combined humility with royalty to meet demands of modernity like the incumbent Alaafin Iku Baba Yeye Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III.
 
Part of Kabiyesi's surrender to modernity is my insistence on writing a rejoinder despite his advice that we should not join issues with any overzealous writer or commentator, especially with his people of Ibadan who are his children. It is for this reason that Kabiyesi had denied us access to his library which Ishola himself admitted is 'impressive and intimidating.' Pressed by my determination, I was forced to look elsewhere for the few but in controvertible documents under reference.
 
To Kabiyesi, history is so friendly with him that he does not have to contest supremacy with any Oba in Yorubaland more so in the present Oyo State.
 
 Let me say however, that modernity does not mean rebellion. Neither does it mean obliteration of history. It is instructive to say for the benefits of Mogaji Isholas of modern time that it is an act of sacrilegious rebellion for a son, in the name of civilisation or modernity, to renounce his forebears for choosing to stand by truth of history. Otherwise what does Ishola have to say to the landmark intervention of the boundary dispute between Iroko in the present Akinyele local government and Fiditi also in the present Afijio local government. Hear the testimony of the representatives of the Baale of Ibadan in the course of the arbitration. It was the Ikolaba Balogun of Ibadan who appeared for the Baale of Ibadan thus "I have a message from the Baale and Chiefs of Ibadan that all this land is under the Alaafin and whatever he says is good for all who are under him." In the same vein, Sanusi Asaju Balogun Ibadan states "I am a native of Ibadan. Baale and Chiefs told Ikolaba Balogun that they agree to the removal of farm boundary to wherever the Alaafin thinks correct" see pages 52 and 54 FIDITI IROKO BOUNDARY DISPUTE BEFORE LADIGBOLU, the Alaafin CMG. 1925 Reference National Archives 1/2/99.
 
 It may also interest Mogaji Ishola to see the WEST Kmt Magazine of January 24th 1920 during the conferment of CMG title on the Alaafin by Sir Hugh Clifford, the Colonial governor on behalf of His Majesty The King of England as reported by that Magazine: "The occasion was made one of a general holiday and of a durbar of the Chiefs of the Oyo and Ibadan divisions. From Friday the 12th all roads led to Oyo and headed by the Onikoyi of Ikoyi the visiting chiefs and their followers male and female, mounted and on foot, began to pour in. They included the Oyo district heads of Shaki, Kishi, Iseyin, Okeho and Iganna and the Baale of Ibadan with his district heads from Iwo, Osogbo, Ikirun, Ede, Ogbomoso and Ejigbo." Certainly, Ishola could not have been speaking for Ibadan with his sacrilegious reference to the mythical Sango. Before saying that Sango did not mean anything to Ibadan people, he ought to have availed himself of the book of that erudite Ibadan Scholar, a distinguished man of knowledge, Oba Isaac Akinyele on page 15 of his famous book "IWE ITAN IBADAN ATI DIE NINU AWON ILU AGBEGBE RE BI IWO, OSOGBO AT IKIRUN," published in 1911.
 With reference to the military prowess of Lagelu where he said in paragraph 5 of the book that "In due course, Sango who was the Alaafin in Oyo Ile, installed him as the Jagun of Yorubaland. This further enhanced the status of his town because if Alaafin wanted to declare war on any town, it is he, Lagelu, that would lead it as Jagun." Still in the same paragraph, Oba Akinyele explained the significance of the title of Jagun to Lagelu by saying that "at that time, Alaafin was the head of Oba of Yoruba including Egba, Ijebu and Ijesa."
 
 With that comment from the first educated Oba in Ibadan, it is nothing but intellectual gangsterism for the present crop of Ibadan elite to question the supremacy of Alaafin and by implication to challenge the authoritative work of his ancestor, Oba I.B. Akinyele. It is instructive to say that civilisation compliments history, it does not obliterate it.
 
As part of the dictates of modernity, the incumbent Alaafin had not allowed his obvious primacy or overlordship distracted him from fraternising and relating with other Obas who acknowledged his superiority and with whom he attracts with maximum courtesy and deference to their exalted offices. He visits, dines and shares, sentiments with them as Obas in their own rights.
 
 My honest advice to the Mogaji and his fellow elite is that they will be wasting their time if they think they can use insubordination to catch national attention in the way the Alaafin/Ooni episode caught it in 1989. For whereas that was a battle of two titans, this one is between father and son in which the father is not ready to trade words with his son. Hence, Kabiyesi's current refrain.
 
 Aare Ayandotun Ayanlakin,
 Royal Ambassador to Iku Baba Yeye,
 Alaafin of Oyo, is based in ukkk.