In Africa, kingship has been considered sacred from time immemorial. We invented the Divine Right of Kings before Europe copied and popularised it. We ascribed ultimate power to the Unmade Maker under whom many gods operated. Next to the gods were the kings. Thus, in Yoruba culture, the king is, “Alase ekeji orisa” (equivalent of deputy gods). Because he ranks next to the gods, he is revered in the customised greeting, Kabiyesi (“Who can question you?”) An Oba worthy of the name is an embodiment of goodness, justice and, most especially, the culture of his people.
I am here referring only to kings whose thrones can be traced to hundreds of years. Not quota kings, created over imaginary kingdoms in societies that have no structures for it. Some cultures are, by choice, republican. There’s nothing wrong with that, except that they should not muddy the waters by pretending that they too can create kingdoms out of nothing. It doesn’t work that way. If you doubt me, ask the average American what he thinks about the attempt by his president to play emperor!
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Bolaji Idowu
The British colonialists thought they were superior and so, described “African folk religion” as polytheism. Ignorance! In his book, “Olodumare, God In Yoruba Belief”, the great cleric and academic, Professor Bolaji Idowu postulated that Olodumare is the Creator, Cause and Origin of all Things… the divinities were brought into being by Olodumare and t the work of creating the earth was commissioned by Him. Everything in heaven and on earth owes its origin in Him.
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Bolaji Idowu (1913–1995) was the third native-born Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, from 1972 to 1984. He did not allow his Christian indoctrination to interfere with his intellectual peregrination. When the follower of Christ discovered the true essence of Olodumare, he kept faith with his conscience and declared that Olodumare and God were names of the Supreme Being given by two different cultures — Yoruba and European. One did not negate the other.
Olodumare is too big, too awesome to be approached directly, hence the African goes through lesser gods who are his emissaries. And they subject themselves to a king who is a deputy to the gods and takes charge of their affairs on this temporal plane, usually as priest and administrator.
The only thing they demand of the king is that he be above board, morally and spiritually. When a king so revered descends to the plebeian basement of behaving like a drug addict or motor park enforcer, it is time to send him packing.
Memorable Royals
There are kings and there are kings. My favourite example of a model king is the Orangun of Oke Ila, Oba Adedokun Omoniyi Abolarin (Aroyinkeye I) a lawyer, international relations expert and teacher. I am awed by his sheer humanity. Not only did he found a secondary school for the children of the poor, he also teaches in the school and guides the children up to university level.
His legacy is assured.
In the years gone by, so much mystique surrounded Obas. I remember the first time when, as a student of the University of Ife, I saw the former Ooni of Ife, Sir Adesoji Aderemi, physically. The closest I got to the great man was to stand with hundreds of other students in front of the palace while Baba addressed us from his balcony. He had a winning genial smile, which we were all used to, from seeing his photographs regularly in the newspapers, right from his tenure as the Governor of the Western Region to the later days when he became more like an oracle to be consulted by military and civilian leaders alike. That was the situation until he joined his ancestors in glory.
Talking about ‘drummunication’, who can forget how the then Timi of Ede, Oba Adetoyese Laoye, contributed his mastery of the talking drum to compose the signature drum roll that opened the station each day: “Western Nigerian Broadcasting Service”. We had so much fun attempting to decode the drum’s message:
“T’Olubadan ba’ku ta ni o j’oye?” (When Olubadan dies, who shall succeed him?)
“Ko s’oni gbese nibi lo si ‘le keji” (No debtor lives here, try next door).
“Ninu ikoko dudu la ti nse’be” (It’s in the belly of the black pot that we cook our soup)
I remember, too, an interesting story once told about Alaafin Adeyemi Adeniran, the father of the immediate past Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi. The colonial governor had visited Kabiyesi in his palace and was bemused at the palace courtesies and how everybody seemed so ready to please the Alaafin.
“Surely, you have the best of all possible worlds, Your Highness. Everyone prostrates before you, not even daring to look into your face. It must be exciting to be an Alaafin”, said the British man.
When his comments were translated to the Alaafin, he laughed out loud, saying: “There you make a fatal mistake, White Man. When an Oyo man prostrates before you, his inner wisdom climbs the rafters and looks down from there. You can take him for granted only at your own peril.”
I have many more stories about our authentic kings of yore which I proudly share whenever I feel that my audience can gain something from their wisdom or the nobility of their character.
Desecration
But there is a worrying trend that seems to have crept into the Obaship institution in many parts of Yorubaland recently. The way some Obas have been comporting themselves calls for urgent intervention before they desecrate the sacred office as we have debased so many other bodies.
It is clear to me that those responsible for filtering the kinds of characters that go through the nomination process for Obaship in many Yoruba communities have embraced filthy lucre. Some ex-convicts and drug tzars have allegedly slipped through the cracks. Just see the quality of traditional rulers they have saddled several communities with, to the shame of the Yoruba people. It appears that Ifa now spends dollars and Osanyin also sips Johnny Walker. The result is that glorified scoundrels are now sitting on otherwise sacred thrones.
Was Rudyard Kipling thinking of us when he wrote his poem about what happens when a plebeian is installed king:
A Servant When He Reigneth
Three things make earth unquiet
And four she cannot brook
The godly Agur counted them
And put them in a book —
Those Four Tremendous Curses
With which mankind is cursed;
But a Servant when He Reigneth
Old Agur entered first.
An Handmaid that is Mistress
We need not call upon.
A Fool when he is full of Meat
Will fall asleep anon.
An Odious Woman Married
May bear a babe and mend;
But a Servant when He Reigneth
Is Confusion to the end.
Time to Act
Now, we must task the governors and local government chairmen of the southwestern states to rise up to their responsibility. When a supposed king behaves like an inebriated ruffian, or worse, you owe it a duty to the society to save the society from him by restoring him to his deserved Area Boy status. Enough of these squiffy louts making royal pretensions and rubbishing our cultural heritage.
Any traditional ruler who cannot live up to his oath and societal expectations should revert to his proletarian costume. There is no worse self-abnegation than having to prostrate in cultural obeisance before an enthroned roughneck living on a cocktail of akpeteshi and amphetamine!
Wole Olaoye is a Public Relations consultant and veteran journalist. He can be reached on [email protected], Twitter: @wole_olaoye; Instagram: woleola2021
