What happened to our traditional rulers on Friday, 15th September 2023 at the commissioning of Iseyin campus of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology is not the worst thing to happen to traditional institution in Nigeria. It’s not going to be the last worst thing that will happen to them.
But because Nigerians are so emotional and our approach to solving problems is always awkward, which defines the true state of our nation or how could you explain a very poor country like Togo having regular supply of electricity and as rich as we are, all the amounts of electricity we could generate in more than 60 years of our independence is less than 6000 megawatts?
Is it not funny that we are among the largest producers of crude oil in the world, yet to get refined products to run our machinery, we need to change our naira to dollar and buy back from the people we sell our crude to, and it is not illegal to refine crude in Nigeria?
The Nigerian traditional institution collapsed when the British took the authority from the original custodian of authority and gives it to anybody who can learn their ways of life and rule us according to their colonial laws, which they made supreme over us.
The British, after the conquest knows that to keep any conquered territory, you must disconnect the people from their God, less their God answer their prayers and give back their land to them.
And because they also knew that our traditional institution is the link between us and our God they made sure that the institution (which housed our culture, traditions, religion, and science) is the least in the tiers of the new government they handed to us.
The elites who took over from the British colonialists, under this extended colonial rules which we call independence, also, knowing the potency of our traditional institution, make sure that the institution remains under check for possible awakening. They placed them at the bottom of the local government authority.
We pretended as if we didn’t know that the Staff of Office in their hands and even thier Crowns are no longer traditional but instruments given to them by the state, and statutorily they must be responsible, answerable and pay homage to the state, the custodian of the authority.
They are no longer the representatives of God or Alase Ekeji Orisa who cannot be questioned (Kabiesi). They now answer queries from even ordinary local government chairman.
Have we forgotten in the recent history when the Kogi State Government asked the paramount traditional ruler, Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Dr. Ado Ibrahim to write a letter stating why disciplinary actions should not be taken against him for failing to recieve the Governor and the President visiting his kingdom?
I have read several articles and posts where some people are saying that what happened in Sean cannot happen in their domain, that is not true. It can happen anywhere, and, of course it has happened everywhere before.
From Alaafin of Oyo to the Ooni of Ife, the Sultan of Sokoto, the Alake of Egba land and the Emir of Kano, they have all received their share of humiliation as enshrined in our constitution.
So, what Baba Obasanjo did in Iseyin was simply upholding the Nigerian constitution, but we will still hang him. When we are done hanging him, don’t we need to ask ourselves this fundamental question: Will that stop further humiliation of our traditional stools?
The British have done very well for themselves, their traditional rulers don’t answer to the Prime Minister or the British Parliament. They are answerable to their gods, but deliberately they made ours answerable to the authority of men.
As an advocate for the restoration of African values and culture and a direct recipient of what happened in Iseyin, because I was there and the traditional ruler of my hometown, the Onjo of Okeho was also there. I think it’s time we changed our laws towards our traditional institution.
If we are furious, let us use the energy and the venom we are using to castigate Obasanjo to call for a change in our constitution and make our traditional institution truly traditional.
When they become truly traditional, what Obasanjo did will become a sacrilege, and he won’t be able to make it home safely that night.
Bola Olalere, a journalist and entrepreneur; writes from Okeho, Oyo State
