- Why Nigerian politicians disrespect monarchs – Analysts
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Following the refusal of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to apologise for allegedly scolding some traditional rulers and ordering them to stand and then sit, members of the royal institution have said they would declare Obasanjo persona non grata forthwith.
Obasanjo had, during the inauguration of two projects in Iseyin, Oyo State, recently, condemned some monarchs for failing to rise to greet the state governor, Seyi Makinde.
In an interview, a traditional ruler, the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, flayed the former president for allegedly disparaging the kings in public, commiting sacrilege and dragging the traditional institution into disrepute.
He declared that Obasanjo would not go “unpunished” if he failed to tender apology.
“The former President Olusegun Obasanjo was rude and I have asked for an apology and if he doesn’t do it, there will be some other things and consequences. All the kings must not greet him (Obasanjo) anywhere, they must not even accord him any respect, and no king should go to him or attend any of his functions, and there would be more steps to be taken.
“When someone is President or Governor, we (traditional rulers) do accord them respect, we stand and greet but they are still our children and subjects and God has placed them in that authority for some time. Either four or eight years, they will still have to leave that position some day, but we will be on the throne for decades until God takes our souls,” he stated.
He added, “Obasanjo’s behaviour was not only bad for traditional rulers in Nigeria but in Africa because people have seen that video everywhere. General Obasanjo has a king and he is under the Olowu of Egba. He is a Chief. If it were to be in Iwo that somebody did that, that would be the last time he would see that chieftaincy title. I will derobe such chief instantly and appoint somebody else in that position immediately.
“If Baba Obasanjo apologises, I will see him as a man, but if he didn’t, I will see him as a coward for his actionsthat are unbecoming of a former President of a country. His funeral event would be devoid of kings.”
He said even if the monarchs at the Oyo event might have had an interface with Obasanjo in the past, the “stand up and sit down order” would still not have been necessary.
“I don’t know if they are in the same Ogboni cult with Obasanjo, that was why they fell for that order and that is why we tell kings not to join cult. You can be an ogboni or Osugbo before you become king but as soon as you become king, you are now greater than cults and you oversee everything under your domain because we are representing God Almighty on earth,” he said.
For Oba Adedokun Abolarin, the Orangun of Oke-Ila, the outburst of the former president was not honourable. He, however, opined that old age could have taken a better part of Obasanjo at the event to warrant such controversial utterances.
“My constitution and grand norm is the Bible. The book of First Peter, 2:17 states, honour all men, fear God and honour the kings. It is biblical and I believe that was not the best way to honour the kings. So, I believe there are better ways to make corrections. He (Obasanjo) is no longer growing younger medically. Old age is old age, maybe that was a reflection of his age. We know that he is an icon and the general is no longer a young man.
“I tell my colleagues that we are within the ambit of the constitution and we must respect the law. What happened in Oyo is not new and it won’t be the last time. You cannot develop the people without the monarchy and that was why Awolowo regarded the traditional institution as the soul of the people.
“Some people may not like the faces of traditional rulers and because power intoxicates, they think they can do as they like. We must guide the thrones jealously,” the monarch said.
Meanwhile, some public affairs analysts have described the Iseyin event as a clarion call for traditional rulers to return to the days where their dignity was still intact.
The pundits argued that most monarchs had soiled their hands while struggling to be enthroned as kings, adding that majority of the royal class frolic around Presidents, Governors, Ministers and other public office holders for contracts and monetary gifts.
Ayo Ologun, an activist, said, “It was a show of shame by the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo. Baba has not come to terms with the fact that it has been 14 years or thereabout he ceased to be president of the country.
“Beyond the disparagement, you don’t blame Obasanjo because he knows these Obas too well. Most of them are not deserving of their thrones. Some of them either have to pay money to get to the throne or use political influence to be kings.
The political class seems to have seen them all. They are the same people that will have pseudo registration of companies and be going cap in hand at night begging for contracts from these so called chief executive of states and the country.
“These are the kind of Obas you see at 2:00am at governors’ houses dosing off with the crowns on their heads just because they want to see the governor.”
“This should be a wake up call to the royal class to go back to those days where their dignity was intact, where they were not seen as appointees of the governor.
As Yorubas, we need to go back to our tradition in ensuring that those who access the throne as royal fathers are actually products of the custom, tradition and dignity,”Ologun said.
