Every Inch A King

   DIALOGUE WITH NIGERIA  By AKIN OSUNTOKUN, Email: akin.osuntokun@thisdaylive.com

Gloucester: The trick of that voice I do well remember;

Is it not the King?
Lear: Ay, every inch a king!

In the deluge of published tributes to the late Ooni Okunade Sijuade, Olubushe II, it is possible that the title of today’s commentary might have been employed by other commentators. In that event I crave the indulgence of readers for the repetition. The description has stuck in my mind ever since I read the biography (of same title) of the late Olokuku of Okuku, Oba Moses Oyinlola, the father of former Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

At well over six feet of kingly physiognomy and uncommon Midas touch, the late Oyinlola exuded royalty from every pore of his body, so much so that Uli Beier could not think of sufficient imagery to capture his impression of Oyinlola than ‘Every Inch a King’. In turn it was from Beier that the authors of the Oyinlola biography borrowed the title. As students of English literature and versatile general readers may know, the holder of the original franchise of the vintage expression was William Shakespeare-in one of his classic drama series, ‘King Lear’. Of the late Ooni Sijuade, we might equally say ‘every inch a king’.

The conflictual reportage of Sijuade’s demise was a narrative of the tension between tradition and modernity; the instant casualty effect of internet age messaging over the unyielding conservatism and backwardness of analogue communication; of contemporary globalisation evolved social media and the Oyo empire era bound Kakaki oral traditional media. Was the Ooni of Ife, Kabiyesi Okunade Sijuade, dead as perfunctorily speculated in the social media or not as rebutted by the authoritative admonition of the Ife monarchy? In this cross-fire, there would be many casualties.

In the irate contestation of the breaking news, there was the cultivation of hyperbolic and superfluous refutation where the obligation to deny was taken as licence to invent fictitious telephone conversations with the dead. Sold on this dummy I had become an unwitting purveyor of reassuring denials to all who sought my opinion to corroborate personal significant decisions regarding the status of the Ooni. By the time the truth finally alighted, too much time had lapsed beyond the boundary of decency in the obligation I hold to commiserate with a close friend on the death of his father.

One of the unique and pleasant experiences of my adult life is the uncertain definition of my status with the late Yoruba patriarch. Between him and Tokunbo (and several nieces and nephew) I often wonder who more of my buddy is. Impervious of the status of the occasion he goes out of his way to receive me with a wink and salutation ‘alagbara’. He would also wish for me to be a regular member of his entourage. It got to a point I had to inquire from older relatives if they could fathom a reason for this unusual recognition-could it be on account of something in my ancestry perhaps?

Were we not made to understand that the occupant of the Ooni stool perceives beyond the comprehension of we ordinary mortals? In recent memory, there was the report of his trip to Cuba — host to significant population of Yoruba diaspora. The South America Island nation was grappling with a debilitating drought occasioned by a year-long deprivation of rainfall.

 On being apprised of the rain famish, the spiritual father had scooped sand from the earth, put it in his mouth and spit it out. At this bidding, the sky thickened with rain cloud, opened up and the perched earth was soon satiated with the long awaited nourishment. The believability of this report is to a considerable extent predicated on the knowledge that the art of rainmaking is more of fact than fiction in Yoruba land.

I dare not say this when the Patriarch was alive but not so believable is the myth of the creation of Ile-Ife as the cradle of human civilisation. He took enormous pride and unquestionable faith in his ancestry from a mythical Oduduwa who parachuted from heaven to undertake in earnest the mission of creating the earth globally outward from his first point of contact at Ile Ife!

No less controversy prone is the chicken and egg history of the relationship between the Ife and Benin monarchies. Uncomfortable with the common and verifiable fact that a son of Oduduwa, Oranmiyan was the founder of the Benin monarchy, Benin palace historians have of late begun to argue that Oduduwa was in the first instance a pre-historic prince of Benin who fortuitously embarked on self-exile to Ife. So therefore properly speaking and adding two plus two, the Oranmiyan founded Benin monarchy originated from Benin not Ife.

Far more consequential is the controversy on the supremacy of the Ooni over the Alaafin of Oyo; consequential in the respect that it had tended to polarise opinion among the Yoruba people and fed into a recurring carnage ridden Ife-Modakeke antagonism. Oyo Empire was the first political consolidation of the Yoruba-over which the Alaafin enjoys suzerainty. But the first Alaafin, the ubiquitous Oranmiyan, was as earlier indicated a prince of Oduduwa which figuratively translates into a father-son relationship between the Oduduwa stool at Ife and the Alaafin.

Others have argued to the contrary but my own interpretation is that the holder of the Oduduwa stool (the Ooni) is, on this account, first without equal while the Alaafin is first among equals-in recognition of his primacy amongst other Oduduwa princes. I do not know the extent to which this controversy has subsided but I bear witness to a reassuring indication a few years ago. On the well-attended occasion of the wedding ceremony of the granddaughter of Professor Saburi Biobaku I saw Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi walked over to greet the seated Ooni.

It would amount to omission to recall the life of the late Ooni in contemporary times without reference to his friendship with the late Emir of Kano and his encounter with President Muhammadu Buhari. A lot of camaraderie attended the relationship between the two monarchs and it was in the expression of this camaraderie that they ran afoul of the temper of Buhari’s military dictatorship three decades ago. Their joint trip to Israel in 1984 was met with a swift reprimand and punishment from the military regime — which deemed the Middle Eastern nation a persona non grata of sorts.

Thirty years on they were again twined in the proximity of their departure, in time and space, to the materialisation of the Buhari presidency. If it is safe to assume that the duo would not have wished the re-emergence of Buhari as President of Nigeria, then perhaps this is a symbolism of their ultimate rejection of the latter’s return to the pinnacle of political power in Nigeria.

This unsavoury experience is really a reflection of the tension that tends to characterise the relationship between Nigerian monarchs and political actors. The latter half of the twentieth century was particularly scarred with this phenomenon-of political differences run wild.  The Obafemi Awolowo headed government of the Western Region deposed Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi of Oyo and had the salaries of the Odemo of Ishara, Samuel Akinsanya and Olowo of Owo, Olateru Olagbegi, reduced to one penny. The military government of the region would subsequently depose Olagbegi in 1967. Awujale of Ijebu-Ode, Sikiru Adetona, met the same fate in 1983 at the hands of Governor Bisi Onabanjo of Ogun State, but, like Olagbegi, was subsequently reinstated.

The strong willed Emir of Kano, Mohammadu Sanusi, grandfather of the current Emir, was deposed by the Premier of the Northern Region, Ahmadu Bello, in 1963. General Sani Abacha went a notch higher when he removed Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki as Sultan of Sokoto through his military satrap, Colonel Ahmed Muazu. With the backing of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Governor Adamu Aliero similarly caused the removal of Mustapha Jokolo as Emir of Gwandu.

A perceptible attribute of the Ooni Olubuse the second was his unmatched capacity for good public and human relations. He seemed to have dwelt under as much care and comfort as his pedigree entitles him and as much benevolence as providence could bestow. He lived a life of shelter that was extraordinarily devoid of trauma and stress and sought to share this by being warm and pleasant to all and sundry regardless of age or station.

Anybody familiar with the biography of the legendary Afro Beat superstar, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, will attest to the severe corporal punishment culture instituted at Abeokuta Grammar School, by the proprietor, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome Kuti — of which his son, Fela, was a perennial victim. It was an understatement to say that Kuti senior did not believe in sparing the rod. And so it was prime time news to learn that there was an exception to the rule and regime of this culture.

According to friend and school mate of Prince Sijuade at Abeokuta Grammar School, Doja Adewolu, Reverend Kuti scrupulously refrained from subjecting the prince to any form of indignity or punishment-effectively granting him an above the law status. And the immunity did not stop at that. Any infraction committed in the company of the prince automatically entitles all co wrong doers to pardon-a veritable case of immunity by association. This indulgent treatment was the trademark of his life compelling the belief that there was a large tacitly shared acceptance across the Yoruba elite stratum that the succession of the prince to the Ife throne was a given. It was a seat and ascension that nature and nurture adequately prepared him.

Shortly before the news broke, a mutual close family friend had called, presumably to pass on the information but I had gone to bed. By the following morning when I saw his missed call, the news was already all over the airwaves. I responded to him thus ‘I assume you wanted to inform me of Ooni’s passing. Pity. We will miss him greatly. A doting patriarch he was to all of us. We are consoled that he lived well and attained a ripe age. He now belongs to the ages’...