Any Monarch That Abandons Culture, Tradition Has Gone Astray – Elebuibon

Idris Idowu

FOREMOST tradi onalist and Araba of Osogbo, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon has taken swipe at the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Olawale Akanbi, over his stance on some Yoruba culture and tradi on as regards the tradi onal ins tu on.

Oluwo is known for his constant campaign against some aspect of Yoruba culture and tradi on, especially those that relate to rites for a monarch and others he had described as idol worshiping.

Oba Akanbi’s recent statement that Ifa has no role to play in the selecon of the new Alaafin of Oyo and Soun of Ogbomoso, has sparked reac ons from prominent Yorubas.

Reac ng to the statement, Elebuibon said Ifa remains the consultant for kingmakers in the process of selec ng a king in line with the Yoruba culture and tradi on.

According to the Ifa priest, any monarch who wants to discon nue the culture and tradi ons of his ancestors has gone astray.

Elebuibon, in an interview with an online TV, E oba, explained that consul ng Ifa before a king is selected or crowned plays a prominent role in making right choice for peaceful reign and development of the town.

He said: “When it comes to enthroning kings in Yoruba land, there are culture and norms that guide it. It is civiliza on that distorted the tradional processes.

“What Oluwo said if for himself; maybe because

Ifa was not consulted before he was appointed a king.

“In Yoruba land, long before the government took over the process of appoin ng a king, every town has its own Kingmakers.

“When a king joins his ancestors, the Kingmakers will send words to the royal families. Then, princ- es from the royal families would jostle to fill the vacant stool, and whoever wins takes the throne.

“However, before the winner among the princes can be appointed a king, the head of the King makers would have consult Ifa.

“We can’t just pick a king merely on appearance or wealth. We need

Osun Communities Seek Adeleke’s Intervention Over 13-Year Power Outage

Yusuf Oketola

RESIDENTS of Olodo, Irepodun and Gidigbi communi es of Osunjela area of the State of Osun have called on Governor Ademola Adeleke to come to their aid over a 13year old power outage.

The communi es, it was gathered, have been without power supply since 2009, a major challenge that has crippled business ac vi es and social life of their residents.

OSUN DEFENDER gathered that the electricity facili es, including transformer, wires and poles that supply power to the communi es got damaged in 2009 and have been le unfixed.

Residents of the communi es who are predominantly farmers, said they lack the financial capacity to restore the electricity.

According to a house owner in Olodo, Mr. James Aina, the communi es have acquired poles and mount- ed it but do not have the fund to run electricity wires on them.

Aina said: “We have spent money and me to acquire poles and mount them. We have been on the issue of repairing the electricity facili es since 2009 when former governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola was in power.

“We are pleading with Governor Ademola Adeleke to help us solve this linger- ing electricity outage issue. We need money to wire the poles bought with our money, servicing the transformer and workmanship to IBEDC staff that will connect the electricity; that is the major challenge that we have now”. to consult Ifa to ensure that the reign of a person to be appoint a king will be prosperous and bring fortunes to the town and the people. If a wrong person is appointed a king, his reign will be disastrous. That is why we consult Ifa.

The leadership of the communi es, however, appreciated Adeleke for the construc on of a bridge linking the areas to Osogbo.

“However, the government took over kingmaking and brought out gaze e as a result of conflicts among ruling houses. But any government that goes against the culture and tradi ons of his people is not a good government.

“Any Governor that goes against the culture and tradi ons of his state is not a good Governor.

“Before a Governor can give his approval for the appointment of a King, the Kingmakers and the people of the town would have come to an agreement on who to be appointed. It is who they appointed that the governor is going to approve.

“And before the head of the kingmakers can send any name to the governor for approval, they must have consulted Ifa, to know if he is truly des ned to be king.

“So, if a king says he can’t con nue with the culture and tradi ons of his ancestors, but with foreign culture and tradions, he has gone astray and he is a bastard.

“A king who refuses to honor culture, norms and tradi ons should be ashamed of himself.”

AT a me of great dishevelment in the na on, the Bri sh Prime Minister, Edward Heath, bemoaned what he sternly condemned as the “unacceptable face of capitalism”. His posi on accurately reflected the reserva ons widely held about a harsh prevailing economic reality.

We are in the same situa on today in Nigeria. To put it in context, President Bola Tinubu has very commendably shown great courage in making the reforms that should have been done a decade ago. Of course, there can be no gain without pain; the issue is now how a human face will be put on the necessary but painful reforms.

Defining The Social Contract

A democracy is at its op mal when the Social Contract which binds the rela onship between civil society and the poli cal operators is at the heart of the agenda. The best example of this is the na onal democra c agreement worked out in 1962 through which a voluntary 10% pay cut affec ng all poli cal office holders was agreed upon and enforced. This was a high mark for democracy in Nigeria, sadly it has not been replicated since that e edifying moment. In view of this, it is reprehensible that the na on’s Revenue Mobilisa on and Alloca on Commi ee is now insensi vely advoca ng a

Niyi

Akinnaso

THIS is not the me for reckoning of the fortunes and misfortunes of the All Progressives Congress in Osun state. Nevertheless, any interven on in the poli cs of the state must acknowledge the successive losses of four major elec ons in the state in the last rounds of elec ons: the governorship elec on; the presiden al elec on; the Na onal Assembly elec on; and the state’s House of Assembly elec on. It is no exaggera on to assert that APC was wiped out completely.

The situa on calls for sober reflecon, rather than grandstanding or divisive rhetoric. As I will point out in the near future, it is myopic to conclude that the losses were due to fac onalism alone. True, the recalcitrancy of the two principals in the conflict fuelled the split of party members. However, even more important factors contributed to the losses. Of course, the Peoples Democra c Party took advantage of the fac onalism within the APC to enhance their chances in other areas.

I was charged with the conduct of the opinion poll for the state. It was clear from the poll that care must be taken to avoid defeat. I explained the details of the areas in which the PDP had compe ve advantage to the Governor. However, he chose to ignore the poll for reasons I will explain later.

It is against these backgrounds that I comment briefly on recent poli cal developments in the state. The first was the party restructuring commi ee set up by Governor Gboyega Oyetota before the Tribunal judgements were exhausted. It was headed by Professor Isaac Adewole, former Vice-Chancellor