By Prof Rem Raj
Colonial historical record puts five Obas as “first class kings” of the Southern protectorate: in that order, Alaafin, Alake, Awujale, Oba of Benin, and the Ooni; in the second category, there were four kings: Olubadan, Owa, Osemawe, and the Orangun. These rankings also determined the salary grade of the kings so listed. The colonial masters undid some crucial aspects of Yoruba history to fit their mission; the postcolonial politicians arrived with certain vengeance and preferences to further invent frictions into the balance of spiritual, political and military relations of the constituent parts of the dying Empire. Since the silencing of the fearful cannons of Kiriji, the sixteen-year war and the treaty that formally ended the hostilities, the battle for supremacy has never ceased in the House of Oduduwa.
Constitutionally, I mean by traditional constitution, Ife is the source, the spiritual origin; Oyo is the political head; and Ibadan is the military command of the Empire. Only if contemporary historians emphasise the beauty of this dialectic of power, we will know peace.
In colonial times, the Aláàfin became the head of the Yorubas and the Oni remained as the spiritual head, the priest of all the 401 gods and goddesses in the Yoruba pantheon. The conqueror would always highlight the difference and exploit the friction in order to rule perpetually. The colonial government that favoured Oyo and gave recognition to the Aláàfin as first class Ọba and paid him handsomely above all other kings in the Southern protectorate soon fell out with the emperor of the dying Empire. In his stead, the new political leadership preferred the Ooni in the personage of Ooni Adesoji Aderemi who ruled for over 50 years and served as great ally to the Action Group of Chief Obafemi Awolowo that loathed the Adeyemi Alowolodu dynasty of Oyo. So it was clear where the pendulum swung from Independence day. The fall of one monarch was the emergence into popularity of another. Sentimental historians didn’t help the matter; they fuelled the friction.
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With the arrival of Adeyemi III as the new Aláàfin after the Nigerian Civil War, the “Empire” sought respect and recognition, and it did in what I shall call the new Oyo Renaissance. Ooni Olubuse sought recognition even further beyond the borders of Yorubaland, to Brazil and Cuba. Aláàfin also would do same expedition to South America and in the US, he became the Imperial patron of Oyotunji, the unique African commune of South Carolina. We can go on and establish the dual contributions of these two great houses of Odùduwà to Yoruba African heritage.
Going by the most memorable court injunction on ceremonial investitures, the Aláàfin has been ruled to be the only king (of the Yoruba) who can give ceremonial titles with the descriptive suffix ” ..of Yorubaland” probably due to his recognition as the supreme political head of the Yoruba from colonial records. There was the Tom Ikimi example which Adeyemi III challenged and won in the law court against the Ooni who had honoured the politician with the title “Akinrogun of Yorubaland”. A similar politics of titles happened with MKO Abiola in between Ibadan and Oyo in the early 1990s. Always, the struggle between Oyo and Ife has always been between the preservation of cultural history and the retrieval of mythical power in the modern age. Unless the rule is challenged, it is only the Aláàfin who has the prerogative of that all-encompassing power to give the title to any personality in Yorubaland. How that suzerainty came to be sustained as a norm remains unclear or yet unsettled.
As a chief of Ibadanland, a brother and friend to the respected Chief in the middle of the avoidable face-off, a friend to the Ooni and a great grandchild of the Adeyemi ruling house of Oyo, what is my choice or opinion? Titles don’t last; legacies last; power must be aware of progress, and mutual respect must overcome power-wielding. Yoruba ń’ronú.
Aderemi Raji-Oyelade
Arole Adegboro
Mogaji Olubadan of Ibadan
