http://ift.tt/2n0Y7mA
Oba Rufus Olarewaju Ajayi Of Gbomina
Although born a prince, Oba Rufus Olarewaju Ajayi Ogidi Olu Obagbaja Arolagbade II, Oba of Gbomina Ekiti Kingdom, did not quite anticipate the complex nature of the functions of the traditional institution in his kingdom. But a year and some months after his coronation and ascension to the throne of his forefathers, Oba Ajayi has become wiser. The First Class Law graduate of the University of Lagos, who graduated in 1991, has since resolved that, in spite of whatever difficulty he might be facing, he will always do all within his power to make Gbomina Kingdom a better and more prosperous place for all.
Oba Rufus Olarewaju Ajayi proudly speaks of the Yoruba heritage, claiming that the Yoruba was the first language to be spoken in the Garden of Eden and the first language to be spoken on Mother earth. Expectedly, this claim fired the curiosity of The Palace Watch, prompting the desire to interrogate it further.
Kabiyesi, how did you come about this claim of yours that Yoruba was the first language to be spoken in the Garden of Eden and even on mother earth?
Firstly, let me begin with the historical stories about the Gbomina Ekiti people, and from there, I will dovetail into the Yoruba story proper. There are two legendary stories about the historical background of the Gbomina people. Ideally, every story stems out of a long background of folklore, which is highly believable, because they have been tested over time and have been passed on from generation to generation. And just like the biblical stories, they are very right, very correct and they are historically appropriate.
Now, the Gbomina Ekiti people, according to the first legendary story, came from Ile-Ife, as one of the grandchildren of our forefathers, called Ajagunla Fagbamila, who was the first Orangun of Ila. That throne Orangun of Ila used to occupy number four position among the Yoruba Obas, as far back as 1537 AD. The same tree used to be the Alaafin, Onipopo of Popo and then the Alaketu of Ketu, then the Orangun of Ila throne, from where we later branched out. This is the first legendary story.
The second legendary story is that the Gbomina Ekiti people stepped out from the palace in Benin City. Yoruba people, according to what my grandfather and my father told me, have no relationship whatsoever with the Benin people. The only relationship we have is only with the palace in Benin. The Benin Palace is Yoruba’s, and the Yoruba people are part and parcel of the Benin Palace. So, the Oba of Benin is our brother. The Benin people, we don’t know, as an Oba just came to rule over the people from the Yoruba stock. So, we can safely regard ourselves as having come from Benin or Benin people came from us. If you say we are from Benin or Benin is from us, we are simply saying the same thing.
So, the Oba of Benin Oba Ewuare II is correct, when he said during his coronation, that the Yoruba are from Benin. Because according to what my grandfather told me, when Oranmiyan, who was the first king in Benin, arrived there, he ruled and left. Up till now, when the present Oba Ewuare II came on the throne, no Benin man ever regarded Oranmiyan as a King in Benin. It was this present Oba of Benin, who said, “No, we have to regard Oranmiyan as the first King in Benin.” If the Benin people could challenge Oba Ewuare II, they would have done so, but, because he is their Oba, they cannot challenge him, which is why whatsoever he says is regarded as supreme and sacred.
So, as we all now know, we do not have 39 Obas in Benin, as Oba Ewuare II is now the 40th Oba of Benin, right from the reign of Oranmiyan, who happened to be our own forefather. Now up to the period of Oba Oluwa in 1453, when the Itshekiris, through the Olugiluwa left Benin, there was a prince who was entitled to be on the throne. Unfortunately, however, his birth was not immediately announced to his father, who was the reigning Oba, as of that period. Because of this oversight or neglect, the prince’s younger brother’s birth was announced to the then Oba before his, as a son. One event led to another and the prince’s younger brother had to be installed in his place as an Oba.
Expectedly, the prince refused to bow down to his younger brother. So, in the crisis that ensued, he had to run away for his dear life. This prince, whose birth was not announced to his father, left Benin with 70 elders, who later became the 70 chiefs or 70 quarters in present day Itshekiri land. When they came to Ode Itshekiri, the Ijebu people already populated it. These people that came from the Palace in Benin, blended with the Ijebu people they met on ground and began to speak Yoruba fluently. Thereafter, they started to acknowledge one another as brothers, speaking the same language. The people from the Palace in Benin were speaking Yoruba, just like the Ijebu people they met on ground were also speaking Yoruba, with the interspacing of such other languages as Bini, English and Portuguese.
These dialects they blended to form the present Itshekiri dialect. Up till 1934, the language in the Benin Palace was Yoruba. There is nothing they do in present day Palace in Benin that they don’t also do in the Ooni of Ife’s Palace, or in the Alaafin’s Palace. For example, the title of Omo N’Oba N’Edo Ukuakpolokpolo has the same meaning as iku baba yeye Alashe ikeji Orisha Alaafin of Oyo. It is the same interpretation. The Oranmiyan that we are talking about happened to be a king in three places. First, he was a king in Ile-Ife. Second, he was a king in Oyo as Alaafin, and he was also a king in Benin, as the Oba of Benin.
He was a very lucky, rich and intelligent man. My grandfather told me that Oranmiyan was as tall as the present day National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA) or PHCN poll. His crown and the walking stick he used were all beaded. This same Oranmiyan was the last child of Oduduwa, who was a very stylish king. He was the first person in the whole world to have worn a designer dress. Our overflowing agbada, which we now proudly wear, with the way it is embroidered front and back, was first worn by Oduduwa, who was the first person in the whole world to have worn such.
So, as far back as those periods, the Yoruba people had been civilised. And that was the reason Yoruba was the first language ever to be spoken by anybody in the whole world. Yoruba was also the language spoken in the Garden of Eden. Yoruba was the language of communication between Adam and Eve. And Yoruba was the language God spoke to Adam and Eve, when they committed the offence, which made God to drive them out of the place.
Interesting, Kabiyesi! But I am yet to be fully convinced with your submission. Anyhow, I would want to know how you came about these facts.
Well, we did a lot of research. I am an international researcher in the realm of eagle works and I am also an expert in historical analysis. I read Law and History. I also read Criminology.
In the past, the community provided for the Obas and their large families, but this is no longer the case. However, the Obas are still expected to perform their traditional functions, which require quite a lot of funds. So, what attracted you to the throne, when there is no money to be made?
Although there is nothing financially tangible to be regarded as a reward, but the throne of my forefathers still remains the throne of my ancestors, so I can’t abandon it. Whether there is money or not, the throne of our people is our throne. Every prince, therefore, aspires to be an Oba, once the opportunity arises. I was born a prince, and I was expected to carry myself with all royal dignity as a prince, right from birth. One of my many prayers, while I was growing up, was for God to allow me become the king of my people one day. I thank God that prayer has been granted. But, I have, however, discovered that if you want to be on the throne in any part of Yoruba land, especially these modern days, you must also consider the cost of all the glitters and glamour accompanying the throne.
As a matter of fact, you must be a rich man to be on the throne. In the olden days, people would bring yam, bush meat and all sorts of items to feed their king from January to December, year in year out, without any prompting. But nowadays, the king is the one that provides for most of his subjects. For example, if a husband and his wife quarrel, and the matter is brought to the palace, after the king must have settled the dispute, the woman will be expecting a gift from the king. This, being one of the reasons why if you direct such a couple to go before a chief in town to resolve their matter, they would refuse.
These types of function don’t allow the Obas to concentrate fully on other developmental drive that would help to develop their Kingdoms or communities. This happens to be the lot of present-day Kabiyesis or Obas in Yoruba land. I have been to the Ooni of Ife’s palace. I was with him for a whole day. I was also at the Osemawe of Ondo’s palace, and I would say the “burden,” I wouldn’t call it “royal burden” is too much for them to bear. I, however, saw the effectiveness with which they carried out their functions to the downtrodden in their domains.
So, as a modern-day Oba, whether you like it or not, you just have to be responsive to the needs and requirements of your people. That is why I said; ‘No poor person can become an Oba in any part of Yoruba land today.’ In fact, when I was to ascend the throne, I was accused of giving N6m to the kingmakers in my domain. When my opponents raised the issue, they thought I was going to deny it, but I shocked them by saying: “Yes, it is true, I gave the Ogbowa or Ogbo-gboye (the kingmakers) money. Indeed, I gave them N6m, but it was not a bribe. Our chiefs, our kingmakers deserve to live very good life. I saw the ramshackle places I met with them. I saw the way some of them were suffering, as they did not own any vehicle. So, if I could give N6m to five kingmakers, for them to upgrade their lives, feed, buy some clothes, as well as renovate their houses, why not? I have not done anything wrong.
Right there, I told my opponents there are three conditions for you to become a king in my town: First, you must be a prince. Second, you must be a man, and third, you must have been selected. These conditions I have already met, so, what is the problem? I was never told that, once you give money to the kingmakers you are disqualified. That was how that matter died a natural death.
Since becoming the Oba of Gbomina Ekiti, you would have seen the enormity of problems of your people. What are you doing in practical terms to solve them?
We have three problems, which I can identify in Gbomina Ekiti kingdom. Immediately I was crowned, the first thing I did was to use a helicopter to fly throughout the entire kingdom, to assess the level of development and then fashion out how to drive greater development in the kingdom. I discovered that the major infrastructure we need in Gbomina Ekiti Kingdom is good road network. We need very large mechanised ring roads to surround and crisscross the entire kingdom. The kingdom of Gbomina Ekiti is a very large one. We have Ekiti Local Government in the present-day Kwara State. It is part of our kingdom. We have part of us in Ekiti and part of us in Kwara State.
We are all the same people spanning over 16 communities. I have, therefore, discussed with the present Minister of Information, Chief Lai Mohammed and I have also been close to the Vice President of Nigeria, His Excellency, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who was my Constitutional Law lecturer at the University of Lagos. The Vice President and the Minister of Information have supported us by helping us secure a facility from the World Bank to the tune of N2.5b, which we call Gbomina Ekiti Development Fund (GEDF). It is in a dedicated account. We are going to use this money to begin the construction of the Gbomina Ekiti ring roads I earlier spoke about.
The roads will crisscross all the towns and villages in this kingdom. We are grateful to the Federal Government for helping us secure this facility. Secondly, I discovered that the people of Gbomina Ekiti are ignorant businessmen and women. We go outside and make fortunes, but to invest at home is always very difficult for my people. This, I have decided, must change. I also discovered that though the Gbomina Ekiti people go to school, but they don’t get employed after finishing their education. We have, therefore, opened a graduate bank here for the people, so that we can collate the names and particulars of all the graduates who have no employment for now, and then begin to attach them to people who will mentor them. We have other people who are very close to us, such as Emirs, and Obas in some other palaces across the country. We will do all within our power to get them to assist our people in getting placement and work. We are working, and we will surely get there.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2mS5cqk
