No rift between me, Alake, says Awujale after Amosun’s intervention

…Alake: I’m here to see Governor on workers’ strike

http://www.gatewaymail.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Amosun-middle-with-Alake-left-and-Awujale-right-after-the-meeting..jpg

 

NIGERIA: FOLLOWING the intervention of the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, has denied any rift between him and his fellow monarch, the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo.

The two royal fathers had been at loggerheads lately over seniority cadre in Yorubaland with Alake ranking his stool above Awujale during a visit to his Ake, Abeokuta palace by the new Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi.

Barely a month and three days after, an apparently angry Oba Adetona fired back, claiming that not only that Oba Gbadebo was junior to him, he was of equal status with lower traditional rulers under his authority.

But after holding talks with Amosun, who summoned the two feuding royal fathers to his Okemosan Office, Abeokuta on Wednesday, Oba Adetona told reporters that the visit to the governor had nothing to do with the feud.

“I want to say hello to you….there is no problem gentlemen, please.  Thank you very much.  There is no crisis between us, thank you,” Awujale told reporters after the meeting.

Also, Oba Gbadebo said that the parley with the governor was not in connection with the imbroglio generated between him and his Ijebu monarch counterpart.

Alake said: “I have come to see my governor for many things, including the strike action‎ of the workers, and I’m very sure they would go back to work very, very soon by the grace of God.”

However, Amosun told reporters that the meeting, which began at 3.45pm and lasted for one hour, was not in connection with the rift over seniority between the two first class traditional rulers.

All the chiefs who accompanied the traditional rulers were barred from attending the parley.

“I don’t want you to go and write anything out of context,” the Governor said.   “Yes, we are here, our fathers are here to see me. Of course, we deliberated on so many things. I’m sure you want to say what is happening.  Indeed, nothing is happening.”

He added: “They came here to see the possibility of how to make sure we have peace‎ in the state, among so many other things that we did.  Don’t forget that this would be the first time I would have the opportunity.  I have shown my appreciation before for the 40th anniversary, so it’s an opportunity for me to still show that.”

“So, if you think you want to ask what is the outcome, outcome of what?  We have come here to deliberate and as always, it’s always a pleasure for me to have our fathers around here,” the Governor said.

Amosun further explained: “These are the people writing the thing.  Don’t just sit somewhere and write. But this one, there is nothing like ranking of Obas.  We know ourselves. Our fathers, they have ways, even before the advent of all these colonial masters and what have you, we have ways of how we live in harmony and I think we will continue to do that.

“Don’t forget, and I’m saying this again with all due humility and sense of responsibility, that in the context of we Yorubas, we know our pre-eminence status.  Those of us from Ogun State, so, we want to keep up with that tradition.”

He also said: “We are not going to fan any ember of disunity.  What we are known for in Ogun State is that all of us are one and we are still one.  Indeed, in the comity of the Yorubas, we know what we do, we know what we stand for and we will continue to do that.”

It would be recalled that Oba Gbadebo had last February 7 while hosting Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, who paid him a visit at his Ake, Abeokuta, Ogun State palace, said that Ooni is the number one traditional ruler among royal fathers in Yorubaland.

The Egba first class ruler stated that Ooni remained the spiritual father of Yorubaland.

Alake stated that going by the ranking of Yoruba traditional rulers, Ooni is the most senior, followed by Alaafin, Alaketu, himself and Awujale.

Oba Gbadebo, who charged traditional rulers to stop self-imaging, said that the recent visit of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to Oba Ogunwusi, where he prostrated, was a clear indication to the leadership status of Ooni among Yoruba monarchs.

But, a month and three days after, a visibly disturbed Oba Adetona replied Oba Gbadebo, saying that he was a liar with his “falsehood and misrepresentation of facts” and that he was not only lesser to him in ranking, but in the same category with his junior royal fathers in Ijebuland.

The Awujale also counselled Alake to check his utterances as failure to do so will jeopardise the unity among the Yoruba traditional rulers and their people.

Oba Adetona expressed the bitterness at the launch of his N1 billion endowment fund, “Oba (Dr.) Sikiru Kayode Adetona Professorial Chair in Governance” for Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, held at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos.

The paramount ruler of Ijebuland explained that the document claimed by Alake, that ranked his stool higher above his, was “was just a Newspaper publication that he, in his self-serving role is now presenting as an official Government Gazette.”

Oba Adetona queried: “The first question to Alake is: Who categorised the Yoruba Obas and when? I challenge him to produce the document of the said categorisation.

“It is a known fact that Alake was a junior traditional ruler under the Alaafin at Orile Egba before he fled to Ibadan for refuge as a result of the war then ravaging in Yorubaland.”

Awujale, who supported his assertion with historical facts and said he decided to speak out since Oba Gbadebo had not denied the statement credited to him in the media, stated that the title of Alake of Egbaland was “a misnomer” as the first Alake that settled in Ake in 1830 “met the Osile, Olowu, and Agura already settled at Oke-Ona, Owu and Gbagura sections of Abeokuta Township respectively.”

His words: “Even then, the Olubara, of Oyo origin had always argued that all the aforementioned four rulers met him in Abeokuta and therefore claimed to be their landlord.

“To even refer to Alake as “Alake of Abeokuta” not to talk of Egbaland, is a misnomer, as his control since his arrival at Ake in 1830 and till today is restricted to Ake section of Abeokuta.

“The official Government Gazette testifies to this fact.  In short, the Alake from history and all available records is a very junior traditional ruler in Yorubaland,” Awujale added.

He stressed: “His peers in Ijebuland are the Dagburewe of Idowa, Ajalorun of Ijebu-Ife, Akija of Ikija–Ijebu, Olowu of Owu-Ijebu, Oloko of Ijebu-Imushin, Orimolusi of Ijebu-Igbo and Ebumawe of Ago-Iwoye.

“My advice to Alake, being a young and inexperienced traditional ruler, is that he should contact Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for proper education so as to save himself and his people from further embarrassment.”

The peeved Oba Adetona further said: “It is important for Alake’s education to appreciate that Ijebu has been in existence for almost 1,000 years and that we are the only people that still remain in our original homestead while other Yoruba towns and villages have relocated twice or more.”

“In conclusion, I hereby strongly admonish Alake to refrain from making such unsavoury, unguarded and unfounded statements, which if not checked, may seriously jeopardise the unity of Yoruba Obas and their people,” Awujale said.

Similarly, Oba Gbadebo, apparently speaking through his Egba chiefs, insisted that from all archival data at his disposal, Oba Adetona remains his junior in the ranking of traditional rulers in Yorubaland.

The chiefs, under the umbrella of Egba Chieftaincy Committee (ECC), insisted that Awujale’s stool does not rank above the Alake stool in all ramifications, except now that they are both paramount rulers and rotational chairmen of Ogun State Traditional Council of Obas.

The chiefs, who are members of the ECC headed by the Balogun of Egbaland, Chief Sikirulai Atobatele, said that document evidence pointed to the fact that the then Ooni of Ife categorized Yoruba Traditional Rulers at the Central Native Council Meeting which was chaired by the Governor-General, Sir William Macgregor, at the Government House in Lagos in 1937 and placed Alake above Awujale.

“Those in attendance (at the meeting) included the Ooni of Ife, Alafin of Oyo, Oba of Benin, Alake of Abeokuta and Awujale of Ijebu-Ode,” Chief Layi Labode, Aare Baaroyin of Egbaland who read the chiefs statement at a press conference in Abeokuta, said.

The chiefs described as a fallacy the claim by Awujale that Alake was a junior Chief in Egba forest under Alafin from where he fled to Ibadan, only to be sacked by the Ijebu Army and that Alake fled to Abeokuta where he met the Osile, Olowu, Agura and Olubara as early settlers.

According to the chiefs, no fewer than 20 Alakes had reigned in Egba forest before the migration to Abeokuta in 1830, and that at no point in time did any Alake fled or took refuge in Ibadan.
“The Egbas arrived and settled in Abeokuta mainly in 1830.  The first Alake in Abeokuta was installed in 1854, followed by the Olowu in 1855, the Agura in 1870 and the Osile in 1897,” they said to buttress the fact that Alake arrived before other monarchs.
Apparently proving a sign of unity among the traditional rulers in Abeokuta, the chief stated that Egba cabinet, which was approved by the then Governor of Lagos under the Egba United Government Proclamation of February 1, 1898, had Alake as the President, Osile as the Minister of Justice, while Agura and Olowu were the ministers of Communications and Works, and Finance respectively.
The chiefs explained that the only comparable equality between Alake and Awujale was because of their paramountcy and the rotation of the chairman of the Ogun State Traditional Council of Obas among the foremost four rulers: Alake, Awujale, Olu Ilaro, and Akarigbo of Remoland.
They said that going by archival documents, Alake was senior to Awujale in salary payment approved by the then colonial government, with Alake earning £2,250 while Awujale often received £1,700.
The chiefs said that evidence to this was contained in page 4, paragraph 4, Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Information National Archives, File Nos 33044, CSO 26, letter SP11828120, Secretary’s Office, Southern Province, Enugu, 31st January, 1938.

They also told Awujale that his use of intemperate language on the person of Alake was uncalled for and that they would not emulate Oba Awujale in his “neither civil nor decent” language.

While saying further that they would not defile the sacred Yoruba traditional institution, the chiefs said: “We therefore refrain from trading insult with a highly regarded monarch of his (Awujale) status.”