Dide Joko Obas : The Gods Are Angry

Now that the push has come to shove would the Elders- Igbimo Agba Ile Yoruba- continue in your comfort and watch what your forebears bequeathed on Yoruba race being denigrated and trampled on former President Olusegun Obasanjo? Is it not the elders words that say a strong peaceful extended family house is one in which the illegitimate children are still young.

It has come into the open that such illegitimate offsprings are now on stage to wreck havoc on our cherished traditions and customs with a warped mentality of whom they are.

The fact is that Oyo State state is primed to be the stage set for the affront to set ablaze the profundity of Yoruba valued traditions where our crown heads are subjected to public ridicule. A situation where royalty are stripped with thumb and chest trumping.

Seyi Makinde is now moving towards a destructive path and former President Olusegun Obasanjo has now thrown his weight behind the undesirable venture.

The incident which took place in Iseyin on Friday between Obasanjo and obas in the Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State wouldn’t have happened if the Alaafin of Oyo, the late Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III were to be alive.

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That unruly scumbag would not have taken the royal-heads to the cleaners publicly and order them to stand and sit like a kindergarten school children. Our history has never-ever recorded such an odious and detestable act! I am sure there would have been recurrence of history of what befell any arobafin.

The storyline would have been different and it would have signal to the fact that the mythical powers that the Yoruba obas commands cannot be rubbished by a mere mortal. The arobafin would have been ‘baptised’ with the barking syndrome of the episode of the early 50s when an affront was aimed at the royalty of an oba. The latter barked till he died (o gbo ku ni bi aja).

Obasanjo would have met his match if our royal crown-heads had not dipped their hands into sacrilegious and perfidious acts that has now stripped them of the royalty prowess and powers of the ancient times… “eni ba f’oju d’oba, awowo wo”. “Bi igba Obasanjo ba f’oju di oba awowo a wo”. “Eni o ba f’oju ana w’oku; ebora a si gba’aso l’ara eni o hun!

Can Arobafin Olusegun Obasanjo try this with the Oba of Benin or the Olu of Warri? I knew he dares not try it with the Emirs – the North never play nor joke with its traditional institutions.

Suppose any of the obas present at the occasion refused to dignify his order what would have happened? The worst would have been that Obasanjo would have resulted to hide under Seyi Makinde’s executive powers to harass, intimidate and embarrass the spineless group with their flowing agbadas.

From sources, Obasanjo latched on the invites extended to vent his spleen on the obas because few of the obas had crossed his path. Knowing Obasanjo for his pettiness and non-forgiving spirit, he was battle ready to show them with what he would described ‘hit me-I hit you’.

The outburst was a deliberate one, not accidental as people are projecting. It is a deliberate ploy to ridicule the traditional rulers.
One feels Obasanjo should have been more clinical in his crude attempt. The beastly act ought not have been directed at the entire obas. The word on the marbles with Yoruba says “kanakana na omo ega, ija mbo, ija o de…

Meanwhile, shall we not give kudos to Obasanjo’s native juju person -the adahunse practitioners from Ota who gave him a fresh and potent olugbohun to use?

I am sure his charm has tested positive. He may not be that lucky next time…let him that has ears listen!

Lanre Ogundipe, is a former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).