“It is not the regal clothes but the conduct and character on the throne that make great kings.”
– ©Remi Oyeyemi
In our culture and tradition in Yoruba land, we worship our Obas. We revere them. We regard them. We honour them. We venerate them. We deify them. We treasure them. We respect them. We apotheosize them.
In the apotheosization of our Obas, we greet them as “Kábíyèsí, Aláse èkejì Òrìsà.” Literally meaning, “There is no questioning you, the Decider, second only to the gods.”
Further, in recognition of the powers acceded to them, we say about them that “T’Oba l’àse,” meaning “Authority belongs to the King.” Or in another parlance we often say, “Obá ba l’ori oun gbogbo,” meaning “The King’s authority covers everything.”
However, any Yoruba Oba who takes all this reverence, respect and regard on its face value would be in for the surprise of his life. Any, among them who treats all the accolades, worshipping and honour with levity would be in for the shock of his life.
In our Yoruba system of Government, we have checks and balances. As much as an Oba is revered, he could be deposed and disposed off by the people if he begins to misbehave and become unruly, unguarded, terrorizing, reckless, shameless and unduly dictatorial.
Thus as a Yoruba son and an irredentist traditionalist, it is with great pain and agony that I have to put this on record and for the world to read. Despite that pain an agony, I am of the view that a stitch in time may still save nine in regard to the recent reckless proclamations of the Oonirisa of Ile-Ife, Oba Adéyeyè Enitàn Ògúnwùsì, Òjájá II
The THRONE on which Ooni Enitan sits belongs to the Yoruba Race. It represents the essence of the Yoruba Race. It is the source of life and faith to about 120 million homosapiens across the planet who lay claim to being Yoruba. It is sacred. It is solemn. It is spiritual. It is hallowed. It is divine. And numinous. It is supposed to be inviolable.
In the psyche of every Yoruba son and daughter, the Ooni stool denotes unblemished holiness. It represents a state of permanent purity. It connotes continual, stable sanctity. From the asceticism of the Ooni’s stool stems the cosmological extrapolations of the Yoruba philosophical world view.
Thus the occupant of this stool is expected to be extremely tutored. He is expected to be restrained. He is expected to be duly guarded.. He is supposed to be circumspect. He is to embody wisdom. He is to show a quantum self discipline. He is expected to be able to look, listen, learn and lay low.
It is not the place of the occupier of that esteem throne to be a Gulliver, travelling all over the place, diminishing the sanctity of the throne, attending parties, wining and dining in not so private contexts. The Ooni Stool is not for a comedian; this is not the Ukranian Presidency, it is the Stool of Oonirisa, the Stool of Olúayé.
The Ooni Stool is not for a greedy, materialistic wretch. This is not the American Presidency. It is the Stool of Oonirisa. The most sacred seat in the World. It is not meant for the literate but utterly uneducated soul. It is not a stool from whence ignorance of and about Yoruba History could, should and would be edified. It is not a stool from whence infantile enthusiasm about a cofused mission would be indulged.
The Ooni Stool is not meant for carousals of undue pleasure and bogus ostentatious living. It is not meant for gluttons of conspicuous consumption. It is not meant for wild eyed , low intelligent, obviously overwhelmed and confused soul. The Ooni Stool is not a “trial and error” portal where role confusion is deodorized and made acceptable.
Oonni Enitan Ogunwusi is on a sacred stool of a race and he is actively undermining that race to destruction. He is doing it with gusto, reportedly on the basis of a politically motivated scientific evidence that is at best half baked and would not be able to stand the rigours of serious intellectual and academic examination.
Ooni Enitan Ogunwusi is on the sacred throne of the Yoruba Race and he is using that throne to manufacture fake historical facts against the Yoruba Nation. He is on the throne of the Yoruba race promoting the denigration and defilement of the Yoruba most revered institution.
Left, right and center, Ooni Enitan is harvesting humiliation for the Yoruba Race. Up and down, he is appropriating opprobrium for the Yoruba Race. Everywhere, he is igniting ignominy for the Yoruba Race. Within a short space of time, he has turned the Yoruba Race to a subject of ridicule and joke.
It has been reported that Ooni Enitan has compulsorily retired all the elderly advisers he met in the Palace and the City of Ile -Ife. He has reportedly surrounded himself with some enthusiastic youths who obviously are unable to differentiate between their left and right hands.
Ooni Enitan has left himself rudderless. He is confused about the purpose of the throne on which he sits. He is confused about his mission. He is working against the interest of the Yoruba Nation. He is destroying the Yoruba Nation with his reckless statements that could at best be described as tall tales told by a teeter.
This piece is not supposed to happen. Efforts have been made behind the scenes to call this Ooni to order. Eminent Yoruba Obas have been reaching out to him. Historians have been reaching out to him. Intellectuals have been reaching out to him. Eminent Yoruba citizens have been reaching out to him. But he seems determined to thread this destructive path.
We all have a duty, an obligation as Yoruba sons and daughters to give respect to our royal fathers, especially the occupier of the Stool of Ooni. But whoever occupies that throne, more than any mortal, has the greatest responsibility and obligation to protect the sanctity, sacredness and the reverence of that throne through his conduct and character.
I am refusing as at yet, to entertain the bewildering musing of an elder on this current manifestation by the Ooni Enitan that, “À bí ó ti gb’àbòdè ni?” Meaning. “Are we dealing with a traitor on the throne?” Ooni Enitan must remember the Yoruba adage that says “Enu tí a fi npe Adégún, ni a fi npe Adéògún.”
Those who have his hears, if any, should call him to order before further damages are done. He must understsnd that that throne belongs to a Nation, to a people, to a Race. He does not need to be told that he does not and cos not operate in a vacuum. He needs to stop his pecadillos. And the time is now.
Source: https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/277659/oni-entn-and-the-destruction-of-yoruba-nation.html