Government must work with traditional rulers to ensure security —Oba Akinbola

Oba Olusegun Akinbola is the Aladokun of Idanre Alade, Ondo State. He speaks with HAKEEM GBADAMOSI on issues relating to his domain, relationship with other towns and the expectations of the people of the community from the government.

What were you doing before ascending the throne and how has the experience been?

I was a teacher at the University of Ile Ife, Department of Theatre Arts. I was a senior lecturer before I ascended the throne some 22 years ago. It was difficult at the beginning for me to stay at one spot. When I came in here, I obtained a law form at Ado Ekiti University to study law, but it was the late Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Adesanoye who stopped me. I was very close to him before he became Osemawe and we used to visit him in Lagos then because he was a Permanent Secretary. So when I became a traditional ruler, he took me in. I would always stop at his palace to greet him.

On one occasion, I told him I went to Ile-Ife with my Dean to sort out my law application form. When I brought out the form, he looked at it and saw it was true. He smiled and tore the form into shreds. He threw the pieces into the waste bin and gave me N20, 000 which was meant to be a refund to me. Then I realised it for the first time that it wasn’t good enough to leave the palace for class.

What would you refer to as your achievements since you became a traditional ruler?

When I became the traditional ruler, the town had no palace. I lived and operated from my father’s house for 15 years before I put up this structure. It eventually opened up this place for bigger developments. The achievements are many and still growing.

What’s your view on the clamor for traditional rulers to be assigned roles in the nation’s constitution? 

Definitely, this is what we have been agitating for. My stay here every day brings me closer to the community. We interact on daily basis and I can always feel the pulse of the people in the community. The traditional ruler is the closest to the people. For instance, even the security operatives posted to the town usually come here first to pay homage because they believe that the traditional rulers are closest to the people.

Obas have their roles already but it is important for the government to recognise and cooperate with them. We have roles already; the people are there for you to guide everyday otherwise the whole of their domains would be in trouble all the time.  People still look up to traditional rulers as heads of their communities. It becomes the responsibility of every inhabitant to recognise the headship of that area.

In Ondo State, traditional rulers seem to be an endangered species in the hands of kidnappers these days. What do you think is responsible for this, and what can be done to eradicate this development?

Traditional rulers have lately become target of kidnappers because they know that if they are able to kidnap an Oba, it would be a concern for everybody in the community and the ransom put on a traditional ruler would also be on the community. Once the people feel they have been ripped off of their traditional ruler, they see it as a communal insult and an assault on their being and the stool. That I think is responsible for the kidnapping of Obas in recent times.

What we can do to stop this is not limited to government alone, but to the community and private individuals. There should be heavy security for traditional rulers just as it is given to political office holders. We should not leave these traditional rulers alone to fend for themselves; it is not fair. Let me tell you that security vote allocated for each of our governors in Nigeria is not expected to be their money; the traditional ruler should be given part of the security votes because they understand their people and terrain very well.

What are the expectations of your people from the state government?

The state government has neglected us for a long time. It was in the last few months of the last administration that they were able to establish a regional market for us. The Mega School is also there to point at but the last of the things they did was the chocolate company which is going to be the first in Nigeria. But there have been attempts in the past that had failed. There was an attempt to establish a sport academy, we gave them land here but nobody came up there. We hope to get the attention of the present government to help in the development of our town. But we still need a place of learning here.