I didn’t plan to apply for the Eleruwa stool again —Oba Adegbola

Oba Samuel Adebayo Adegbola, the Eleruwa of Eruwa, recently made history when it comes to chieftaincy issues in Yorubaland as he became the first monarch to be removed by the Supreme Court and returned to the throne through a fresh process. In this interview with YINKA OLADOYINBO, the first-class monarch speaks on his journey back to the throne and efforts at uniting the ancient town. Excerpts:

How do you feel being reinstalled to the throne after the Supreme Court judgment?

I want to correct an impression, I would not want the word reinstalled, I am going to be installed, my issue is not reinstatement, I am coming on board as a new Eleruwa of Eruwa with a new process, I am appointed as a new Eleruwa. I feel very glad by my appointment and I give all glory and adoration to God Almighty who has made it possible for me be appointed this time around.

During the years you left the throne after the final judgment, what was the experience like, were you still living in Eruwa town?

I didn’t see much difference in my life between 2019 and now, except that I was not going to public functions as the Eleruwa of Eruwa, the government was not inviting me to any official function and within the community I don’t go to public functions, I don’t go to ceremonies, I restricted myself to my residence and my petty business, I moved about freely in the town, sometimes I drive myself within the town from the house to my business place, people greet me, some will say “Kabiyesi oo”, I answered them, and anybody that chooses to say any other thing other than Kabiyesi, whatever name you call me I accept, I was a free man throughout the six years.

The court process that led to your removal lasted for many years, how did you feel being on the throne and having to go to court for that long period?

My coming on board as the Eleruwa in 1998 was God’s doing, even then there was a court procedure that lingered for many years and judgment was finally pronounced in 2019, removing me from the throne. For the 21 years that I stayed on the throne, I thanked God that the community was peaceful despite the court process. It was just a person that was struggling to get me removed, it wasn’t even the decision of the entire family that put me on the throne, but a faction, not even a faction, it was a person from that faction because other members of that family are still relating with me by the grace of God on the 28 of this month, the Akindele family, that is my mother’s side through which I became the Eleruwa in 1998 are going to have their own stand at the coronation, they still count me as member of that family, but the tussle was strictly between Alhaji Rasheed Olasunkanmi Oyedepo and myself and he succeeded in removing me, claiming that it is only when there is no male child that a candidate from female line can come on board and the claim is very wrong because the chieftaincy declaration is very clear, chieftaincy declaration is always fashioned along the establishment and historical background of that community or town. Our chieftaincy declaration says a candidate from female line can become the Eleruwa when there is no qualified candidate of male line, so the issue is beyond when there is no candidate from the male line, the issue is “qualified”. What qualifies or disqualifies a candidate either from the female or male line is the prerogative of the kingmakers, they know the yardstick they use in measuring who qualifies and who is not qualified, that is not entrenched in the chieftaincy declaration or chiefs law of Oyo State and that is exactly what they have done. He contested with me along with other candidates and by the voting, the judgment of the kingmakers then, all of them voted in my favour, none of the people that contested with me in 1998 scored just a vote, despite the fact that our kingmakers then, there is none of them that their son is not older than me.

With the new process have those errors noted by the Supreme Court been corrected?

I am now becoming the new Eleruwa through a different family which is my father’s side, so I am not coming from female side this time around, I am coming from Olurin royal family of Akalakoyi ruling house, one of the two ruling houses that rotate the chieftaincy of Eleruwa. I came on board from Olaribikusi ruling house in 1998, where Ajao family is one of the four families under that ruling house, but it was through my mother side. There were 18 of us that contested this time around as against six of us that contested in 1998, just like I defeated everybody in 1998, I have also defeated all other 17 candidates despite the fact that all the kingmakers then are dead, we have new set of kingmakers, none of the other 17 candidates got a vote from the kingmakers, I cleared al the votes.

There is a belief that the new selection process was not done according to the ruling of the Supreme Court.

There are two ruling houses that rotate the chieftaincy of Eleruwa, coming from the two children that the founder of the town had, Akalakoyi and Olaribikusi. Akalakoyi was a female child and the first child of the founder, then Olaribikusi, a male child and the second born, but the two ruling houses have been subdivided into four families each or even more. With the judgment of the court, it says they should select a new Eleruwa of Eruwa from Olaribikusi ruling house, the same judgment does not permit me to contest from that house again and when the process started after the judgment because the Eruwa Youth Movement and other groups have been protesting, complaining that the governor was wasting time in starting the process for the selectin of another Oba. So he started the process, it was in conformity with the judgment, he ordered, through the local government that the process be commenced according to what the chieftaincy declaration said and they sent to the Olaribikusi ruling family that they should nominate the eldest member of the family, who will be appointed and mandated to hold meetings of the four families under that ruling house and select candidates, without me coming in as a candidate, I didn’t apply because the judgment does not permit me to apply, I have been disqualified from contesting from that ruling house and I was folding my arms. But they held series of meetings, something that is supposed to last for a period stipulated in the law to last 14 days eventually lasted eight weeks and beyond, they could not select the eldest member of their ruling house and the government then turned the process to the next ruling house because it was obvious that giving them donkey years they cannot agree on who is the eldest, so government asked the next ruling house which is Akalakoyi and my father’s ruling house to give them the eldest member of the family so that he can hold meeting and give us candidates to contest the stool. They submitted the eldest member’s name signed by the four families and he was presented to government which later appointed him and mandated him to hold meeting and present candidates and that is what they did, within two weeks they have finished the process. Honestly, I was not even thinking of applying, I was thinking of so many things, my application was just three lines. The first hurdle was when I was to print a letterhead with Prince Samuel Adebayo Adegbola, from His Royal Majesty to prince, psychologically it was depressing.

Despite all this sir, are you not afraid of going through another round of legal tussle if the other ruling house decides to go to court again?

There is nothing I can do to anybody who decides to go to court, all we can do is to make sure we start the process of reconciliation because we have to join hands together to make Eruwa great, we have been on a tussle since 1998, for the 21 years that I was on the throne and now six years out of the throne for anybody to think the best thing is to go court again means that the person is like the person does not have the love of the family, the love of the throne and the love of the Eruwa community and indeed Ibarapa as a whole, it means such a person is not having the love of the state government and the entire traditional institution in mind. All we need is to reconcile, we have been using some people in the town, religious leaders, elders of the town to talk to the aggrieved, there is no how there would be a tussle and everybody will be happy with the result. I have been reconciling with my opponents, I have personally called some of the candidates, some of them are even partaking fully in the process of coronation, some of them have put down their money in support of the coronation ceremony, so any of them that is still nursing one grudge or the other, we have to continue to appeal to them.

Are you ruling out reconciliation with people?

I am reaching out to those who contested with me in Akalakoyi ruling house and those from Olaribikusi. It will interest you to know that many of the people who contested with me from Akalakoyi are also from Olaribikusi, we are that related, just as I am related to Olaribikusi ruling house that made me to contest in 1998 through my mother side. Both of us are from the same father and we have been inter-marrying, that is why you see some people calling themselves double prince like I am a double prince now. I am coming to the throne through a new process, so as far as the judgment of the Supreme Court is concerned, the government has executed it perfectly.

 Some people believed that the state government intentionally maneuvered the process to favour your emergence.

The key issue in the judgment is that they should start the process of selecting a new Oba from Olaribikusi ruling house, the judgment also said that I should not come in as a candidate and I didn’t contest, I didn’t join them in the process, it was when they couldn’t give the town a candidate that government moved to the other ruling house that was after over two months, they held about six meetings and could not resolve, if they had succeeded in appointing the eldest member of the family within stipulated time, there is no how I would have come in because I didn’t apply, I wasn’t a candidate, there was nothing government could have done. Was it the government that asked them to be fighting for the position of the eldest member of the family when they knew the law? They did it in 1998, the issue of who becomes the eldest member was a problem, even pre-1998 and this was what made the government to set up Abidogun panel of enquiry because all the families were struggling to produce the eldest member and the panel came out to say it couldn’t identify the eldest member because all the people contesting to be eldest member has no tenable and admissible evidence to their ages. They were not satisfied by the report of the Abidogun panel and they went to court, which lasted for four years and it was decided before I became the Eleruwa.

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