A king mustn’t go against traditional worshippers in his domain —Owa of Igbajo

Oba Adeniyi Olufemi Fashade, the Owa of Igbajoland, in this interview with OLUWOLE IGE, speaks on the history of Igbajo, his background, life before ascending the throne, socio-economic growth of his town and challenges amongst other sundry issues.

What was your profession before becoming a king?

Before I ascended the throne of my forefathers, I was a general contractor but before that line of work, I was in the military. I was also an engineer in some companies before I joined the military. One of the companies I worked with is Ove Harup and Partners, which was a consulting engineering company owned by the British. I also studied in the United Kingdom where I studied Civil Engineering and Structures. Before I traveled to the UK, I had worked in Nigeria in UAC, Niger House and another technical company in Ido, Lagos. I attended Kiriji Memorial College, here in Igbajo and passed out there in 1959.

When did you ascend the throne as Owa Igbajo of Igbajoland?

I ascended the throne in August, 1990; I was given staff of office on August 5, 1990. In Igbajo, we have two ruling houses; Iloro and Oke-Odo ruling houses. I am from the Iloro ruling house and my predecessor was from Oke Odo ruling house, he was Oba Famodun and they have seven families that can produce the king there. On our side, we have nine families.  When we were struggling for the throne, the families that indicated interest were many, but when the princes met to consider the candidates, they only considered six families from Oke Odo. Out of the six families, I came out from my family house and another person came from Osolo family in Agbojuomi house, three people came out to fill the vacant stool. They dropped one person out of the three. In Olorin house, two people came out. In a nutshell, the royal princes deliberated on six names and I was chosen. Two persons from royal houses challenged the outcome and initiated litigation that terminated at the Supreme Court where I won. The case was on for 13 years.

Can you tell us your achievements on the throne in 27 years?

Being a traditional ruler is a good thing and it is a position a virtuous person should aspire to attain. It is a privilege to become an Oba and serve your community and contribute to the development of your town. When you want to sleep at night, you will be thinking about issues relating to your community. When we started, there was support and many people rallied round me. Igbajo is a town of elite and professors, where you cannot lead people anyhow. You cannot deceive people here, because they are learned, with God, we were able to move ahead and everything was fine. When I look back, I thank God for what we have been able to do. Igbajo was not lagging behind before, my predecessor; Oba Adelani Famodun had taken the town to an appreciable level before I ascended my ancestral throne. The kings, who had reigned before him were illiterates and he was the first educated Oba in Igbajo, even though he was a Standard VI. But Standard VI of that time cannot be rubbished due to the quality of education we had then. However, when I came on board as a degree holder, the development in the town continued greatly.

It is observed that there is prevailing peace in Igbajo community, how are you able to achieve this feat?

It is God’s doing. If there would be peace in a town, the traditional ruler of that town must recognise the critical being of God and his role in whatever he wants to do. If there is any problem in the town, he must not be seen or perceived as somebody that cannot be relied upon. He must not be seen as somebody that cannot be trusted or as somebody interested in pecuniary gains. They should see him as a person who is honest and his stance on any issue must be founded on truth. Similarly, he should be impartial. A king must not go against the traditional worshippers in his domain. Whether he supports them or not, he must not go against them; whether he is their member or not, he should not be against them. If they are doing certain things he doesn’t like, he should call them to notify them about it. Out of the traditional adherents, there are some of them, who will be committed to the growth of the town. They can talk to the rest and there would peace and progress in the town. Similarly, a king must not be given to pride or be full of himself because Yoruba people do not like proud people. A king must not be selfish in his pursuit. But if they discover that what he does is for the general good of the community, people will support him massively, Igbajo community is different. In Igbajo, we have the Ekitis, Igbajo Ife, Igbajo Oyo, Igbajo Ijesa. All of them are in this town and that is why we call it Igbajo, congregation of diverse people. If you see one Igbajo person and you ask him, he would tell you the kind of Igbajo he or she is, whether they migrated from Ife to this place or Ijesa, Ekiti, Igbonna or Oyo. I have to tell you that Kiriji war really helped us; the war greatly enhanced the unity among us here. There is no supremacy tussle or contest in Igbajo. Nobody enslaved anybody and we all work together for the growth of the town. Igbajo is progressing due to so many reasons and we thank God for that.

Can you point out the development in the town since you ascended the throne?

Since I became the Owa of Igbajoland, I am very grateful to God for the developments attained. There are many good and lofty things that have been recorded in this town. I am especially thankful to God for the spirit of unity in Igbajo town. There is no where you see an indigene of Igbajo, he will be seeking the progress of Igbajoland; the leadership of the town, starting from myself, Owa and the chiefs in council, who we call Iwarefa Mefa, headed by Obanla Iloro and if you trace his origin, you will discover that he is from Ile-Ife work together for development. Among the Iwarefa Mefa are Ekiti, Igbonna, Oyo and Ijesa. There are intermarriages. When I became king, there was peace and tranquility and I have been able to maintain it up till now. On my achievement, when I became the king, our electricity or power supply was nothing to write home about. When they give us light, it was like a tiny illumination from a lantern; in fact, the lantern was far better compared to the kind of light we had then. Not quite long after I ascended the throne, one of my subjects was appointed a minister. He is Professor Ademola Adesina; we organised the Igbajo Day celebration and we were able to raise money to get electric transformers installed in all the designated locations and that was how we were able to fix our perennial power problem. We even have some extra transformers on standby in case we need to change the one that is bad if any. Igbajo is expanding almost on a daily basis. When Osun was created, an Igbajo man was the first Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief M. I Aboaba, he is the Bobagunwa of Igbajoland. Igbajos are very diligent and enterprising in their chosen fields. We have more than 20 professors in this town. We have been able to move forward. The road that leads to Igbajo, which is now in a deplorable condition had been rehabilitated about three times, through communal efforts since I came on board as king. The last time the road was tarred was during Governor Oyinlola’s tenure but due to heavy rains and erosion here, the road has become bad. Any government that is ready to do it now must do a thorough job. The current Osun State government had done the bridges, remaining the road. We also have a polytechnic in Igbajo. It is called Igbajo Polytechnic and this has also contributed to the educational development of our town. It is a government recognised institution and they are running HND programmes, with their students participating in the NYSC scheme. When the government realised the enviable educational development in Igbajo, they have been using our facilities for WAEC, NECO exams, including the writing of JAMB exams here.

Do you have any taboo in Igbajo?

When we are celebrating our annual Oroke festival, being organised by the ruling houses, everybody would support us. But, before we do it, there are some rites that would be carried out. The worshippers of Ogun would carry out some rites, likewise others. During that time, there would be a day that they would bring Ogun (God of Iron) into the town. That Ogun lives in the outskirt of the town. There would be curfew when they bring the Ogun into the town. Even, the electricity provider would be informed to switch off the light and everybody would be indoors. Before, we used to beat the gong to notify people, but now we don’t do that again as our people are now better informed. It does not last more than an hour for them to bring Ogun and return it.

Part of the eulogy of Igbajo is Omo alagogo memu, meaning the people of the lineage of those who beat gong to drink palm wine. Can you explain what informed this eulogy?

It is our eulogy and we have accepted it. We are not angry about it at all. When the Igbajos settled here, it was during the dark ages and there was no road. What we had then were hills. Some Igbajos were on one side of the hill while others were on the other side. They were farmers  and after their tedious work on the farm, may be one of them on the other side was frying yams and the smoke billowed  the sky, then another Igbajo from the other side came back from the farm and sighted  smoke, he would then take a gong to alert the one frying yam. And they all can differentiate the sound of their gongs. The meaning of the gong sound is for them to meet for relaxation and savour good palm wine, while they also play traditional games like “Opon Ayo” after a full day of work on the farm.

What are the social and economic needs of your community?

Our hospital was upgraded from a maternity centre to a comprehensive health centre but because of problems the state is battling with, there are still some things we need. Notwithstanding, some prominent Igbajo indigenes have taken up the challenge to assist the hospital in addressing some critical needs and we are happy. The intervention was spearheaded by Chief (Mrs) Oyewole and others. The comprehensive health centre was recently commissioned by Governor Rauf Aregbesola. Before, we used to get water supply in all areas in Igbajo; that was during the military administration of Colonel Bamgboye in Osun. But now, we don’t have water again and all the taps are dry. The state government is aware that our water supply has broken down and they have plans to do it in the future. I read it in newspaper last week, where about five towns were selected, regarding water project, but Igbajo was not included. When we complained, they said we should be patient and that they were doing it in phases. But God gave us natural springs in Igbajo and that have been cushioning the effect of water problem.