Kingship and barbaric cultural practices in Africa: A young Nigerian prince’s experience

The lifetime ambition and fulfilment of every heir to the throne in Africa is to ascend the revered stool of their forebears.

Thus, every prince feels, sees, and carries himself as a potential king. Whenever there is a leadership vacuum due to the transition of a reigning king, the heirs become ecstatic about their possible ascension to the exalted position in their kingdom.

However, some barbaric, despicable and unpleasant cultural practices usually precede the kingship stool.

Some African cultural practices have been influenced and reformed by Westernisation and globalisation, while others remain in their natural form.

These age-long cultural practices differ from one community to another, depending on the prescriptions of idols worshipped by ancestors who were the first settlers in the concerned domains.

A case in point is that of Mr. Abolade Ibrahim, who escaped an assassination attempt and had to run for his dear life and that of his family. He sought asylum in a foreign land and vowed never to return to his country home. Why did he have to take cover from being assassinated for the purported desecration of ancestral cultural practices of his Adelola village in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria?

On July 19th, 2016, kingmakers in Adelola village, Ibadan, approached the family head of the Abolade ruling house, one of the custodians of culture and traditions in their domain, to occupy the vacant throne of Adelola.

For his suave, urbane nature, compassion, intellect and charismatic mien—which are perfect qualities of a king—the family head, known as the Mogaji, nominated Mr. Ibrahim Abolade for the position.

The nomination of the young and vibrant prince, with sound educational qualifications and good exposure to fast-track development in the village, was received with wild jubilation among the vast majority of the indigenes.

On the sidelines of the nomination of the supposed king were some nocturnal rituals, which are prerequisites to mount the stool.

One of such terrible and terrifying ritual practices is the use of seven female virgins to be offered to the gods as appeasement against supposed hardship in the land.

The sacrifice of the seven chaste ladies was also believed to pave the way for a peaceful, successful reign and abundant life for all in the domain.

Upon hearing the soul-wrenching news that lives had to be snuffed out of innocent individuals for him to attain kingship, Mr. Ibrahim Abolade declined his consent, first by refusing to pay for ritual items.

To demonstrate his avowed disapproval of the practice, Mr. Abolade reported the harmful culture to the government through the intervention of security agencies, with a view to nipping the dastardly act in the bud.

In swift reaction, the palace guards, working in cahoots with the Abore—the executor of the rituals—implemented their grand plan to kidnap, torture and eventually exterminate the man who committed a ‘taboo.’

Mr. Ibrahim Abolade and his wife, Mrs. Sherifat Ipadeola, were abducted, tied with ropes, blindfolded and banished into a thick forest to suffer—possibly to succumb to death after severe hunger, thirst and exposure to the dangers of wild animals.

Respite came their way through a group of powerful hunters in search of game in the forest.

The hunters, after listening to their gory and agonising story, helped them out of the jungle to another distant town, from where they connected with relatives, thereby facilitating their escape from the clutch of imminent death to the United States of America—for a safe, secure and decent life.

This story—and similar tales of obnoxious culture—have robbed Africa of many of its best brains.

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