We need infrastructural developments —Oba Olufemi Olutoye

Maj-Gen. Olufemi Olutoye (Rtd.), is the traditional ruler of Ido Ani in Ose local government area of Ondo state. He shares his experience on the throne, his plans to change the face of the town and other sundry issues with HAKEEM GBADAMOSI. Excerpts: 

Can you share your growing up with us?

I was born in Ido Ani but I spent a great part of my elementary days in Benin City where my father was a headmaster in the CMS, St James School and from there I went to Government College, Ibadan. I went to Government College in 1945 and finished in 1949 and went to University College in 1950 for a degree and left in 1954. I went to Cambridge University in 1965 and came back to teach at what was known as Oluwa College in Ijebu Ode then but is now called Adeola Odutola College, Ijebu Ode. I ran away from teaching to join the Army in 1957 and I retired in 1977. So that’s it

What inspired you to drop the chalk and join the military then?

As a university graduate and with all my background, I reached the top of teaching and had nothing challenging to look forward to, though teaching is a little bit different now. Secondly, I wanted a bit of adventure. I taught in a public school in England briefly and there was the Cadet corp where young boys were given uniforms then and I thought can’t we have this in any of our schools in Nigeria. I was interested anyway and coupled with the fact that I had already reached the limit of teaching, I was Principal of a school for a year, maybe I would have continued but circumstances made things impossible for me  to continue, so I had to desert teaching. Not that I believe that my reward was in heaven, I didn’t share that view because my father was a teacher who taught for almost 40 years. That’s how I got into Army and retired in March1977.

Two years on the throne, how has the journey been so far?

I must confess that I am enjoying every bit of it. Though there was some opposition before I was enthroned. Initially when I was invited, there was no opposition at all but two months after indicating my interest, people started showing up but God’s wiser counsel prevailed maybe because of my pedigree and because they knew I have more to offer and they accepted and gave me the staff of office on the 9th October, 2014. Some of my opponents went to court and when they got to court they messed up their case and the judge said they should go home as they had no case. But I must thank God that since we started this struggle, no single soul has been lost, not one life since we started. But life goes on, I have been coping with the new life though it’s not been easy but I must confess that I am enjoying it because I enjoy giving back to my community and I commit all I have into it to make the lives of the people better and also to develop this great town, Ido- Ani.

What’s your vision for Ido Ani as the traditional head of the town?

I want to encourage farming in a big way and within the next few months we will begin to see some of the results of my exploration. Fortunately, we still believe here that the land belongs to the king and this makes it easier. I have invited some people, they’ve been here and also some foreign investors too have indicated their willingness to come. My emphasis is on agriculture because I am sure that once we can feed ourselves, things will be a little bit easier. A hungry man is an angry man, if you’re no longer described as hungry then you can reason and do something reasonable but when you are hungry and angry, you tend to do things which people will describe as unreasonable. Again I have also gotten in touch with some ministries in Abuja too and there is assurance that we will make it, I can assure you that in less than two years, people will be feeling the impact here.

Another area I will like to invest in is education of our children. I want to encourage our young ones because sustainable development begins with education and it’s been a fact all over the world that education is a catalyst to development. So we are trying to encourage our children to take their education seriously in order to conquer poverty. I also thank God for the peace we are experiencing in the town in the past two years and appreciate all the people of the town for supporting me in building this town. I am very sure development will surely come our way very soon because we can only plan to develop the town if there is peace and the peace is here.

In terms of physical development, have you been able to do anything and how will you use your position to attract development to this town?

We have had this misfortune in the past that here we belong to the opposition and when you belong to the opposition, government will sideline you completely and that’s the result of what you’re seeing. I don’t belong to any party but I encourage all o them that whatever party you’re, bring something back home and I guess that is how politics should be played, give back to the people of your community.  Here, we need some infrastructural developments, for instance we have not had light here for almost two years and I cannot install this single handedly but we are working hand in hand with our sons and daughters across the globe to develop this town. We are involving them because the task of ruling this town cannot be done alone. I must tell you that we are receiving positive response from them and I believe that with them, we can change the face of Ido Ani.

Has your background assisted you in governing the town in any particular way?

Yes, I think it has really helped me a lot because of my friends who have been showing interest in bringing real development to the town and since what’s paramount to me is how to develop this town, I have been welcoming ideas from them on how we can turn Ido Ani around and help develop our people.

Traditional rulers are believed to have more than one wife, are you planning to marry a second wife?

It is nothing but ignorance, though circumstances can force you to marry two or more wives but as this stage of my life, marrying another woman is turning the woman into a slave. I am a grandfather already, so for me, it is not acceptable and more so my religion does not permit it and I still love my wife very much.

What’s your take on promoting our culture especially the Yoruba language?

This is very important. We need to promote our culture and guide against Yoruba language going into extinction like some languages. We must cultivate the habit of speaking the language to our children. Not only Yoruba language, we must save African languages and to do this, we must start from our homes. It is part of slavery for you to know all the languages of the world but can’t speak or understand your language. We should promote our language and encourage our children to speak Yoruba at home. I must tell you that Yoruba language is rich and distinct, I am proud to be a Yoruba man, My wife is the only Professor of Yoruba in the whole world and we encourage our children to speak this language and not only that but to also embrace our culture. I want to call on government in this region to encourage the teaching of Yoruba in all our schools and let our children understand that we have the best culture in the whole world.

As a retired military officer, can you compare the military in your days to what we have now?

The military now is more educated, it comprises of more educated people. Hardly can you see any senior officer now who is not a university graduate, then all the senior ones that you see on the pages of newspapers, some of them have two degrees in relevant disciplines, so by any standard they are not illiterates. You cannot compare but the military now in terms of knowledge, wisdom can compete with military anywhere in the world in the past if they ordered them to go they go.  But now in terms of education, commitment and discipline, you cannot compare because when you’re educated your mind is open to other ideas, even when somebody tells you to go, in your own personal estimation you put whoever tells you to go on the scale and weigh him, you can do that now but in those days we didn’t do that and we don’t have to do that, all the thinking was done for us, that’s the training of a soldier. Again, we have more officers now than before, not just officers but officers and men, so it was possible for a small clique to get together in those days, it’s not possible now, the situation must be such that’s more nationwide than before, you can have a good number of soldiers coming together, reasoning together to do something together to bring a change by force because we still find some people who will argue that why must we use force to talk to them, can’t we call them to a roundtable talk or conference. These are the type of officers we have now, they can think for themselves and not having somebody sitting somewhere thinking for them. There’s a lot of difference now.