Prince Muhammed Kabir Olaoye of the Laoye ruling house of the Soun of Ogbomoso ruling dynasty, speaks with IMOLEAYO OYEDEYI on the selection of candidates to succeed the recently departed monarch of the town.
You recently sent an open letter to the Oyo State governor asking, among other things, that the process of choosing a new Soun of Ogbomoso should be started afresh. Is the Olaoye ruling house, which you belong, aware of this move?
Yes, they are aware and the reason I said they are aware is that the family has actually sent same petition [letter] to His Excellency Engineer SeyiMakinde, with respect to the choice of the kingmakers, which is not the choice of the family. And the process by which the kingmakers arrived at the person they picked was not right track as it did not align in any way with the culture and tradition of the people as well as the law that governs the process of selecting a new Soun for Ogbomosoland.
But why did you say the process employed by the kingmakers to select the person they have picked is not in line with the culture and tradition of the land?
If you look at the letter we sent to the governor, you will see that we stated in it the stages and the processes involved in selecting a new Soun and we made it explicit: from nomination to appointment and to the governor’s approval. So the family did what they ought to do which is the best they could do by presenting the candidates. I spent 11 months with the Afobajes. But out of their own sheer will, they decided to add some which we believe was predetermined.
And I will tell you why I said the kingmakers did not follow the laws governing the selection process before coming out with the name that they gave. And the reason is that the 1953 extant laws specify and state it clearly that whoever will ascend to the throne of the Soun must be either a son or a grandson of a previous Soun of Ogbomosoland. And this 1953 law has not been replaced. Even the immediate past Soun, who had just passed on, almost mentioned the law in the book he wrote before he departed entitled “The merchant prince and the monarch”. Precisely, he stated this on page 34-37 of the book. He even quoted the law there, which is according to the custom and tradition of Ogbomosoland. If the departed king can mention the law in the book he published last before he left, it means the law is still in existence and that nothing has tampered with it.
So concerning the candidate the kingmakers presented to the governor, what were the criteria they used and what qualified him for the stool culturally? Afolabi Ghandi, the man they picked, his father is Oladuni, who once contested for the throne, but did not win. Even his grandfather was never a Soun. The same thing with Lieutenant Colonel Suraj. So why are we trying to countermand the extant laws that govern the selection of a new Soun? Why will it be the time of Olaoye that they want to change the laws? These are the questions begging for answers. An heir aspirant, whose father or grandfather is not buried in the palace will not be qualified to aspire to the throne of Soun. So these people can be asked this question: were their fathers or grandfathers buried in the palace? Do they have Oju-Ori in Abata, where all the past Souns were buried in the palace? Oba Emmanuel Olayode, whose father died in exile, was permitted by Oba Olatunji to bury his father in Oju-Ori in Abata in the palace some time in 1956, precisely for the single reason that he was a direct son of a previous king in Ogbomoso, which qualified him when the stool became vacant in 1966. Assuming the early rite had not been done, Oba Olayode wouldn’t have been able to ascend to the throne when he did.
But despite the laws you just quoted, why do you think the kingmakers still went ahead to pick the candidate they picked?
Well if you have listened to some of the issues they raised, they said that they feel AfolabiGhandi is the richest of all of us the aspirants. And I don’t know the yardstick with which they arrived at the claim or what they used and the background check they carried out to have believed that he is a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and actually the richest among us. It was a great disappointment onthat day when they called us to the palace. I can boldly tell you that my profile which I shared with the Kingmakers is well over 50 pages with different strategies, plans and the roadmap I have drafted for Ogbomoso’s emancipation, including how we will move the economy of the land forward and what we need to do. I wrote in the profile that being a king in this modern era is no longer an armchair issue anymore as we need to connect with the current world considering the fact that our youths and the elders are suffering. And we need to support the government in alleviating the poverty gripping our people by showcasing the experience and exposure we have got by the virtue of our travelling across the globe. I have been to the whole 36 states in Nigeria. I have been to some other countries out of Nigeria.
I have also been to 302 local governments out of the 774 LGAs in the country. So I want to bring the wealth of that experience onboard to govern my fatherland and enable it to move forward. When the kingmakers interviewed us and asked us what we would bring to the town, I brought out my profile and made them see my expertise and knowledge having studied leadership and entrepreneurship. Of course I can’t do it alone and I told them that with the help of the elders, they, the kingmakers, and the entire people, we will unite the entire ruling families and move Ogbomoso forward together without any segregation.
But why do you think the process should be conducted afresh?
I want it conducted afresh because they extant laws and customs of the land that ought to have been followed to determine the eligibility of a person for the throne were not duly followed by the kingmakers. Of course, every community has its own culture and tradition, so it is the same with Ogbomoso and as big as the town is, we are never backward academically and economically. So the right thing should be done to show the world that we emanated from a state of the pacesetters. So if His Excellency is doing his best to ensure that we have peace in Oyo State, then we need to support his administration by ensuring that the right thing is done in the selection.
How do you think people of Ogbomoso are taking the whole matter?
If you look at Ogbomoso right from the day the kingmakers came with their candidate, there has not been joy in the land. The people are not happy. You can move round the town and find out this for yourself. This particular issue of Soun ascendancy has nothing to do with religion or being popular. It is about who is qualified and what the extant laws of the land says on enthronement. My father is a direct grandson of Okelanipekun that was the Soun of Ogbomoso land between 1944 and 1952. So because my father is getting old, he decided out of all his children that I should represent the family and he met the Baba Mogaji in December and told him that I have interest in my father’s stool. And the Baba said no problem. But to our greatest surprise, we saw the whole dramatic turn of event.
But what do you think is the way forward in the best interest of Ogbomosoland now?
The best thing for the interest of Ogbomoso and its tradition is to do the right thing, so that it will not be on record that during the time of Olaoye, the same thing that happened in 1944 repeats itself, where family members all had to go to the court to sort out the succession issues. So the best thing is to do the right thing which is to go through the extant laws of the land and follow them thoroughly, because it is believed that a town like Ogbomoso with well spelt-out laws should not experience any problem.
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