That stench from Orile-Ifo

This could have been titled “the stench from Ifo“, but all the people from Ifo are not the same. Also, not everything about Ifo, a vibrant town in Ogun State, is represented by that reprehensible action of suspended traditional ruler, Abdulsemiu Ogunjobi, whose story sparked this opinion. So, this is about a man who rose to the pinnacle of the hierarchy of his community but came crashing from there in a most disgusting way. For starters, Oba Abdulsemiu Ogunjobi should have been that epitome of what a good ambassador of Orile-Ifo but who acted in ways that are way too low for the status he had attained. To a lot of people who have weighed in on the matter, Abdulsemiu Ogunjobi described the location of his father’s house with his left hand. His behavior isn’t in any way the best manner through which he wished to market his native Orile-Ifo.

He may have been a proper Oba indeed. By this, I mean that he might have truly and competently gone through the right traditional processes as well as all the required rituals before ascending the throne of his forefathers. That must be counted as a plus for him and his royal house. However, reports are suggesting that passing through the legitimate route to the Ifo throne might be the only thing Abulsemiu Ogunjobi had done right as the Olorile. Perhaps, being a Yoruba Oba in the true sense of the word informed the very many odd actions that have turned out to be his undoing. They say the king in Yorubaland, like the mother hen, broods over everything. Ogunjobi took this literally and decided to be the Kabiyesi of the olden days whose words were the law, and actions unquestionable.

The suspended Olorile Ifo had unleashed his thugs on a 73-year-old man, Areola Ebenezer in the morning of 21 January this year. These muggers of the lord had slapped and slapped the elderly man with the Kabiyesi calling the shots. He was on hand to supervise the brutal assault and to react to the questions of his unfortunate victim. Ebenezer was on his knees while he was being beaten, and he was soon ordered to prostrate before the Kabiyesi amid the beating. This event took place on a road in the town, and in broad daylight. Kabiyesi was so enamoured with himself that he even asked that the public physical assault be recorded by one of his ‘boys’.

The recording eventually made it to social media together with all that was said while his victim was being battered. The Olorile, who should be the pristine example of a moral ilk turned out to be the one without any inkling of the omoluabi ethos. The man, who should have represented the best of Ifo and, particularly, Orile-Ifo, exhibited the acts of the worst of the community. He acted so horribly! Even when Ebenezer pleaded that he was under the weather following a sound, sudden slap, Abdulsemiu Ogunjobi said if he died he would be buried and that nothing would happen! He even dared his victim to report the assault to the authorities, and boasted that the police in Nigeria were in his pocket. Wow!

Perhaps, Ogunjobi had either forgotten that things had changed a lot from the days of real Kabiyesis or that he was used to getting away with assaults like that, and maybe more. The Orile-Ifo man placed himself on too high a pedestal and did not reckon with the fact that before Nigerian laws, a traditional ruler of any hue or status is equal to any ordinary man. And ‘ordinary man’ includes even thugs that roam the streets and constitute nuisance. You know the case of “kill a mad man, and then you would know that he has people who could fight his cause.” Unfortunately for him, the Iyan ogun odun (old steaming matter) metaphor has played out in the life of this disgraced Orile-Ifo man. He has now got his fingers burnt with his ugly encounter with the presumably innocent elderly man who is equal with him before the law.

A look at the charges brought against Abdulsemiu by the Ogun State police command in the magistrate’s court shows equality before the law. If this equality is a mirage in actual life experiences, we should at least embrace it in the charges preferred against the Oba.

Take a look at the charge sheet with number MH2b8c: “That you Abdul-Semiu ‘m’ and others at large, on 21st January 2025, at about 1100 hrs at Sojuolu Street, Ifo Magisterial District, did conspire to commit a misdemeanour, to wit: assault and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 517 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006.

“That you, Abdul-Semiu ‘m’, and others now at large, on the same date, time, and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District, did unlawfully assault one Areola Abraham by slapping him on the face and ear, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 351 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006.

“That you, Abdul-Semiu ‘m’, and others at large, on the same date, time, and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District, did conduct yourselves in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace by forcing one Areola Abraham ‘m’ to kneel down and assaulting him in public, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 249 (d) of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006.”

First point of interest to the high, the mighty, the low and even the irrelevant should be “and others at large”. Those ‘others at large’ are his cronies and acolytes. They are the ones who would hail him, blow his trumpet and urge him on. They are the agents who would create a problem in your name and leave you to its consequences. The Yoruba call them ‘Abanidaran’ They are the ones who paved the road to his current imprisonment. These cheerleading characters, who would respond to Oba Abdulsemiu with Kabiyesi o, have now been lumped together with him. They are now his accomplices and are ‘others at large! Nowhere was he referenced as a traditional ruler nor was his name prefixed with the title: Oba in the charge. It is either he has lost the title forever or he has just returned from where imagination reigns supreme.

We might plead for forgiveness for the man, for no man is perfect. We all certainly have those moments when we “lose it”. We also cannot just fling him away for the sake of this singular action of his. The bad child also has his days. As it is often said by my forebears, we should not throw away the child because he spilled our precious, distilled oil, but we should spank him because he has poured away the water with which we would have milled another. Actions attract equal and opposite reactions, even in the days of yore when Kabiyesi was indeed Kabiyesi! The king’s authority is over everything in his domain, literally speaking. However there are more limitations now than the days of yore because when a king broods over certain things now he would find maggots in salt. That should stand as a caution to other Abdulsemius out there.

Then, upon perception, is it possible that the Ogun State government had not been getting reports of some of the ugly things that were alleged to have happened through this same Olorile in the past? It is interesting and appears arguable that this man was not properly scrutinised before his selection as the Olorile. If he was, his past sordid might have been overlooked to have been approved by the government to be coronated a king. The character he is exhibiting now could not have been so hidden that the government and other consenting authorities would not have got reports.

Meanwhile, let us also give kudos to the Ogun State government for at least responding to the incident when its video went viral. Yes, it might have taken place since January 21, but we could see that the beaten man was unwilling to take any step to pursue redress. He knows the type of community he has found himself in, and the kind of man he is dealing with. He may have to leave the town because no one knows what fate awaits him after six months of the king’s suspension.

The police too can be held contemptible in one aspect of the Olorile drama. It is curious how the police would nab such a don while his close acolytes would all have vanished into thin air. It is curious and the police will do better by promptly apprehending and charging the other miscreants that the people claim are known foot soldiers of the suspended Olorile. This might appear like warped logic but the people claimed to be at large by the police are not supposed to be at large except they are indeed larger than life. And that would mean a rejuvenated risk. This would be another test case for the kind of institution our Police Force is.

Let us hope that he would use his nights in custody to reflect on the reality of life. He is not what he thought he was, and he is not as powerful as he presented himself to be. He should serve as a lesson.

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