Traditional not political institutions guarantee accountable governance

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Olusegun Abiodun Agboola is the newly installed Mogaji of Abiolu family at Oke-Offa Atipe, Ibadan. Shortly after his installation by the Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Lekan Balogun, he spoke with WALE AKINSELURE on his ideals and the needed reforms for traditional and political institutions and the society at large.

How did your family arrive at your choice as Mogaji?

The role of a Mogaji is very prominent in Ibadan as a form of government. The role of a Mogaji is both leadership of a family and the first recognised official representation of such a family into the palace of the paramount ruler of Ibadan, the Olubadan of Ibadanland. His imperial majesty is the only one that can confer the title on a person with all the accompanying ceremonies. So, it is part of a carefully articulated ancient administrative structure that carried military, leadership, social and civil responsibilities. All these responsibilities are defined in what a Mogaji is.

First, is a man, his wife, his children in a nuclear family. Clearly, that is always how everybody originates that the children grow up and start their own families and the family name becomes established. In ancient times, most people didn’t have one common family name because some people gave their personal names to their children though they belong to the same family. That is why you see cousins whose patriarchs are men but they carry different names. They are still first cousins. Their fathers are siblings but they carry different names. In Yorubaland, there are many of such. So, when a person of note who is concerned about the welfare of the entire extended family becomes responsible towards the extended family, seeks their welfare, makes sure everybody is going in the right path, that provides some sort of stature that everybody can go to as a resource person. Many often say such a person is becoming like a rallying point in the family. And, as such, they want him to represent them at places. You have to remember that in those days, there were no legislators or other forms of government. So, the most efficacious form of government then was the traditional institution.

In our case, it is the Olubadan of Ibadan who then decides who in your family is your representative. The family then comes together to say who among us should we all agree to. So, every single sibling that forms a particular family compound would come together in a meeting to nominate someone who will be their rallying point and represent them in case the palace requires it. Then, they used to conscript men for warfare; Ibadan was notorious as a city of warriors. So, they will then nominate who they consider strong, of good stature, full of wisdom, generous to the family with his time and efforts and sometimes with his resources, and say they want that person to be their Mogaji, their representative to the palace. That is how the Mogaji institution is enshrined.

So, in my case, we have a very interesting history in that at our family compound at Oke-Offa Atipe, the Abiolu family all came together to say they needed to nominate a Mogaji. I come from the Agboola line of the family; my dad is the third son. The family came together at a meeting to say it is time to have a Mogaji. They asked who would be interested. In the Yoruba culture, we respect age; so, older people will have their say, first, before the younger people will have their say. That exercise happened and when all my older brothers declined, it then became obvious that I should take up that role.

What makes you sure that your emergence was unanimous?

This was a resounding, unanimous decision that even I had to humbly accept because I did not want to shirk the responsibilities. Everywhere we have turned, we have heard that it is right and fitting for me to be Mogaji. I am the first Mogaji in the family.

You are on the path towards becoming Olubadan. Over the years, there has been the talk about the need for reform of the Olubadan chieftaincy system such as for the ascension line to the Olubadan to be shortened. What kind of reforms do you think should happen?

The Chinese proverb states that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. It is true that the Mogaji title is the first recognizable step towards becoming an Olubadan. But, many people look at the end point and assume that that is where everybody is heading to. It is not everybody that becomes Mogaji that will become Olubadan. In fact, the entire Ibadan knows that it is only God that makes one a king. So, if you already know that it is not in your hands to be Olubadan, I believe that should not be the focus. I believe the focus should first be the responsibilities that you are saddled with which is immense and it is one of the fabrics of the society. Rather than us looking at reforming the Olubadan royal lineage, why don’t we look at reforming our entire existence as a people? We know that there are many administrative and legal forms of government. We have the traditional institution; we have the political institution which we were saddled with when the colonial came. The form of government we first tried was parliamentary system, then in our own wisdom, we said the parliamentary wasn’t working for us and we chose the presidential system. Now, we can’t identify the one we are practicing whether it is parliamentary, presidential or traditional. How about us looking at everything in its entirety and coming up with a formula that truly serves us as a people that is definitely progressive? We must be able to think as a people if what we currently have is not serving us. We must be able to look at the entire space and create a reformation that serves us. I don’t believe the current political system serves us. I believe the traditional institution serves us better. There is nobody that knows a person more than his or her own people. Every government that is not close to the people can never be effective. The traditional institution enables us to see that before you can become a Mogaji, it is rigorous. All the entire family members will have to have their say and everybody will have their say and maybe the majority will have its way. In some cases, like mine, it is unanimous. If we look at that form of selection process, that is as rigorous as possible before nobody knows you and your capacity more than your brothers, sisters, cousins, people you grew up with. In school, we are told, Ranti omo eni ti iwo n se, that is don’t disgrace your family, be a good ambassador of your family. So, accountability was central to selection of Mogaji. I wouldn’t want us to talk about reforming the Olubadan chieftaincy line. I have many elders who understand the institution more than I do, who in their wisdom can make calls and decide what they want to do and we can have our say, but they can overrule us because they are our elders. So, reformation of our entire existence as a people is what I am interested in and I think we can do it. The Ibadan royal institution is the first true republic in its entirety because of the various processes involved.

Do you think the traditional institution, in today’s setting, can get the right space to achieve the kind of reformed society you talk about? Moreover, the traditional institution now seems subsumed under the political institutions?

It is clear as day that when the colonials came, they subjugated our own forms of government so that they could have a field day. That was why they created the regions and institutions, an aberration where it is a politically elected person that gives the staff of office to the traditional rulers. Africa is not the only place where you have traditional institutions and monarchies. The clearest reference is the colonials that came here to subjugate us as if we are lesser human beings. The United Kingdom has a traditional institution currently headed by King Charles and they also have a homegrown democracy which is the parliamentary system. So, you see how they created their own system. But, when they came here, they are not interested in us, they are not interested in our own welfare, they are only interested in prosperity.

So, should there be constitutional roles for traditional rulers?

I believe there is place for that.

One perceives that what happens in political institutions is creeping into traditional institutions such that money is key in people becoming chiefs, kings and ascending to traditional positions. What baffles you about this development?

This is a very important question. I would not say it baffles me that everything seems to have now become monetised. I want to believe that it is a seed sown that has come to germinate. I think the common word is corruption. Corruption is a general word that embodies many things. It is the use of invested authorities for your own personal gain. So, everybody becomes a gatekeeper. And it is a product of the current forms of government that looks like a mongrel. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit. So, the current forms of governance is such that there is no accountability anymore and people think being voted into an office is being voted to be a benevolent person, not recognising that it is a vested authority. These are the things that are causing what we are seeing today, now creeping into the institutions, where it never used to be, where the content of a man’s character used to be the main reason why they are nominated to be a Mogaji, whether the content of a man’s character is what determines whether a Mogaji becomes Jagun. So, it is not surprising, which is why I am calling for a reform, that we all need to start to think. The current system is not serving us, so can we develop our own homegrown system, even if it means walking through the current system because our people are hurting. We need to start thinking not only for ourselves but as a people, for our families, brothers, cousins, extended family and stop this, ‘I don’t care attitude.’

Briefly let us in on your background.

I was born on Thursday, December 31, 1970 to Baale Onipako Bodija – Chief Ezekiel Atanda Amoo Agboola and Madam Rebecca Adelayo Agboola, a successful trader popularly called Mama Ade Oni Flour at their residence – E9/66A within the Abiolu Compound at Oke-Offa Atipe, Ibadan. My education started at Ebire Nursery and Primary School, Felele, Ibadan. I then proceeded to Federal Government College on Gusau Road, Sokoto. My tertiary education was at the University of Ibadan, where I studied Biochemistry with the award of a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc Hons) and a Masters of Science (M.Sc) also in Biochemistry with a bias in Drug Metabolism and Toxicology. However, I went with my passion and got into the field of Information and Communication Technology at Tara Systems on Broad Street, Lagos after serving the nation. My vocation has taken me all over the world after a brief pursuit of Bioinformatics at Birkbeck College, University College London (UCL). However, after some reflection and divine inspiration, I came back home from the United Kingdom to establish various businesses in information technology, hospitality, real estate and agriculture. The call to serve, assist and provide help made me to come back to my roots in Ibadan, hence the acceptance of the duty and trust reposed on me by the entire Abiolu family through the position of Mogaji Abiolu.

As Mogaji, what is your drive, what do you hope to bring about to the society around you?

It was almost prophetic on Monday when I was installed Mogaji. It is to bring about a continuation of what “Mafoya Oluwa n be pelu re” stands for. Our role is to draw the attention of everyone to a problem when we see it. We have a four-pronged approach in the foundation which is that our people need help because the education system has almost been crippled. The education system in the world evolves overtime and we are not keeping pace. You don’t have to go to school to study Sociology and Anthropology to be a useful member of the society. Often time, we look down on vocational duties as if they are less than degree holders. The first leg of our mandate in the foundation is Health and Wellbeing. A healthy people can only bring about productivity. We know that there is no real health without proper education. We are also not unaware that the present situation has made a lot of people poor. People sell their votes for N2000 because they don’t know the value of their votes. So, we also intend to have mentoring programmes for young people, advocacy, get people to start to think, talk about things that are important, get to begin to change mindset. The fourth leg is empowerment. In time past, we have announced scholarships and help those who might have dropped out of school. We don’t institute perpetual scholarship so that people don’t go lazy and depend on gifts. We call it an interventional sort of scholarship.

This is a very important question. I would not say it baffles me that everything seems to have now become monetised. I want to believe that it is a seed sown that has come to germinate. I think the common word is corruption. Corruption is a general word that embodies many things. It is the use of invested authorities for your own personal gain. So, everybody becomes a gatekeeper. And it is a product of the current forms of government that looks like a mongrel. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit. So, the current forms of governance is such that there is no accountability anymore and people think being voted into an office is being voted to be a benevolent person, not recognizing that it is a vested authority. These are the things that are causing what we are seeing today, now creeping into the institutions, where it never used to be, where the content of a man’s character used to be the main reason why they are nominated to be a Mogaji, whether the content of a man’s character is what determines whether a Mogaji becomes Jagun. So, it is not surprising, which is why I am calling for a reform, that we all need to start to think. The current system is not serving us, so can we develop our own homegrown system, even if it means walking through the current system because our people are hurting. We need to start thinking not only for ourselves but as a people, for our families, brothers, cousins, extended family and stop this, ‘I don’t care attitude.’

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