Traditional rulers must help govt to guarantee security of their domains —Oba Osiberu

The Elepe of Epe, Oba Adewale Osiberu, is the acting president of Remo Traditonal Council of Obas in Ogun State. In this interview by OLAYINKA OLUKOYA, he speaks on the Yoruba traditional institution, its contributions to national development, the vacant stool of the Akarigbo Remo, among other issues.

You recently celebrated your 15th coronation anniversary. How has it been so far?

It has been quite nice, interesting and a bit challenging too. There have certainly been ups and down such as it is common to human life but the good Lord has been by our side and here we are today doing our bit to rally support for the development of Epe Community and Remo land as a whole.

What will you describe as the high and low point of your reign so far?

My high point has been the opportunity to act as the president of Remo Traditional Council of Obas following the demise of our highly revered paramount ruler and Akarigbo of Remo land, Oba Michael Sonariwo and incidentally, my lowest point has also been the death of this royal father because we were very, very close.

How has it been since the last Akarigbo died?

It is an additional responsibility to my primary assignment of administering the people of Epe community, Sagamu. I now have to coordinate the affairs of other traditional rulers in Remo land until we have a substantive Akarigbo. It has been lot of work and sacrifice but like I have said, it’s all pleasure to serve my people.

How soon are we having new Akarigbo?

That will be very soon by the grace of God. The process lies with the offin chiefs. Offin is the primary constituency of Akarigbo. The next ruling house to produce the Akarigbo is the Torungbuwa ruling house and the state government that will give its approval. It is really beyond our purview or what we can control but we hopefully pray that the new Akarigbo will emerge before the year runs out.

It has been generally observed that many aspects of our culture are fading. What are the traditional rulers doing to ensure their sustainability?

I quite agree with you and wherever you have development it’s always like that. The world is evolving and so culture been also very dynamic is also affected. However, there are still some aspects of our culture that we are keeping, though modernity might have slightly affected them. For instance, in Remo land, we are observing the season of Oro festival and at the end of this festival, we will celebrate Isemo where for a whole day women will not be allowed to come out. Though some other towns in Remo are still marking the end of this festival with Isemo, but that is no longer the practice in Sagamu because of the growth and development of the town. For example, look at Ilisan Remo where we have one of the best private universities in the world, this kind of festival that will not allow women to go out may, one way or the other, conflict with the programmes of the university. Like I have said earlier, we are still keeping many aspects of our culture but those that would hinder growth and development would naturally have to give way. Who will dare talk about using humans for sacrifice nowadays? Yet, it was the custom in time past.

These days there are cases of desecration of royal stools. How do we correct such?

Such is bound to happen. There have been instances where the politicisation of the chieftaincy process could adversely bring unwanted ills to some traditional stools. In other instances, unnecessary proximity to politicians and government could also account for this. There are some communities that by tradition should not have an Oba but by pressurising the government, an Oba would then be given to them. All these practices would eventually bring such stools into disrepute. So in a nutshell, we have too many political Obas these days. It is really sad because many traditional rulers lack the needed comportment befitting their position. Some may also want to allude this to modernization but it’s definitely modernization taken too far.

Despite your Christian faith, do you participate in ritual rites for your community?

Yes I do. You just have to as the custodian of the culture of the town. Though you don’t necessarily have to be where the rite will be performed but you must give your consent and permission as tradition dictates. There is nothing strange in these things; it’s just the traditional way of praying to God. This of course never disturbs you from practicing your religious faith.

A northern governor recently lamented the inadequacy of our security agencies and suggested that security votes should be given to the traditional rulers to help in checkmating increasing crimes in the country. What is your reaction to this proposal?

I still believe it is the primary responsibility of the government to provide adequate security for the people. Rather than abandoning the police or other security agencies for their inadequacies, they should rather be restructured and repositioned to perform their duties as spelt out in the constitution. However, this is not to say that the royal fathers cannot continue to complement the effort of the government. We have a very strong vigilance group in Sagamu which works hand in hand with the police and the result has been very tremendous. I will suggest that traditional rulers should try and see how to help the government within the resources available to them. In the past, we were bogged down with incessant cult clashes but with the diligence of our local security and support of the government, the problem is now in the past. The one confronting us now is this Badoo killing and just yesterday we had a meeting with the police and our local security officers. We have mapped out our strategies and I have that confidence that by the grace of God, the Badoo group won’t have its way in Sagamu.

How will you assess your achievements since your enthronement?

It is not for me to assess myself but then to the glory of God we have achieved peace without which no meaningful growth and development could take place. We also wished we had done more in terms of physical development and most importantly, the development of the people because people still remain the basis for every development. This was one of the reasons why Chief Obafemi Awolowo began the free education policy.

Where were you engaged in before your ascension to the throne?

I was into Information Technology. I was involved with two companies back then in Lagos providing support services for Microsoft and we were also into networking.

What will you say you have missed most since you were became the public face of your people?

I missed being myself. I am no longer free to do some things that I would have love to do but then, they are part of the sacrifices to pay for serving humanity.

Who is a traditional according to the Yoruba people?

Traditionally, an Oba is the head of a community in Yoruba land. He is not made by himself but by the people of the community. The Obaship tradition negates the modern day idea of clamouring to want to be an Oba at all cost.

What will you consider as the challenges?

Life itself is a challenge and I thank God that as they come, the good Lord has been helping us to walk over them. One however wishes there are more development here and there but I have the belief that we will get there some day.