Yoruba traditional institution is riddled with many challenges —Oba Ogunwole

Oba Rufus Olayinka Ogunwole, Kujosin 1 is the Alaagba of Aagba in Osun State. In this interview by OLUWOLE IGE, he speaks about the challenges, socioeconomic developments and peculiarities of his domain.

 

What was your professional background before you ascended the throne?

I was a practicing nurse. I have my own private clinic right away from Aagba and later shifted it to Iragbiji, known as Igi Tolorungbin Clinic and Maternity Home. During that period, people lured me into politics.

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They saw certain attributes in me and said they needed me to serve. As a result of that, I became the vice chairman, Boripe Local Government Area of Osun State and after the expiration of my tenure, I was elected into the Osun State House of Assembly between 2003 and 2007 to represent Boripe/Boluwaduro State Constituency. I contested to represent the constituency for a second term and I won the primary election of my party, but the party in its wisdom said I should allow another person to be its candidate. I had no option because I believe in the wish of the Almighty God. But later the governorship election was conducted and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola won. Without lobbying, I was called that I had been appointed as a Special Adviser to the Governor on Assembly Matters. I held this position until my enthronement as the Alaagba of Aagba

 

How many royal families do you have in Aagba?

We have three royal families, namely Fatorisa Ruling House, the Agunloye Ruling House and the Odeyale Ruling House. In those ruling houses, we still have branches, but mainly we have three ruling houses in Aagba.

 

To which of the ruling houses do you belong?

I belong to Fatorisa Ruling House.

 

When you were contesting for the stool of Alaagba of Aagba, what was your experience?

I thank Almighty God because I was born in Aagba, schooled in Aagba and almost all of my childhood and adult life were spent within community. Although I traveled out of the country, my trip did not exceed three months. Now, I am well over 60 years old and I am very conversant with the people and our customs. As a result of this, I had no problem with the people. There were oppositions during the struggle for the throne and there was no way we could avoid that in a contest on chieftaincy matters. We were eight contestants for the stool of Alaagba of Aagba, but I was the only one endorsed by the kingmakers. As a matter of fact, there were a lot of challenges, but God enabled me overcome them.

 

What were those things you were involved in before you ascended the throne of Alaagba of Aagba and which you presently would have loved to continue doing?

I had friends with whom I socialised regularly with then. As an agile individual, I am also being restrained from doing certain things because of my present position as a traditional ruler. This is what I have to live with.

 

Since your ascension to the throne, what are the social and economic developments that have come to Aagba?

When I became the Alaagba of Aagba, the Alaagba was not a permanent member of the Osun State Council of Obas. Alaagba was a rotational position, but within a short time after I ascended the throne, Alaagba became a permanent member of the state’s council of obas. Apart from that, there was an extension of electricity supply to develop areas of the community with transformers. Due to this development, the town began to expand. Beside, no Oba or past Alaagba has ever used the community palace before I ascended the throne. But, after carrying out some renovation works, I am using the community palace for all activities.

Before now, there were dilapidated buildings surrounding the palace. The past Alaagba requested that such buildings be vacated so that the buildings could be handed over to the community. But he did not succeed in carrying that out. I have been able to get the cooperation of the owners of such buildings and the structures have been demolished, while we have graded the areas and we now have enough space for the palace. The owners of the buildings were very magnanimous because they did not collect anything in terms of compensation from the community. We have also commenced the perimeter fencing of the palace. Apart from this, I donated sets of computers to Methodist High School, Aagba to aid the teaching of our students there.

 

There is a belief that the position of a traditional ruler comes with lots of responsibilities in terms of assisting the needy in the community. How have you been coping in playing this critical role?

Since I came on board, I have been assisting the widows in our community and this has been on regular basis. Similarly, the aged are not left out in my efforts to ensure that they lead comfortable lives.

 

What are the challenges facing your community that needs government’s intervention?

The first and major problem we are contending with is the deplorable condition of road that leads to Aagba. The road has been abandoned. The current government carried out some works on the road with the hope that they would complete it. The bad condition of the road has affected the economy of our community and this is giving us serious concern. Though I have made efforts to get government’s attention on the need to rehabilitate the road by going to them on several occasions, I still want to use this opportunity to appeal to them to do something urgent on the pitiable state of this road.

 

There is this belief about Aagba being synonymous with voodoo worship such that people dread this community. What is your take on this?

I cannot discard it because in a community where you have aged people, you cannot avoid to have such things. Aagba is known for that (voodoo) because in the olden days whenever any thief came to Aagba to steal or rob people, he would never go scot free. Now, we are in a computer age and things are no longer the way they were before. The traditional powers or voodoo that you mentioned were utilised to protect our community. But, things are changing every day. I cannot disprove the belief that we have potent charms or voodoo in Aagba, but decades back we used it to protect the territorial integrity of our community.

 

As a traditional ruler in Aagba, do you have any taboo in your community?

As result of the advent of Christianity and Islam, many beliefs and taboos are not so much on ground anymore. What we heard from our forefathers is that before now in Aagba, you should not bring banana leaf into the community. But that was then. Now, many taboos have been disregarded due to civilisation and western religions.

 

Can you give an insight into the roles being played by prominent indigenes of Aagba to boost its development?

There are so many challenges confronting the traditional institution in Nigeria, most especially in Yoruba land. Those who believe that Aagba would remain forever have been contributing positively to the growth of our community. Public position is transient, but I want to say that some of our prominent indigenes are assisting the community in terms of developmental activities. Just to mention a few, there are some natives of Aagba that are in vantage positions, but they have never been to Aagba for close to 25 years. But with the help of God, we are drawing them back home to the extent that they are all competing to have their own structure or property in Aagba.

My candid advice to the people of Aagba is that we should come together so that we can make progress and lift Aagba to enviable heights. Those who are in Diaspora should communicating with us and also be active in sharing ideas and innovations that can serve as catalyst for the overall development of our community.