DESPITE the prosecution threat by Governor Seyi Makinde GSM, the reported interrogation of anti-government Oyo Mesi members by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC for alleged bribery and the barely-concealed PR blitz by the Oyo State Government to defend its choice of Alaafin-elect, the battle for the ancient throne is increasingly looking to be as litigious as Kano’s, where two emirs rule today, except other princes in the contest are talked out of pressing on with jurisprudential remedy to the injustice they believed had been done them and it would not matter if the anti-establishment Oyo Mesi are found culpable of alleged bribery, since the contestants would not need them to sue, save for whoever amongst them, was reportedly doing the bribe rounds.
The first slip by the governor after announcing Prince Abimbola Owoade as the Alaafin-designate, is offering gratuitous amnesty to the differing Oyo Mesi members, asking them publicly to make peace with his choice or be docked for alleged bribery. As much as it sounds like a peace offering for everyone to move on from the throne imbroglio, the governor as the appointing authority is already advantaged by the law and needed not offer what would look a quid pro quo.
If money illegally exchanged hands, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission ICPC, under whose purview the matter should fall, should suo moto move in and unravel who did what, who gave what, who collected what and for what purposes, but since the commission is increasingly looking out of sorts, it’s better-neighbour at least EFFC is barking, should press on, with the investigation reportedly opened into the saga.
No doubt, peace is better than war and the governor as the Chief Security Officer of the state, would ordinarily want to be commended for the peace offering but most times the one initiating a detente is always thought to be at a disadvantage and a truce is better called when the major parties to a crisis, are ready for peace.
If an alleged offence as serious as a felony is sacrificed now on the altar of palace harmony and individual pacification, the moral authority to bring anyone with similar misconduct to justice in the future, would have run into a great dilemma.
I support peace initiatives and offerings but they should be offered to those who should be aggrieved; the other contestants to the throne, considering that the process hewn by men, is likely to be breached at certain turns of toeing it but the outcome doesn’t have to be discarded completely, especially if substantial compliance is accumulated. For the human factors and errors in being due with the process, the aggrieved princes can be pacified, especially those not trying to buy the throne.
But it would be wrong letting any bribe-taker off the hook, in order for him or them to support the new occupant of the throne. If anything, the investigation and prosecution, if required, will restore greater dignity to the throne and the traditional institution generally in Yoruba land. Yoruba will say, ti a o ba pa ijimere ka fihan ijimere egbe e, ijimere o ni beru ode (monkey will never respect the hunter until it sees another monkey killed by the hunter).
The general consensus is that standard has fallen badly for the institution, especially in the South West where the esoteric equation of Ifa is expected to be the redeeming factor. While Ifa divination likely had profundity in royal selection in the past, it is crystal clear now that it is mainly the business of men, and every throne is now a cold political calculation considering political office holders as the appointing authority. Yoruba will say eniyan lo wa leyin oro loro fi nke (it is human behind deity’s relevance).
Though it is doubtful if an outsider is the fit and proper person as they say in law, to conduct the divination that led to Ifa choosing the Alaafin-designate, it is still a masterstroke for the Makinde administration to go for reliability and name brand in Professor Wande Abimbola as the consultant diviner. His record of service has shielded the shades in his involvement and recommendation because Oyo will certainly have an oluawo (senior diviner), traditionally tasked with the Ifa consultation assignment when choosing a new Alaafin.
But I feel the revered scholar should not be too engaging with the public on the matter. He came in with Ifa as an arbiter, he and Ifa can’t become parts of the puzzle to be solved in this matter.
In all of these, it is Ifa I pity the most. Here, is a supposed spirit being, being violently dragged because children of men have dragged it into their greed. Sadly for opele, it can’t defend itself. It will still need men like Papa Abimbola to defend it. Again, its opinion is not even relevant in the judicial process and if any omo oye insists on mounting a judicial challenge to the emergence of Owoade, Ifa can’t even be a witness. The question begging for answer is why involve Ifa in the first place when changing times should have gradually excused it, with all dignities and gratitude for the stabilising role it played when politicians were significantly kept out of the show.
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Realistically, governors are constitutional deities in their domains. Even the power not granted by the law, they grab. And it isn’t them alone. In 2004 when Olusegun Obasanjo as president insisted on his choice of Olowu, everything was deployed, including the arrest of the dissenting kingmakers. On August 16, three kingmakers, the Akogun, Chief Rufus Onifade, the Oyega, Chief Ramon Ogunbiyi and the Oloosi, Chief Sufianu Olaifa were ferried from their homes to custody. Two others, challenging the then president who is also the Balogun of Owu, the Obamaja, Chief Olawale Osungboye and the Omoolasin, Chief Sunday Ogunlolu, had to find escape routes. Yoruba will describe their escape as won na papa bora (scamper to safety) or won juba ehoro (run like rabbit). To demonstrate his superiority over principality and powers that supposedly determine who wears the Owu crown, Obasanjo annulled their choice and reportedly tore the paper on which the choice was written. His man, now late, triumphed.
Maybe the Alaafin selection process wouldn’t have become this untidy if someone in the mix had studied the appointment of judges in Nigeria, especially heads of courts. Incidentally, the same judiciary is now likely to sort the knots in the Oyo selection.
Comparatively, the Oyo Mesi would have been the Federal Judicial Service Commission or State Judicial Service Commission which is the nominating authority and I must add that dissensions are allowed but the nominations are carried by the majority vote. Ifa or the diviner is the equivalent of the National Judicial Council NJC, the recommending authority. Funny but true, both Ifa and NJC recommend to the same authority; governors, when judicial officers are being appointed for states.
