Oba Abdulrasak Adenugba, Ebumawe of
Ago-Iwoye
The
Ebumawe of Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Oba Abdulrasak Adenugba, shares his
experiences with ADEOLA BALOGUN
What
are the challenges of being a king in a university town like Ago-Iwoye?
Life
is full of challenges. And for one coming to the throne as an oba, there are
numerous challenges which require wisdom. There is no school or institution
where we have qualified obas, so it is whatever one comes across the throne
that would empower and give you day-to-day experience to rule over your
subjects. Human beings are capable of questioning instructions and change.
Change is inevitable. It can be challenging, especially in a university
community where everybody thinks they know their rights. Some believe that kabiyesi
can not infringe on their rights or ask them not to have their freedom of
speech and movement. We experience this every day, but we’re marching on.
Incidentally,
the Olabisi Onabanjo University issue brought up some controversies in the
early years of your reign. How were you able to manage them?
Because
of the university being sited here, there is a tendency to attribute whatever
happens, whether good or bad, to students. And if I may recollect what you are
referring to, the event of June 16, 2005, when riots broke out in the town, I
will say without mincing words that the crisis was perpetrated by my people.
They used some hoodlums who appeared as students so that people would believe
that the students were at war with me. It was not true that the riots were
carried out by legitimate students of the OOU. I will say it clearly that it
was not the students that came to burn my palace as revealed by investigation.
Are
you talking like this because you had opposition on your way to the throne?
In
a town of this nature, the Ebumawe stool has come a long way. When I
came to the throne as a younger person, I decided to bring some glamour to the
institution, which some people saw as strange, and envy came in. Of course, you
cannot rule that one out. When people see you as a young person and doing some
things that were totally different from the norm, people are bound to question
and envy you and your style. While some were happy and saw it as innovation,
others regarded it as being out of sync with tradition and so one cannot rule
it out if they come up with one form of resistance or the other. It is normal.
Ago-Iwoye as a community is made up of different quarters and backgrounds, but
Ibipe has always been the seat of power as far as the Ebumawe is
concerned. All the ruling houses that produce obas are in Ibipe and by history,
Ibipe is the first settlement in Ago-Iwoye. Ago-Iwoye left Orile-Iwoye to come
to this place and the first quarters is Ibipe Quarters before others came from
different places. You can see that it is no mean feat bringing all the people
under one umbrella to rule as a town. But God in His mercy has helped us to be
one entity. But some people came up with suggestion that the seat of power
should shift from Ibipe to other quarters. That is the genesis of the crisis
you are talking about. But when I came in, I wanted to see how we could manage
the agitation without causing any problem. All the quarter heads or chiefs are
kingmakers as stated in the chieftaincy declaration of 1957. Some people
believe that if all the quarters have stake in the stool, they would not
understand why one quarter should monopolise it. And I must not forget to say
this, our people in Ago-Iwoye have the tendency of living in the past and that
was one of the challenges that I had when I came. I made efforts to change this
mindset but human beings resist change. We have four ruling houses, but my
grandfather, Oba Akadiri Adenugba, was the first Ebumawe of Ago-Iwoye.
His papers were signed by the colonial masters on Feb. 2, 1929 and during his
reign, he created structures which we are still using till date. After the
demise of my grandfather, Oba Osiyemi ruled between 1933 and 1982. And in a
way, he made some changes to the structures put in place by my grandfather.
Maybe
the stool was keenly contested.
Not
really because I was the choice of my ruling house. In fact, I had to be
persuaded to come and serve my people.
What
were you doing before becoming the oba?
I
was living my normal life as a retired banker and doing my own business in
Lagos. I was into computer and automation communication business and I enjoyed
working as the managing director before my people called me to come and sit on
my grandfather’s throne. After a lot of counselling and persuasion, I agreed to
come and be Ebumawe.
Probably
you were scared?
Of
course, I was scared. In fact, my mother rejected the idea of her son becoming
the Ebumawe, saying that all past Ebumawes had one way or the
other been confronted with crises. What I even faced when I came in was a
child’s play compared to what happened to Oba Osiyemi, who was chased out of
this town twice before he was finally brought back. So, you can see that my own
case was nothing compared to his travails. The university issue was just a smokescreen
to carry out their agenda. The media too did not help much as they went to town
with unverified stories. How can an oba who cannot see a corpse now hold the
gun and be shooting students when I have my own children? After the story was
published years ago that over 30 students were killed, don’t those students
have parents who should have demanded for the bodies or whereabouts of their
children? Investigations were carried out because of different publications,
but not a single dead body was seen dumped anywhere. The university crisis was
used as an opportunity to perpetrate evil by some elements among my subjects.
How
did you manage the bad blood generated?
We
thank God for His mercy and for giving us the wisdom to lead the people. God
has always been there for us and He has never let us down. A few months after
the incident, the relationship between me and the students tremendously
improved. Everybody started realising the truth and adjusted. Although there
are still some pockets of incidents here and there, that one cannot be ruled
out in a university environment like this. But we’re all working hand in hand
to find solutions to the challenges. I think you met the university
vice-chancellor and his entourage here a moment ago. We’re all working together
to see how the community can be made pleasant for everyone to live in peace and
harmony.
I
heard you telling the VC to find a solution to the issues of some students who
have spent years beyond their periods of study .
Well,
I would just try to be diplomatic about that because I’m not part of the
university. But as the oba, I have a way of finding out some things about
almost everything going on in the town. You heard the VC say that they want to
graduate over 40,000 in a few days time. Why was it so? It is because they have
some people who have run their four-year normal course and still remain here.
You see a student who has been here 12, 15 years for a degree course. I won’t
blame the past administrators, but something must have gone wrong somewhere for
such a backlog to exist. When that crisis happened, the government and the
university community came in to investigate the root cause of what happened. It
was discovered then that some courses run in the university were not accredited
and they applied the rules and regulations. Before long, sanity was brought
back but it is a continuous exercise.
But
I want to believe that the location of the university has positively rubbed off
on the town.
With
sincerity and sense of respect to those who initiated the move, the university
has helped Ago-Iwoye tremendously. The main economy of Ago-Iwoye, so to say, is
the patronage and the presence of the students of OOU. The major occupation of
our people is farming, but their economy got a boost with the coming of OOU to
the town. Today, what you would have to go to Lagos to buy before are today
being sold in Ago-Iwoye. Look at the vehicular and human movements, compared to
what happened in the past when one had to be on the lookout for the only
vehicle plying the road to Lagos. OOU has really transformed the lives of the
people and the indigenes of Ago-Iwoye.
Initially,
how were you able to rule over a community populated by highly educated and
experienced subjects as a young man?
As
I said earlier on, the structures had been laid by our forefathers, especially
my grandfather, the first oba to be crowned as the Ebumawe. All the
chieftaincy and traditional institutions had been there and when I came, I just
had to key in. I met some of the chiefs and have in the course of my reign,
installed some. I would say I have enjoyed the tremendous support of my people,
notwithstanding the initial hitches. As time went on, we got on well and it was
better when they got used to my style of kingship. When I demanded for their
loyalty for Ago-Iwoye to move forward, initially some of the old ones exhibited
a form of reluctance but as days went by, we got on well. Their support has
been overwhelming.
As
businessman, how did you find it settling down to a rather slow life of an oba
in a community like this?
If
not that God said leave what you were doing in Lagos and serve your people, I
don’t think it would have been possible to be here. That is why I have the
conviction that it is God who makes kings and rulers. I didn’t give anybody one
kobo to go and lobby for me to become the oba and that is why I have confidence
that it pleased God to put me as the head of my people. Because of my own style
and social orientation, there is no day I have a dull time. Luckily, some of my
mates and contemporaries take time out to relax with me and they are all around
me. When I came in and saw them around me, I was relaxed. Once in a while when
I am in Lagos, some of them come around me and we sit down and relax together.
I don’t have a dull time.
The
position of the oba must have robbed you of certain things you used to do as a
socialite, what are they?
Well,
there is one thing that I miss: my social life. I remember that I used to move
with the high society to enjoy myself but as an oba, there is a limit to how
one can do such things again. That is one thing the throne has taken away from
me; I’m not saying I’m incarcerated, but I can no longer move as I used to do
during my days in the banking sector when I was free to sit down and enjoy
myself. I’m being confined to the palace in order to protect the image of the
stool as a sacred one.
Why
did you take to banking?
I
started as a teacher but I was on a sojourn, looking out to survive when I came
across one of the high-ranking men in the banking sector then, Alhaji Umaru
Mutallab the former managing director of First Bank. I only assisted him in
changing a punctured tyre and probably he saw the way I conducted myself and he
asked what I was doing. I told him I was a teacher and he asked me whether I
would like to work in a bank and I told him I would be glad if I had the
opportunity. He just gave me his card and asked me to contact him. That was how
I became a banker and from there, I had the opportunity to develop myself.
In
a traditional setting like this, there is a tendency for your subjects to give
out their daughters’ to you. What has been your experience?
That
was in the past. The only thing that is tradition here which I met is that I
had to inherit all the past oloris. That does not make them my bed mates
anyway but, take care of them. I have my own olori of my choice. So, I don’t
see any reason why anybody would want to offer me somebody to marry, it doesn’t
happen anymore. At the same time, I have not really tried to look for a wife as
far as this town is concerned. It just has not occurred to me, not because they
are not beautiful, but maybe that is my own style.
What
is your relationship with the Awujale of Ijebuland?
He
is my role model. He is my baba. I know the reason you are asking me:
people say we look alike; he is my father in all ramifications. God knows the
reason why he brought me to know the Awujale because of his tremendous roles in
my life. I pray God to prosper him and keep him for me for a long time so that
people like us can still drink from his cup of wisdom.
How
are you preparing for this year’s Ago-Iwoye Day?
We
used to call it the Ago-Iwoye Day, but we have to come up with another name –
the Ago-Iwoye Annual Festival. Ordinarily, when you say Ago-Iwoye Day, it
connotes a one-day event, but it is usually one week packed with different
activities. We’re starting off this year’s event on October 5 (Friday) and it
runs through October 14. It is an opportunity for sons and daughters to come together
and have fellowship in their traditional setting. My subjects come together to
enjoy our delicacy called eberipo, which is our traditional dish made
from cocoyam. I thank the Ago-Iwoye Central Development Council, the force
behind the festival. The annual festival has brought every son and daughter of
this town home from wherever they are every year and I must confess that I
always look forward to seeing the events. The Eberipo Night is very
special. It is where you see everybody coming together to enjoy the delicacy.
It’s not that individually they cannot prepare and eat it wherever they are,
but they see the fun in coming together and having it in a carnival – like
atmosphere. It can be fun. They bring their families and friends to come and
witness how it is prepared in our native setting. It’s made with cocoyam, egusi
and dried fish.
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