Alaafin’s Claim: Rilwan Aremu Akiolu 1 is My Oba

Alaafin’s Claim: Rilwan Aremu Akiolu 1 is My Oba

It has been years ago when events forced me to touch base with home – Lagos State. That was long before we were provided with computers. So, it is impossible to refer to the date and topic. I recollect that it was in connection with determining who is a true Omo Eko or a Lagosian.

The late Honourable ‘Double Chief’ Alli, who had undertaken a great deal of research on the history of Lagos, was my resource person and mentor.

I spent days in his company; learning as much as time permitted about my state of origin. At the very least, I wanted to be clear about the main outlines of my people’s history – if the occasion ever arises for me to use the knowledge as a basis for deciding my position. I hope Lagosians will forgive me for straying too far from home. But, today, Omodele is my name.

What brought me back home is the raging controversy ignited, as usual, by the Alaafin of Oyo, and the comments attributed to him during the installation of his new chiefs. Ordinarily, I have never been enthusiastic about chieftaincy titles granted to various individuals by traditional rulers.

Two of my late brothers were installed on the same day. Being young and warm blooded then, I chose to do what 46 years old Nigerian males do on weekends instead of participating. I was offered a title by one of my late in-laws who retrieved his lost crown with my help.

Baba was astonished when I turned it down. “Dele, do you know how much people offer me for this title?” My answer was short and simple: “If they are that desperate, then give them; and let them pay.”

So, the events in Oyo would not have been of interest to me – but for three reasons. First, I am just putting finishing touches to the history of a community in Ekiti.

Suddenly, there was violent boundary dispute between the community and another one. I found myself a party to controversy far away from Lagos. Information we dug up is now being cited. I have re-learnt a lesson which had been taught on this page for years. History matters.

Second, it is becoming a recurring matter for the Alaafin to install chiefs – not for Oyo only – but also for the entire Yorubaland. Invariably, disputes erupt; insults and maledictions fly between those supporting Alaafin and those who don’t agree with His Royal Majesty. His supporters always trot out the same set of “facts” – like lame old horses – to support Alaafin’s claim to supremacy over other Obas in Yorubaland; and their people. With all due respects, I strongly disagree.

I respect all the traditional rulers in Nigeria – including the newly-crowned Olu of Warri. I will greet each of them the way tradition dictates without hesitation. Once, in the 1980s, visiting one of my customers in Agbor, as a Marketing Manager of a multi-national, he took me to the palace to meet the Dein of Agbor who was the same age as my first daughter.

My host went down and I was down a second after. I have no complexes on cultural matters. But, I cannot accept the Alaafin as a paramount ruler of all Yorubaland.

My own Oba is at Iga Iduganran, Lagos Island. He is Oba Rilwan Aremu Osuolale Akiolu I. Three historical reasons account for my position. Eko, or what later became known as Lagos, after the arrival of the Portuguese, was never a part of the Oyo Empire – wherever its boundaries might have been.

Obviously, if the Alaafin’s claim rests on the fact that his forefathers dominated a large area of Yorubaland, then he must exclude Eko from the empire. And once Lagos is removed, his authority is not total.

Two, I am surprised by the actual or feigned ignorance of those supporting Alaafin’s claim. Have they never heard of the Kiriji War, 1877-1893? The war, which lasted 16 years, was one of the longest fought in what will later be called Nigeria.

It ended with several people in Yorubaland declaring independence from the Oyo Empire. In other words, the empire collapsed before the end of the nineteenth century.

Three, even before Kiriji War, the British Empire had already grabbed the area during the Partition of Africa. As any historian can testify, two empires cannot co-exist in the same territory.

Oyo Empire, like the Roman Empire before it and the British Empire after it, has vanished. It makes as much sense to base a claim of sovereignty on it as for Britain to want to claim parts of the United States – which was once under British rule.

My advice to our Royal Father – the Alaafin of Oyo – is to continue to give chieftaincy titles; but to restrict them to his domain. I cannot speak for others – the Egba, Ijebu, Ijesha, Ekiti, etc; but, I am confident that no Omo Eko accepts the Alaafin as a paramount ruler. We already have our own. And, there cannot be two paramount rulers.