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The age-long bond between the Ona Onibode of Igboholand, Oba AbdulRashid Adetoyese Anikulapo Jayeola 111 and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Damisi Adeyemi 111, was again relived recently as the Allaafin and the Ona Onibode, displayed uncommon love and affinity. Oba Anikulapo was celebrated his 10th anniversary on the throne.
Oba Jayeola, while eulogising Alaafin for the role he played in making him the traditional ruler of Igboholand, he said it took the government of Oyo State one year and three months to approve the recommendation of the Council of Obas and Chiefs before he was crowned as the Ona Onibode of Igboholand. In less than two weeks, the Oyo State government ratified the approval of Oba Jaiyeola as the Ona Onibode of Igboholand, the Alaafin crowned him as the Ona Onibode of Igboholand.
According to Oba Jayeola, those who are not interested in the tradition of their people should not aspire to be monarchs. “The traditional institution should be left for those who are ready to uphold the tradition. It is dangerous to abandon tradition,” Oba Jaiyeola said.
Oba Jayeola, like Alaafin, impressed the audience with his repository of history. The usual practice was for Alaafin to summon a monarch to Oyo and be decorated with the traditional akoko leaves. Ona Onibode told the audience that of all the traditional rulers in Yorubaland, Ona Onibode was the first to be installed with akoko leaves in his kingdom (Igboho). “Ona Onibode was the first to be honoured with akoko leaves in this town (Igboho),” he told the audience.
He insisted that the affinity between the Alaafin and Ona Onibode was immemorial, saying Ona Onibode holds a special place in Alaafin’s heart. “There is no traditional ruler like Alaafin; others are branches. Alaafin is the stem that holds the branches,” he said.
He called on the Oyo State government to establish tertiary institutions in Igboholand, especially a campus of the Ladoke Akintola University.
Also, being an agrarian community, he called for the establishment of a cassava processing plant in the town.
Worried by the insecurity in Oke Ogun, he appealed for more security in the town with the additional police posts. “Where there is no security, there will be no peace,” he said.
The event availed the community the opportunity to see the other side of Oba Jayeola. He rendered a song, which he composed for the Alaafin to the admiration of his subjects.
Impressed with the knowledge of history displayed by Oba Jaiyeola, Alaafin described him as a person who is always thirsty for knowledge. “Ona Onibode is a knowledgeable person who seeks for knowledge.
One Onibode would come to me to look for history books and many of them are with him.
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“If people like us pass on, people like Ona Onibode will be able to tell the authentic history because he has facts and proofs.”
While praying for Oba Jaiyeola to live long, Alaafin advised him to embrace both the lowly and those in high places.
Alaafin came with two of his beautiful wives and his council of chiefs, the Oyo Mesi.
The event brought dignitaries from all walks of life, including the deputy governor of Oyo State, Engineer Rauf Aderemi Olaniyan; the senator representing Oyo North in the Senate, Senator Fatai Buhari; Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Adebo Ogundoyin; some members of the Oyo State House of Assembly, including Adebunmi Lateef Layiwola; traditional rulers from Oke-Ogun and Kwara State; Lady Silifat Adeboyin Peller, wife of the late magician, Professor Peller; Presiden Woman Society of Nigeria, Dr. (Mrs) Gloria Laraba Soda (MNI) and many other eminent people of Oke Ogun, Oyo State.
A Lagos-based legal practitioner, Otunba Goke Olakulehin, described Oba Jaiyeola as a no-nonsense person.
“He is a royal enigma, a royal actor par excellence. Right from childhood, he exhibited traits of courage, a qualiy that endeared him to all and sundry.
He brooked no nonsense. He was our own royal emblem in our childhood. When he ascended the throne, I wasn’t surprised,”Olakulehin said.
Explaining why the present Ona Onibode and Alaafin are so close, one of the elders in the town traced this back to history. “The Alaafin that first stayed in Igboho did not only hand Igboho to Ona Onibode, he left 71 queens with Ona Onibode, while he moved to the present Oyo.
Four of the former Alaafins died in Igboho and were buried there. So, Igboho is not just an ordinary town, it is very unique and holds a special place in the heart of Alaafin.
“Had it been there was no crisis in the past, Igboho would have been big like Ibadan and Ijebu,” he told The Nation.
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