A first-time visitor to the Ibara GRA residence of Oba AdedapoTejuoso, CON, the Osile Oke-Ona Egba in Ogun State, could mistake it for a church cathedral. The all-white edifice with beautiful murals on the outside has the trappings of a heavenly abode on the inside where saintly cherubs and angels armed with drums and cymbals serenade an awe-struck audience with soul-lifting hymns.
Nothing prepared IBRAHIM APEKHADE YUSUF and FUNKE COLE for the sight that confronted them when they were ushered into the king’s presence recently. Dressed in resplendent all-white Guinea brocade attire with a native cap and slip-on shoes to match was the bespectacled royal father himself with some clergymen ministering and preaching on the altar; a choir playing the orchestra and sizeable members of the congregation actively participating in a praise and worship session that lasted over half an hour after their arrival.
After the usual exchange of random banalities and paying of traditional homage to the king by some of his subjects, an elated Oba Tejuosho, who has ruled his kingdom for so many years contrary to the expectations of some doomsayers who prophesied a short-lived reign with looming perdition and catastrophe, revealed that he owes his survival on the throne of his ancestors over these past three decades to divine providence and nothing more.
The Ogun first-class monarch, a medical doctor by training with years of meritorious service both in public and private practice, philanthropist, Chairman of the Governing Council of the Prison Rehabilitation Mission International Inc., is also a preacher and church planter. Indeed, he made an effort to convert one of our correspondents to join the ‘Body of Christ’ as he called it. And, wait for it, the monarch is also a comedian who could give the likes of Ali Baba and Gordons a run for their money!
All through the time the interview lasted, the octogenarian king effortlessly reeled out rib-cracking jokes that sent everyone reeling in laughter. He spoke of his association with Bishop Kayode Williams, the ex-convict turned evangelist, the problems with the Nigerian prisons, his most challenging and happiest moments as well as what he would like to be remembered for. Excerpts:
A look at your residence shows class yet simple and you don’t come across as some of the regular traditional rulers whose sight alone evokes fear on people in a manner of speaking. How did you get that aura?
(Cuts in) Are you a Christian yourself?
No, I’m a Muslim.
Ah, you are a Muslim. You better become a Christian so that you can develop that aura yourself (laughs). What you are seeing is what the Bible calls the fruit of the spirit. According to Galatians Chapter 5 Verse 22-23, once you accept Jesus Christ into your life, that fruit would show. That fruit has about nine poles which are meekness, faith, love, and so on and so forth.
But some people believe God does not have a religion…
Why do you say God does not have a religion? If you say you are a Christian, Jesus Christ must be in you and you won’t be saying God does not have a religion. I want you to be in heaven with me. Christ wants you.
But Muslims are better Christians…
(Cuts in) You mean Muslims are better Christians… (laughs).
As a Christian and traditional ruler, how do you combine your roles?
When I was told to ascend this throne, the first thing that happened about a month or so before I ascended the throne was that somebody from the East just came to me. Then, I was at Ilupeju town in Lagos. He came to the house and said God sent him to me; that I was going to be a king and what God wants me to do is that whenever I become a king, He was going to send so many people to me. And He (God) was pleading with me that whoever came to me, no matter how untidy he looks, I should sit and listen to him. That I should give him whatever alms I can spare from my pocket. And God said He Himself would interpret for me.
Since I ascended the throne, keeping God’s commandments has been my guiding principle. When you came in today, I was with the Provost of Ake Cathedral. He had just been promoted to Bishop. As at that time, the provost of the church was Archdeacon Olomo Tosin, who happened to be my teacher at the Grammar School. So the minute he knew I was coming here, he was the one who wrote the Osile anthem. The minute I came to Abeokuta, I wasn’t living here, I was living at our family house; he organized a morning prayer.
Of course, I spent three months in Ipebi (isolation). Every morning, Monday to Friday, he allocated time. Ake would come on Monday, Idi Ape, Methodist group and so on. So after I left Ipebi, the thing stopped. A few months after, somebody just came to me with a message and said, God said why did I stop the morning prayers? He said God said I should start. On that occasion, I was staying at Ago-Oko, our family compound. We were living upstairs then and we had a small compound in the front. God said even if it’s only about three or four/five benches, I should put it in the compound and then see what He (God) was going to make out of it.
So I called a carpenter, and they made about three or four benches and they put it in the compound. Then they started just with the family. Later, people from different churches were coming. So, that is what has developed into what you saw here earlier today. And God Has used that to promote people tremendously. To me, it is better than the College of Theology. Half the people coming here are pastors, bishops.
First of all it is nondenominational. We use the Scripture Union Bible. So whether you are Catholic, Methodist or whatever, you are welcomed. We spend about half of the time with somebody lecturing us and the remaining time, if you have questions, we would answer and discuss generally.
The question I asked is how do you manage your dual roles as an evangelist and traditional ruler?
There is nothing to manage there. Why did God create you? God created humans to serve and worship Him. God created us purposely to worship Him. If you don’t worship God, you are not in this world, you’re not for God; you’re for Satan. And that’s what Satan wants and that’s why he was driven out of heaven. He wanted to get all the glory that God was getting. So the minute you are paying attention to what Satan is doing, you are worshipping him.
You are 33 years on the throne, what are some of the low and high points in your reign? The good and bad times…
(Cuts in) Good and bad times? Any time is good. You know everything works for good for those who are called according to His (God’s) purpose. If you are on your line, anything that happens to you, people may see it as bad but you know it is good. Joseph was a dreamer. The wife of Potiphar invited him but he went to prison. People would see it as bad. But if he didn’t go to prison, he wouldn’t have become a prime minister. To me, whatever happens, you take it in your strides.
I have had so many challenges. I think when I was about 14 years on the throne, God put it in my mind in our compound where I was staying before I left there. We had just finished building a chapel, so I celebrated my 14th anniversary there. Earlier on, members of my family wrote to me and said, okay, now that I’m the king I should come and be the head of the family. For about two, three years, I didn’t bother to answer them. But that day when we went to the church in the compound there and virtually all of them were there, I rose to my feet and said, wait a minute, my family is here. They’ve written to me about two to three years now to come and be the head of the family and I didn’t respond to them. I now asked them, ‘Do you know why I didn’t respond?’ They said, no, they didn’t know. I said, ‘Look, in that your compound there, you have this idol, obatala there. If you want me to be the head of your family, are you ready?’ After this church service, we will all go there and remove the obatala.
True enough, they all followed me after the church service and then we walked down to the place. I now told those who are going there. I said when we get there, first knock the door and if nobody answers, just open. If you open and you see the idol there, greet him. If he doesn’t answer you, move near him and tell him to stand up. If he doesn’t stand up, carry him, bring him out. And if he doesn’t talk, fire him. And we all went there.
The inspiring thing was that when we did all these things, there were some pastors who went with us. The chap who led those who went to carry the obatala was Pastor Ariyo. This was a man who had been married for 10 years or more with no child. He was the leader who carried the idol. He brought it out, fired it and that was that. Less than a year after that, he had a child, a daughter to be precise. She was named Testimony. Unfortunately, he himself has died now. But he had three kids altogether before he passed on.
Then, some people castigated us all through this period. They said all sorts of things about us. There was even an Oba of Ishara. He wrote in the newspaper that I was not fit to be a king. I am quoting him, he said at the time that even the Queen of England they have their rituals and so on and so forth. My second wife is from his town. So when I was celebrating my coronation anniversary two weeks after that, he came. As fate would have it, the man who was preaching at that event didn’t know him. The Bishop was virtually raining curses on whoever wrote those satanic verses in the newspaper, unknown to him that the accused was sitting right next to me there.
Unfortunately, not quite long after that, the Oba of Ishara died. Again, the funny thing was that when I got on the throne, people were saying that I would not last on the throne up to two years. Now this Oba I’m talking about, we were installed on the same day.
What legacy would you want to be remembered for?
You know one of those things I said the day we were going to carry the obatala. By the time we were leaving the church, I told the people, I said well, now we are going to take the obatala out of its domain. I’m pleading with you please don’t do anything for the next seven days. I said after seven days if I’m still alive, go and carry your own. Whatever idol that is in your house go and carry it out. But if I die within the seven days, please don’t touch any idol, just leave them. That was about 17 years ago. I’m still alive and well. So go and carry the idols in your house (general laughter).
The Kuje prison break is still fresh in our minds. As someone who has been monitoring developments in the nation’s prison system, what do you think can be done to address the drift?
Whatever we do, we must always put God first. That is what is basically wrong with Nigeria. The bible says when the foundation is faulty, what can the righteous do? The criminality in the country for some time now seems to be escalating. These are things that God had foretold. If we had heeded God’s warning, they wouldn’t have gone to such extent. If we had humbled ourselves to seek the face of God, the prison issues wouldn’t have escalated.
All that God is asking us to do is for all of us to gather in one place and seek His face. Without God, we can do absolutely nothing. We pray that He would assist us to achieve our utmost desires. If we don’t have the right people in the right place, you will just discover that all that you are doing would be an exercise in futility.
I remember that in the last 20 years, I’ve said it several times that God wants all of us to come back to him. We are the people called by the name of God, and if we had humbled ourselves to seek the face of God, many of our problems would not have escalated to this level.
Without God, we can do absolutely nothing. Anything we want to do, we need to put it before God. We pray He will assist us. We may talk and talk, present hundreds of papers, if we don’t have the right people in the right places, all efforts will be in futility. May God choose good leaders for Nigeria.
We noticed that Bishop Kayode Williams talks about you frequently in most of our interviews. What is your association with him?
Well, I don’t know. He himself is here; he knows the origin. But I can always tell you what he told me. According to him, our association started with the Prison Rehabilitation Mission International Inc. I met him just before 2004, and when he met me, he told me God said when he was going to start PREMI, that we should appoint people like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Afe Babalola as members of board of trustees while he should be the Director-General of the Governing Council and the post of the Chairman should be left vacant. So he started it all and everything was running smoothly while he was the Director-General.
Then, I think probably about 10 years later or thereabout, God told him that He has now found the Chairman. That he should come and install me as the Chairman of the Governing Council. I came on the throne in 1989. He said God said the installation should take place here in this compound (Ibara GRA residence). So on the 4th of April 2004 (04-04) was the day of my installation as Chairman of Governing Council. So on the 4th of April, 2004, this compound was packed full. Everybody was here: the governor at the time, Governor Gbenga Daniel, the Alake of Egbaland, all the dignitaries in Abeokuta. The whole compound was filled and I was installed on the 4th of April 2004.
That day happened to be a unique day in that I am Karounwi the III and my predecessor was Karounwi the II. Now Karounwi the II was installed as a king on the 4th of April 1904, which was an Easter Monday. So 2004 was a unique day for me, for the Karounwi family, for the Osile Dynasty, and God asked him to make sure he installed me on that day. If anybody tells you that it’s a coincidence in the spirit realm, it’s not correct. These are things that God had ordained from the very foundations of the earth. God knew when Karounwi II was installed; God knew when he would be 100 years. God knew how he wanted to mark it and somebody who brought him close to me was Pastor Olukunle. So between them, I don’t know how they managed it.
I recall that Bishop Williams said God said my first outing should be to Abeokuta prison and that was a day after 04-04 that was 04-05. We all went and they brought me the list of six prisoners in the condemned cell and said that God said that I should go and pray for them and anoint them. Before then, I had never been to prison before whether as an inmate or a visitor (laughs). That was my first time of going as a visitor to the prison. We got there and they started calling them. They all came out and I prayed and anointed the six of them as God directed.
A few years after, we started hearing that some of them had been commuted from death sentence to life imprisonment, 20 years and so on. To cut the long story short, the six of them are out of prison. That was the first miracle that God performed through me. And since then, we (Bishop Williams) have been together. He knows what God has told him. He has been very honest and straightforward with me. I thank God that in the process, the then President Olusegun Obasanjo gave him a presidential pardon, and together with him we have been to so many prisons. I think I have visited all the prisons in Nigeria except the ones in the eastern parts of the country.
From Akure, we went to Kano, Sokoto, and so on. I remember it was when we were going to Sokoto Prison that they phoned me that I had been awarded CON. I can say that the CON award was based primarily on this outreach to prisons. In fact, he (Bishop Williams) was the one who did it. As I recalled, it was Afe Babalola who wanted to get promotion from CON to CFR. He now came to me that he heard the entry would be closing in a few weeks. We now filled the form and he was the one who filled it. Bishop Williams and Hon. Oluseun Shogbola both signed it. So these are the things I know about the bishop.
Story By
IBRAHIM APEKHADE YUSUF and FUNKE COLE