The waiting was indeed long and tortuous for the people; a people whose passionate love for their ancestral root seems to be the making of their individual and collective destiny. They perceive their destiny as strongly tied to the well-being of the land. A land they believe can never be well while the stool of the Akarigbo is not well or vacant.
This was the invaluable level of patriotism that seemed to pitch the people of Remo land against just anything that seemed to prevent the filling of their paramount stool of traditional monarchy for over one year after the death of His Royal Highness, Oba Michael Adeniyi Sonariwo, Erinjugbo II, the immediate past Akarigbo of Remo in Ogun State.
It was also the mental trigger of the immediate ecstasy that reverberated round the Remo world on the announcement of Prince Babatunde Ajayi by the Remo Kingmakers as the winner of a long-awaited royal election which protracted countdown almost harmed the land.
Thursday, August 31, 2017 has gone down in history as an epoch-making occasion not just for its importance as an opportunity of rebirth for the people of Remo descent, but also for its status as a possible beginning of a new order in the Gateway State.
The widely-acclaimed sophistication of the Yoruba race really manifested in the overall disposition and behaviour of the Remo people throughout the waiting period; a period of uncertainty whose worst side-effects were flying rumours from within and outside the Remo land.
Such rumours actually ranged from the comical to the ludicrously annoying.
But, the good news is that the Remo ancestors had the luxury of an uninterrupted peaceful sleep beneath a land scorched endlessly by the heat of rumours flying and crashing into the typically serene atmosphere of Remo land like an ill-fated aircraft.
That the populace, dominated by a highly sensitive youth and which traditionally abhors and dreads prolonged vacancy on the Akarigbo stool not just as an aberration but also a loathed taboo, was able to manage and restrict its tension-filled conflict to the level of a transient family disagreement is an indication of civility.
Perhaps, the seeming impression of disunity among the Ruling Family of Torungbuwa, the entitled Ruling House courtesy of the Akarigbo traditional zoning arrangement, created by the parade of star-studded candidates for the coveted throne, was a major cause of gossips.
Such a parade of world-class candidates was unprecedented in the history of Remo and the entire Yoruba land in a kingship race. A set of 19 candidates made up of people whose profiles may be considerably said to point to personalities who are once-in-a-life-time heroes.
A royal tango that featured three reputable professors, two chattered accountants of great pedigree, one of whom flaunts a law background that extends beyond the surface level of LL.B and many other personalities as contenders was, and is still awesome.
The initial excitement that greeted the unveiling of each of the stars whose likelihood promised a better tomorrow for the average indigene and resident of Remo soon metamorphosed into a fire that scorched the entire land of River Ogun, far beyond the Remo enclaves.
No thanks to the unavoidable confusion created in the psychology of a people that must choose only one among a set that consisted of not even a single insignificant or unworthy material that could be walked over. And, expectedly, resulting alignments and re-alignments in the relationship of the people and stakeholders with the candidates further oiled the untiring rumour mills.
The decision of the state government to suspend the selection process soon after it was initiated was hardly rightly perceived as a wise application of the brake to prevent an already turbulent ship from sinking. Governor Ibikunle Amosun chose to defy Remo people in their burning desire to get to their destination-the Akarigbo Palace.
The emergence of Prince Ajayi, a legal luminary and Certified Chartered Accountant, as the next paramount ruler of Remo in a selection process that was devoid of the slightest hitch, manipulation or rancour represented a meaningful anti-climax.
It was a family affair, not only for the Torungbuwa Ruling House, but also for the singular ancestral blood-tie shared by a people spread into over 100 towns and villages and which defines them as a single kingdom with a common destiny.
To the discerning, it was the common destiny of the Remo people that necessitated their unity in joy over the Akarigbo selection. Surely, even the blind saw clearly the divided interests and varied preferences of the people during the protracted, tension-filled countdown.
However, the most passionate desire of every patriotic indigene of the Remo Kingdom has been to see the translation of its immeasurable contribution to national socio-economic and political development into concrete growth of the kingdom.
Therefore, the joy that has just ushered in Prince Ajayi as the Akarigbo-elect is a communal acknowledgement of the fact that Remo and its destiny remain indivisible.
However, the perception of Akarigbo’s emergence as a harbinger of hope for a better Remo land can come to fruition if all stakeholders co-operate with the incoming monarch to advance the Remo cause, particularly through youth and infrastructure development. This is a non-negotiable necessity in view of that fact that progress holds the key to socio-economic prosperity of Ogun State in particular and Nigeria in general.
- Olokode, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Lagos
