- By Prince Raji Olanipekun
Sir: Professor Akinjide Osuntokun’s column in The Nation of Thursday September 14, with the above topic was timely because it was published on the same day that Oba Afolabi Ghandi Olaoye was observing his Ikije ceremony. Ikije happens to be post installation rite after the new monarch reappeared in public after being in seclusion for seven days.
The article was meant to hail the new Soun who, according to the writer is qualified for the throne and to wish him a successful tenure in office. However, instead of the article achieving its desired objective as a call on the monarch to be just to his subjects and maintain cordial relations with his co-monarchs in Ogbomoso zone, the relations which was a no love relationship, its fanned the ember of the discord. The wish of every indigene of Ogbomoso zone is that the new monarch will be a harbinger of peace in the area.
As a matter of fact, Osuntokun shows his knowledge of Ogbomoso history and his cordial relations with the new monarch. His knowledge of history of Ogbomoso emanated from the two books he has written about two eminent personalities in the town. One is S.L.A Akintola: His life and Times and A Merchant Prince co-authored with Dr. Biodun Oduwobi of the University of Lagos, a biography of the immediate past Soun, Oba Jimoh Oladunni Oyewumi Ajagungbade III.
While one acknowledges his erudition and knowledge of the town as shown in the said article, it is pertinent to show the historian that he has to update his knowledge in order not to mislead the reading public. Firstly, he referred to the father of the late Soun Ajagungbade III, Baale Afolabi Oyewumi Ajagbunde II (1940-1960) as a businessman renowned in West Africa. Baale Afolabi Oyewumi rather than being a businessman was a soldier in the defunct West Africa Frontier Force during the First World War (1914-1918). Secondly, he advised the new monarch to embrace peace and avoid rivalry with some Obas; he specifically mentioned Olugbon, Aresa and Olukoyi classical Oba in Yorubaland. While his admonition is a welcome development, stating that Oba Afolabi Olaoye should not allow himself to be pushed into rivalry with these Obas in territorial domain that is Ogbomoso zone or ‘Ogbomosoland’ is misleading, preposterous and demeaning to classical monarchs who owned the said land he referred to as Oba Olaoye’s territorial domain.
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Simple interpretation of the admonition of Osuntokun to the new Soun is that he should avoid rivalry with some monarch under his authority. Osuntokun had an opportunity to understand the history of Ogbomoso area when he wrote the biography of Chief S.L.A Akintola mentioned earlier on. However, it appears he collected data about the background of Akintola from a wrong source. Since then, the wrong data he collected has been guiding his position on inter-group relations among the classical monarch and the Soun.
In the Akintola biography, he emphasized that Akintola’s forefather hailed from Igbon. However, those who supplied him the information said that that Igbon was near Oyo Ile and after the destruction of that village during the Yoruba wars, his family migrated to a place south of Ilorin and established another town named Igbon after their homesteads. This is the position that Osuntokun held to assume that Orile-Igbon and Olugbon were under the territorial domain of the Soun.
Osuntokun is advised to watch the video, Ogbori Elemoso produced by Chief Lere Paimo. This will broaden his knowledge of history of Igbon-Ogbomoso relations. While I am not here to demean his erudition and personality, what I try to do here is to advice him as one of the pre-eminent historians in Nigeria today, to, and for the sake of future generation and peaceful coexistence among our monarchs, further research, especially on Ogbomoso history where he has special interest. He should endeavour to look for “Iwe Itan Ogbomoso” written by N.D. Oyerinde and published in 1934 and other available books on the subject matter. He should open his mind and eyes on facts of history rather than basing his writings on subjective and preconceived notion about Soun’s hegemony in Ogbomoso zone.
•Prince Raji Olanipekun,
Ogbomoso.
