Osun kingmakers reject move to dethrone jailed monarch

By Adeola Soetan

When shame doesn’t shame Nigeria (Yoruba) again. I knew the jailed king may come back to the throne after serving his jail term abroad with the statement Osun State Government issued after the criminal monarch and his pastor accomplice were jailed in the US.

Instead of slamming the Oba with indefinite suspension immediately before his final deposition, the government said, they would wait to collect the Certified True Copy, CTC of the court judgement before taking any action. (*Mi o gbo iru e ri!* I was scandalised). Governments at all levels in Nigeria can always be easily read, predicted and intention known when ambiguous statements like this are issued.

Does it mean the king has come back to Ipetumodu after almost a year of his claimed “short hospital rest” and not jailed as the media reported, so the government needs a CTC of the court judgement to act on the rumour by “the king’s enemies” that he was jailed? That’s interesting.

May be the state government wants to give the “Obasewon” king a fair hearing to return after serving his jail term to the safe hands of his organised jubilant crowd of supporters waiting at the airport for a long victory convoy ride to Ipetumodu?.

Of course, some morally reprehensible technical SANs of the “noble profession”  would also  be waiting at the airport  to grant media interview so as to enlighten us the  ” unlearned” that it was Mr. Oloyede the business tycoon that was jailed and his account indicted only, but Oba, (King) Oloyede in his royal capacity and his crown/throne were not indicted nor jailed because there was no mention of such in the CTC of the judgement.

In fact, the throne was not a party in the case. And there’s nowhere in the judgement that says Oba Oloyede should vacate his throne. Some lawyers are abracadabra magical counsels, when the pay is right or political partisanship, there is no level of immortality they can’t descend to be ridiculous

To protect the throne for him after his return with legal authority, a “Senior Advocate of Nonsense”, SAN would quickly procure a perpetual injunction at a “kayokayo” high court from anywhere to restrain the willing government, dollarised and compromised “thief makers/king makers, ruling houses, people of Ipetumodu, social media activist – Amebos, and all Nigerians from commenting, removing, disturbing the returning Obasewon from his throne, and nobody should talk anything about the case again until the final decision of the case. Case adjourned sine die.”Court!!! As the Lord Peases!!!. Of course, there is always a rotten judge somewhere to do that.

Thanksgiving services would be held in the most beautiful church and central mosque of the village town. There are too many morally compromised pastors and Imams to do that for a fee and projected huge thanksgiving income to be made. After the religious kurukere kurukere in the prayer centres. the hungry, confused, perplexed “Ipetumodans” and the Oba’s hailers from across the country, high chiefs, high thieves, friendly kings including many royal majestic Igbolabis would be entertained at a grand Owambe party to  sumptouus meals and ultimately danced to the tension relaxing music of K1 the ultimate or any other  lucky top rated fuji artiste  and “Kulubele” gospel bands It would be a big  dollarised harvest time in the village and no one would want to be left out of it.

The most senior kingmaker of the town, an “outgoing” aged man possibly in his 80 – 90 years got the “waiting for CTC” drift of the state government rightly and interpreted it correctly. He quickly toed the government position of “no stress”

Surprisingly, the Baba said during a media interview, that there’s no plan to remove or replace the jailed Oba, then the immoral “bomb”, that the convicted Oba even spoke with him few days after the judgement. The unsaid message baba passed here was that the king was not in jail probably, so why the stress. What the old man forgot to add was that he would only believe the king to tell him by himself when he comes back from US after over 4 years of absence that he’s actually jailed.

Of course, if the Oba’s absence from his throne for over nine months now, and his regular absence in the town as its traditional ruler, custodian of their culture even before his arrest, trial and conviction did not embarrass Baba as the most senior king maker and other chiefs, why should 4 years of “sick & recuperation” absence of the king make any moral meaning to him? Of course, there are always king makers to behave this way in Yoruba land.

In Yoruba land, unfortunately, we now live on old glory of a known people with distinct virtues and etiquette. Omoluabi with moral codes of values and ethics to the envy of other ethnic groups have taken flight from us as a group. Yoruba now produces the highest number of Igbolabi kings, yahoo yahoo clerics, irresponsible political thugs as kings. We now produce the highest number of rogue politicians, drug barons, certificate forgers, identity thieves, gun runners, credit cards thieves and sundry unscrupulous people as political leaders we unleashed on ourselves or unleashed on us with money and guns in our states and the nation at large.

Really, the few unscrupulous Omo Ale (bastards) within us have grown up big with rotten power and money to embarrass us shamelessly. The clamour for the unity of Yoruba in some quarters and the Yoruba Ronu thesis should be first and foremost about recovery of our lost ethics virtues, and integrity as a people, not an ambiguous unity to defend crooks in any form of political, traditional or spiritual power or influence. If not, the Yoruba Ronu battle cry remains a mere noise without morals.

Osun State Government should do the needful by removing the jailed Obasewon of Ipetumodu now to stop the moral and traditional value crisis in the town and in Yoruba land as a whole. It’s a shameful act and a bad precedent that may lead to worse crisis of values in the future. It’s not too late to act without any political or economic or friendship consideration, if any.

Waiting for the CTC copy of an open court judgment is meaningless and a mere academic exercise for a king who will spend four years in the “inside world” in the US. Where is the king? In jail. So, what magic will a CTC of the judgement do except the government wants to appeal on behalf of the jailed king? If the government wants to pardon him, let him return to the country first after a new Oba of Ipetumodu would have been installed. The king is in jail, no CTC legal rigmarole can change that.

Adeola Soetan is Coordinator Citizenship Civic Awareness Centre, Lagos

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