Prince Adetowo Aderemi is one of the sons of the late Ooni of Ife and former Governor of the defunct Western re¬gion, the late Oba Adesoji Aderemi.
The publisher and Editor of Nigeria Complete Fact Finder, a historical/research journal, the veteran journalist and University of Ibadan graduate worked for Daily Times of Nigeria, West African Breweries, makers of Top Beer from where he resigned to start his own business.
In this interview with YINKA FABOWALE, he speaks on the fierce and intense contest by princ-es for the throne of Ooni, perhaps, the most exalted stool in Yorubaland which became vacant with the demise of the late Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, amid alleged politicking, intrigues and controver¬sies.
Excerpts:
What motivated your going into re¬search journalism?
Yes, at Daily Times, we had the best library ever. I wanted to go into the editorial, but I think Alhaji (Babatunde) Jose just had the plan he wanted to put me in the marketing department. The editorial department was just too heavy. I developed inter¬est in research and what happened was that many times I sat down with the editorial people in their editorial conferences, went out and brought copies. It will interest you to know that I was the one that wrote the story when Bisala and co were executed and that was the top news story for that day at the Daily Times. In fact, I was contributing to the editori¬als and I must have written more than 20 news talks for Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria. When I joined the West African Breweries, I was in charge of Advertising and Public Relations and when I left in October 1982, I tried my hands on certain things. I decided to start selling meat and I established a meat shop but after sometime, I found it quite uninterest¬ing, because it was a bit of the job for the illiterates. They didn’t like my face and with a university degree, you are coming to a place to slaughter meat with peo¬ple who can’t even use the bottom of a bottle to write “0”. So, one day ,my wife said: “You are educated now and the way you speak, you speak like a lawyer, why don’t you do a serious stuff? So, Babatunde Jose Junior, the first son of Alhaji Jose and I went to Ni¬gerian Board of Tourism in 1985. When we got there, we discovered that the Managing Director could not describe to some foreign tourists how to get to Yan¬kari Game Reserve in Bauchi. Being a graduate of Geography, I said I could help them. I then told them that when they get to Jos, they will be able to get a bus at Jos Airport to Yankari, Bauchi. That was why my friend said to me that, do you know that there is no much information on tourism in Nigeria? So, we decided to start Nigerian Tourism Fact finder and that was how we started and for four years, we were doing it together before he went to do some publications on tourism in Lagos. And I had to publish Nigeria Com¬plete Fact finder, because at that time I found people misrepresented facts a lot and put out a lot of false-hood and misinformation. For instance, Sir Olaleye Fadahunsi, Chief Olaleye Fadahunsi was governor after my father and then Colonel Tunji Olurin, who was governor of Oyo State at that time, described Fadahunsi as the first governor of Western Region. I remember I wrote a letter to Akogun Lekan Alabi, his Chief Press Secretary, telling him that he was wrong on some information. Of course, you know these government officials, they would want to protect their jobs. I wrote to Olurin and it didn’t get to him and so I went to The Guardian which published it in an arti¬cle. So, a lady at The Guardian said, if you have this information why don’t you try something else? That was when I decided that yes, it was time for history now. So, I turned my office to the National Archives, University of Ibadan.
It came to the period when Babangida and Abacha handed over the administration of Nigeria to them¬selves after the annulled election of M.K.O Abiola. I worked for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in put¬ting together the facts for their “farewell to poverty”, which was going to be the blueprint for Abiola. And that was when I discovered that with all these Aba¬cha people, why can’t I begin to publish something contrary to what they have been telling us, but, which would be facts? And that was why I started Nigerian Fact finder and I have been publishing it since 1994 and I found it rewarding.
How has been the reception by the public?
I can tell you, it’s fantastic! Fantastic because University of Chicago gets it regularly and I don’t even know how they get it, but they have asked me to come to Chicago to come and give some talks, but I said no, let me build up this business in Nigeria first. At a point in time, MTN commissioned me to do a job for them on Culture Fest and I did the job which really took me to 26 different cities for which they paid good money and when MTN is paying you they are paying you good money, especially when you do a good job for them. So, I can tell you that the reception has been fantastic. In fact, I was talking to Prof. Tayo Adesina, for instance about the claim that there was a clause in the order in council that after 100 years we can talk about breaking and I said that that’s not true. I went to the National Archives, got the order in council, got it certified and Mr. Felix Adenaike took it from me, saying he needed it, because he was a news man. So, it has been of great use to Political Science students, students studying Government and many secondary school students. If you go to Delta, they have it in their libraries. My last secretary told me that she was able to pass her University of Ibadan’s Post-UTME very well because of the fact that most of the questions asked were issues already in the publication.
Now, there is a scramble for the throne of Ooni and the contest seems to be getting fierce and controversial. A lot of princes are laying claims to the ancestral throne and yet we understand that there is a cer¬tain declaration of 1957 that stipulates an order of ascendancy. What have you to say about this?
Thank you very much, first and foremost, without being immodest, this idea of scramble for the throne of Ooni was as a result of the extreme success of Oba Adesoji Aderemi, the 50 Golden years when he was Ooni. He was governor, minister, federal minister and member of several delegations to the Westminster conference and other conferences including African Conferences. His achievements were the ones that really prompted even the late Ooni into aspiring and really giving the monarchy the stature it has come to be known with. The late Ooni too also has a flamboy¬ant way of living. Both of them took the position to lofty heights, so to say. As a result, when he passed on, there was this agitation that our family was next. The 1957 declaration has no force of law, it was just the wish of an Ooni and that cannot super ride the custom of the people, which is that when the stool is vacant, all eligible princes should show their intentions and when they show their intentions, the chiefs in charge will make consultation with the head of Ifa priests and the chiefs can come up with the person that Ifa chooses to be the next Ooni and there has never been any conflict about that.
But the Giesi Ruling House has come up to say that it is its turn according to the rotational order by which Oonis are suc¬ceeded.
When did that rotation start? There is no rotation and there has been no rotation. And who was Giesi anyway?
Giesi was a grandson to Ogboru, a powerful Ooni, for reasons we will not dabble into here. Ogbo¬ru was deposed by the chiefs and he went on exile. When he was deposed, about six succeeding Oonis died after not staying more than three months each. The chiefs went back to Ogboru who had established a dynasty to plead that he return. But, he rejected the offer. He said: “I have a daughter, Moropo who will help to undo some things in the palace and that Giesi, the son of Moropo, should be made Ooni and that was how Giesi came in. So, in the real sense Giesi is the son to Ogboru. That was the argument when the late Oba Sijuwade was made Ooni, that Giesi is part of Ogboru lineage. Now, if you will look at it from this point of view, in the past 150 years or so, starting from Abeula who reigned from 1839-1849, he was from Lafogido, you know I said earlier that Lajamisan was the father of Lafogido, Osinkola, Ogboru and Owo-do, but Giesi was not part of the picture. And four of them became Ooni but along the line, I guess Owodo had only female children and was sidelined. The title of Ooni has been kept over 150 years. In fact, for so many years in the household of Lajamisan, who was the father of Lagidogun. There is a school of thought that said that Lagidogun had a brother called Laja¬misan, but a more logical argument was that Lafogi¬do was actually the first son to Lagidogun. So, what I’m saying is that all of us are from that clan and if you look at it from 1839 which is one of the dates in history, Abeula was from the Lafogido clan, who we are talking about now. After him was Gbemisokan, Gbemisokan was from the line of Giesi, one of the his descendants and probably the most wicked Ooni ever. After him was Orayigba, a very affluent person. He was said to have dethroned his father to become Ooni also from Giesi. After him was Derin, the one that stayed in Oke-Igbo who was never crowned. So, we are talking of three consecutive Oonis from them. Af¬ter he had died in Oke-Igbo, because he wasn’t born in Ife. It was Adelekan who took the title of Olubuse I who was Ooni from 1894-1910. When he passed on, there was a contest in which Adekola from Osinkola family won the contest and became Ooni. Unfortu-nately, he died two months before he started his rites to be installed, but the cause of his death we won’t talk about. After his death, the stool became vacant again and there was another contest, which Ademiluyi, who had contested with him before he was chosen. After Olubuse I, Ademiluyi was there for 20 years from 1910- June 1930, when he died, there was a contest in which there were candidates from the Lafogido family, Giesi, Ogboru and from Osinkola- all the four ruling families took part. That was when well, then Prince Aderemi won the contest and after his demise, a lot of people came to contest, but prominent among them were two men from Giesi-Peter Ogunleye and Yemi Aderibigbe. But they lost and at a point in time, they went to court, but they withdrew their cases, be¬cause they knew that they had no case and that was how Oba Sijuwade became Ooni. We are now being told that there was a 1957 and 1980 declaration which nobody has seen. So, what we are now saying is that don’t let us mess the custom of Ife up, but let us go back to the old way we used to do it. Let anyone who is interested go and why are they afraid of competition?
“Giesi was Ooni because of Ogboru, when six Oonis died in quick succession”
So, what actually determines or makes an Ooni?
He must be an eligible prince, that is from the line of Lajamisan or Lafogido. He must be able to say who his father or grandfather was, traceable to the previous Oonis. He must be a fit and proper person, not an ex-convict and not deformed person, like the Muslims would say, when a ram’s horn is broken, you can’t use it for sacrifice. And he must be able to tell you that this is the graveyard of his grandfather and he could have a mother, but not a father, because if he has a father, then his father should be contesting.
The factor of prominence in terms of social status, wealth, fame has also been said to be crucial
No, you see the throne of Ooni is not for sale, you see in Yorubaland, we talk of Omoluabi, an Omoluabi does not mean to be someone who begs for money, but at the same time he must not be a moneybag. All these write-ups that late Oba Sijuwade was on the boards of directors of 100 companies… I asked the young man who said it if he could mention the five companies that the late Ooni was a director, he couldn’t. Yes, the Ooni has to be a well-to-do man, able to feed himself and his family at the minimum, but certainly not a moneybag.
How about the controversy over the right of a prince from the female lineage?
To be Ooni, you must be a child of a prince. Some people have said that there have been instances where a female had been Ooni. No, Gbagida was the only fe¬male Ooni that we know. She was there for a number of years, she was so disciplined she did not make the Ife man to live his life. If a man climbed a palm tree, he must take with him some egusi (melon) which he would start picking. She was the person that made the potsherd oven in Ife then. She was very strict. After her, the chiefs decided that we would never have a woman as Ooni again, that they were too strict. So, if what some people are talking about is that Giesi, him¬self was a son of a female, then they must be joking, Giesi was Ooni because of Ogboru, when six Oonis died in quick succession. At that time, it was a ques¬tion of expediency; it was expedient for the chiefs to accept all the terms of Ogboru, because at least six Ooni died. And he said had a daughter called Moropo, and sent them to meet her so that all the things that had made it impossible for the Oonis to stay in the palace would be undone. But, if in that aspect, they think they can bring a female, let them try it. The Ife chiefs are not fools. We have a tradition; we have a custom
One the aspirants claimed that late Oba Sijuwade anointed him as a successor?
That’s not true, an Ooni does not anoint, it is not done. Just the same way that Daily Times at that time published that my father anointed Oba Sijuwade. I had to go and fight them because I was an ex-staff. I doubted if my father and Oba Sijuwade saw eye to eye in the last three years of his reign. How can you anoint …then you anoint your own son, not somebody else. It is not done in Ife. The only one that I know in history was that of Giesi and like I’ve said, it was expedient for that to be done. I just said to you Ade¬miluyi made my father to prostrate for 10 hours. Are you going to say that Ademiluyi anointed my father? No one has ever anointed anybody. Who are the witnesses? It is not true.
“Prince Adedamola Aderemi is absolutely qualified”
The contest is allegedly being politicized It is being said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are angling to have their candidates on the throne because of the influence that the position has in swaying votes as a foremost traditional ruler in Osun State. What is your take on this?
You see long before now, we’ve often frowned at our traditional rulers getting too immersed in politics. It’s not good because they are supposed to be father of all. I am not aware of any move by any of the political parties. But one I know is that, the APC governors of South Western Nigeria were not at the open air service which was held for Oba Okunade Sijuwade, which is unfortunate. They should have separated the stool of Ooni and the person of the occupant. Oba Sijuwade went beyond his bounds by anointing Jonathan, but then two wrongs cannot make a right.
But, I can assure you that if by any error any chief dances to the drumbeat of the politicians, he will re¬gret it. The position of the Ooni is a supreme one in Yorubaland. Like my father said in 1953, when this crisis happened because of independence. They were going to debate this motion about independence in the parliament and the governor said his ministers cannot take part in the discussion. And my father said I am one of your minister and my people have sent me here to represent them and I am going to discuss, and he said: Kabiyesi don’t behave like the rascals, he was calling Akintola, Thomas and one other minister ras¬cals. And my father said I will not allow this to hap¬pen. In Yorubaland, we have two types of domestic animals the hen and the duck. The hen will leave its chicks behind and the hawk will come and pick them up, but the duck’s chicks will be in front of their moth¬er and no hawk has ever dared to pick the child of a duck. So, my father told the governor, I am the duck and I won’t leave my people alone. Then, my father went into his office and resigned as minister. The three ministers went in and resigned too. Then my father said now I want to discuss and the constitutional crisis began and that was what led us to become a federa¬tion. So, if you are talking of partisanship, I hope that the politicians don’t influence wrongly the treasure of honour, because this position is paramount. The Ooni is the spiritual head of all Yorubas within and in Diaspora.
By the time this publication will be out, it would already be more than 14 days after the announcement of the passage of the late Ooni, after which time government was supposed to invite the next ruling house to present candidates and yet we haven’t heard anything?
You see some of these things are new to me. I have said earlier that you are not going to invite any family in the first instance. Secondly, until certain rites are completed and until enough consultations have been completed, you will only have litigations if the appropriate thing is not done. I am expecting serious litiigations this time around if they don’t allow every prince to take part in the process. You can’t assume it to anybody, you can’t even just zone it, otherwise the 50 Golden years era is enough to say henceforth it’s only the Aderemis and Adekolas that should produce the Ooni. It’s enough! I mean the reign established the first private secondary school in Nigeria, within five years brought elec¬tricity to Ife, water and to top it all a university and releasing to the university two lands.
So, why are you not contesting yourself?
First, my aspiration up to the end of last year, my aspiration was to run for this seat of my father, because I felt we needed to do some things right, to do some repair work. I was very sad the day I heard that Jonathan went to Ife and the Ooni said I am anoint¬ing you. I was sad because that is never done. Now, I know one thing about myself, given the dirty picture which we have now, will I able to stomach all the nonsense? They said aspirants should come and pay, is it N100, 000 or N250,000 for showing interest, is it a political party thing? It is not a political party thing. Second, immediately my nephew, the son of my brother, my biological blood brother, Adedamola, came out to join the race, at that point my hands were tied, because when he phoned to tell me, I said: “Are you going to contest with Damola?” and I said no. And when he called I simply told him, I can’t contest with you, because he has his own network. I hope it doesn’t appear I am campaigning for him, but, he is absolutely qualified. He became a graduate at the age of 19, his grandfather is Oba Adesoji Ad¬eremi, and so he is qualified. He was a lecturer at a university; he has practice as a lawyer in Nigeria UK and USA. He is happily married and he has fulfilled and he has children. He has fulfilled everything that was why I withdrew because what will it be like if I am in that contest and he is chosen. That’s what the Yoruba call itiju (shame). Although, I was real¬ly keen, I don’t think there is anything wonderful in being a king after reflecting on the fate of my friend, the late Deji of Akure. God forgive me if am sin¬ning, but when I heard that he, Oba Adesida, was dead, he died after three years of becoming king, I melted. I am not a young man; I have gone past 60, approaching 70. But, like I said if Adedamola by the grace of God becomes Ooni, we will not let him fail, we will rally round him and that is exactly what the family will do.
Culled from the sun newspaper