DR. DOYIN ODEBOWALE, a legal practitioner, served as Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties and Strategy to the late Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu. In this interview with TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI, he speaks on the resolution by the Oyo State House of Assembly to charge him to court over alleged defamatory remarks he made against the Soun of Ogbomoso. He also bares his mind on developments in Ondo state. Excerpts:
Were you surprised when you read in the news that the Oyo State House of Assembly is asking the state government to take legal actions against you for allegedly making defamatory and inciting remarks against the Soun of Ogbomosoland?
I was startled when people started calling me concerning a non-issue. This shows how unserious these people parading themselves as lawmakers are. They are not busy with what they are elected to do. A lot of senior lawyers called when the news came out that they are taking me to court over the interview. In fact, many people who didn’t listen to the interview were now forced to search for the interview and listened to it. Many of them called me back and said I stated the fact and there was nothing wrong in what I said.
What message were you trying to pass across during the radio interview?
Now, it is a notorious fact that I am a traditionalist which I have been since birth and I have never been pretentious about it. I was invited by that radio station to talk about the appointment of the new Alaafin of Oyo by the governor due to the controversy it generated. I said clearly in the interview that Governor Seyi Makinde did what was right by appointing Oba Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin.
The presenter now made reference to the consultation of Ifa by Baba Wande Abimbola Awise and said, take for instance, In Ogbomoso today, the way the people abuse the Soun in the name of religion is alarming. Some people are saying they are not going to listen to him because he is a Christian.
I then said, we shouldn’t pretend not to know that we have really lost it as a people. Obaship should be about service and Ogbomoso, which is a town of warriors started as an enclave of traditionalists. But now we now have a pastor who claimed he has been drinking tea with God having our own Oba kneeling before him. He (the pastor) now crowned him in full public glare. Jesus did not wear any crown and Adeboye aspires to a dubious theocracy. I listened to one of his tapes where he said a pastor is greater than the head of your family and whatever the pastor says is final. That is subversion of our creed and destruction of our land.
Some have argued that the Soun is a Christian and even a pastor before becoming an Oba and you don’t expect him to throw his religion away because of tradition. Don’t you agree with that?
When the man who occupies the stool of Soun of Ogbomoso went to kneel before Pastor Adeboye, he lost my respect. I am not an enemy of Ogbomoso and I respect every part of Yorubaland. But my position is that we must stop desecrating and our land and I have no apology about that. I never abused the Soun of Ogbomoso. I only said if I meet him anywhere, I will never prostrate to him but stretch my hand to shake him. He cannot ask me to respect him because he has disrespected my land and he has desecrated the things that will make us want to prostrate and greet him. He has forfeited that right.
If I meet Ooni of Ife today, I will be rolling on the floor even before I meet him to prostrate because he is like the chief priest of our source. If I meet the new Alaafin, I will prostrate because no pastor will crown the Alaafin. But I will not prostrate for Soun of Ogbomoso. In fact, the Soun should apologise to the people of Ogbomoso for disgracing them by kneeling down for a mortal who equates himself to God.
The people of Ogbomoso should rise against Soun. This is not the right time to be nice to anybody. They should challenge him. He should leave the throne if he is not ready to do what is right. It is insulting for the Soun to say he allows the traditionalists to practice their religion. It has now become ‘their religion’. That is insulting. Of course, he has no choice as he cannot do otherwise. It must be your religion as Soun if you want to remain on that throne. I have no personal quarrel with anybody but I won’t be afraid of saying the truth.
So, are you prepared for any legal battles ahead?
Of course! As for the Oyo lawmakers, let us fight if they can. I am waiting for them. They will get more than what they bargained for this time. If Pastor Ghandi in Ogbomoso feels that I have defamed him in anyway, he should take me to court. I am maintaining that there is no Oba in that land because there is a process through which you become an oba. There is no oba in Ogbomoso at the moment. The optics are very bad and it is not good for our children to be witnessing these. In Adeboye’s church, RCCG, they have Christian Association of Traditional Rulers. Is that fair? A first class mathematician sits by the expressway and tells people myths and fables about how he drove a car without petrol from Ondo to Shagamu and how he drank tea with God. How someone whose legs were amputated attended Holy Ghost festival and the legs grew again. How God changed the weather for him when he traveled to a very cold region. How do you expect our children to pass Geography in school and take science seriously? Somebody will work for a month and you want to take 10 percent from his salary. To do what?
How will you assess Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s performance so far, especially his disposition towards the legacy of his former boss and predecessor, the late Rotimi Akeredolu?
It won’t be decent for me to start criticising Lucky (Aiyedatiwa). Yes, we were friends. He used to call me Alufaa Agba (Highest Priest). The only reason why I don’t think he can be my friend is because of what he did to Aketi. I don’t believe Aiyedatiwa is building on the legacies left behind by Aketi. Truth is, after I left government, I refused to talk about them because I really want the people of Ondo state to be the judge. The people voted massively for him during the last governorship election. So, I wish him well. But I can tell you that most of things that Aketi did, this governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa appears to be in a hurry to undo them. When we were in government, there was serious traffic jam because of street trading; people will come and block the road with their goods. My team was based permanently at Oja Oba as a result of that. In order to find a permanent solution to the crisis, Aketi now erected a concrete median from Post Office to A Division. While Aketi was sick, and Lucky (Aiyedatiwa) was acting governor, the first thing he did was to remove two of the concrete. After Aketi died, the following week, he removed everything. And that was a government where you served for three years as deputy governor. What that means is that he never believed in what Aketi was doing.
Also, most of the people Aketi had one issues with or another have now joined Aiyedatiwa and they are now together in his government. Even some of the people Aketi removed from office for one infraction or the other, he has brought all of them back. All those who were abusing Aketi now became your friends. I don’t have to go far before I will think that you don’t mean well. That is why you can’t find me in their midst. I have no personal grudges against anyone. I spent seven years in Ondo state government and I made lasting friends. I am even very careful now because if you are Aketi’s person and you speak with any civil servant, Aiyedatiwa will sack the civil servant and accuse him of talking to his enemy.
A former Head of Service, Kayode Ogundele was removed because he went to speak with a former Special Adviser to the Ondo state governor on union matters and special duties, Dare Aragbaye. Aragbaye was a senior to that Ogundele in the civil service. So, he called Aragbaye and went to greet him. Then, some people reported him to Lucky that he was seen with Aragbaye. Before he got back to his office, he had been removed in a military style. All I know is ten kings have ten times. Let Lucky enjoy his time. That is all I can say for now.
