Ooni, Igboho, Condemn Killings In Ekiti As Monarchs Threaten To Invoke Yoruba gods Against Perpetrators

– Ooni of Ife, Sunday Igboho

By Adeola Idris

Following the brutal killings of two traditional rulers in Ekiti State on Monday, Ekiti monarchs have threatened to invoke traditional methods including the Yoruba gods against kidnappers who are terrorising the state.

The hoodlums, who hitherto operated in the North-West, have in the past weeks laid siege to the South-West where they have unleashed havoc on residents.

On Monday, they killed two Ekiti monarchs-the Onimojo of Imojo, Oba Olatunde Olusola, and the Elesun of Esun Ekiti, Oba Babatunde Ogunsakin, while the Alara of Ara Ekiti, Oba Adebayo Fatoba, narrowly escaped.

The traditional rulers were returning from a function in Kogi State on Monday when they ran into an ambush mounted by the kidnappers who were operating on the highway between Ipao and Oke Ako in the Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

Also in the same area, kidnappers attacked a school bus and whisked away five pupils of the Apostolic Faith Group of Schools, three teachers, and the bus driver.

Speaking on the security issue, the Chairman of Ekiti State Traditional Council and the Olojudo of Ido Ekiti, Oba Ayorinde Ilori-Faboro, told said on Wednesday, that monarchs in the state would embrace all methods to find a solution to the security crisis in the state.

Oba Faboro, who said the council would not disclose the tactics to be deployed by the traditional council, assured that in no time, the problem of insecurity would be history in the state.

The traditional ruler spoke further after an emergency meeting with the state governor, Biodun Oyebanji and all monarchs in the state and security chiefs to enable the obas advice on the way forward.

The oba said, “Any solution is acceptable, we will approach our problem with every possible solution.’’

A former chairman of the traditional council and the Owa Ooye of Okemesi Ekiti, Oba Michael Adedeji, said that there was no alternative to the embrace of traditional methods by the monarchs to ensure peace and order.

Oba Adedeji said, “That was among our discussions during the meeting with the governor and security chiefs in Ado Ekiti today. The issue of the traditional methods was what I raised during the meeting.

“There was a way our forefathers did things in their days and had it the way they had it. The recent developments have shown that we need to toe that line. And many of my colleagues bought into that.

“The traditional council set up a committee that would meet Mr governor on what we want and how we want it, I am on the committee and the issue of traditional solution is among the things we are going to discuss with the governor.’’

“The government has to empower the traditional rulers to do all they want to secure their communities. This will include local security and fortification,” the monarch further stated.

The Onikun of Ikun Ekiti, Oba Olatunde David Olusola, who corroborated Oba Adedeji, on the return to alternative traditional solution, said, “The security of our people is our responsibility as grassroots leaders. If Obas are being killed like chickens, I don’t think we can accept such a situation.

“This can be done by embracing the to traditional and all other methods possible to avert any causality and to make sure there is peace in Ekiti State. We will use any method possible to ensure peace in Ekiti, we are not cowards. Enough is enough,” Oba Olusola added.

Speaking further, the royal father explained, “We had a meeting with Mr Governor today (yesterday). Aside from the meeting, the obas met and dwelt so much on the traditional aspect. We agreed that a lot of potency has been lost.

“As a matter of fact, in the past, this (assault and killing of monarchs) could not have happened, because no oba would get to the throne without passing through the necessary traditional rites. The traditional rites would have emboldened and empowered every oba that got to the stool.’’

Also speaking, the Olukere of Odo Oja Ikere Ekiti, Oba Ganiyu Obasoyin, who described the killing of two traditional rulers as a sacrilege, said, “It is an abomination to kill traditional rulers as it happened on Monday. We have to appease the gods that such calamity should not befall us again.

“In the olden days, you hardly see a king much more thinking of kidnapping him. People feared kings then. All kings in Yoruba from time immemorial had what their forefathers used to organize towns, soothe the towns, and ensure peace and tranquillity when there was no Christianity and Islamic religions.’’

Speaking further, the Oba lamented the abandonment of the traditional coronation rites for kings, saying, “Now, nearly 80 per cent of our kings have abandoned all these, they had embraced foreign religions. That is why those things that would never happen in those days are happening now.

“I support wholly that we should retrace our steps. From the position where the obas are placed now, it is the kings that God handed the world over to. Politicians have retrieved all the powers of the kings.’’

The Ooni of Ife, Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi, in a statement, on Wednesday by his spokesman, Moses Olafare, the Ooni described the incident as a sacrilegious audacity deliberately planned and executed.

Renowned Ifa priest, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon, have advised traditional rulers in South-West to embrace traditional means used by the progenitors of the race to protect themselves and their domains.

Speaking in a similar vein, the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, said the government should empower traditional rulers financially and saddle them with the task of providing security for their various communities.

Also commenting on the security challenge, Elebuibon, who noted that the Yoruba people have strong traditional means of protection, said many monarchs have abandoned their culture and traditions, a development that has made them vulnerable to attacks.

He said, “We do have traditional means of protection in Yorubaland. It is just that the foreign religions that were embraced by Yoruba traditional rulers have rendered them powerless.

“Most of the monarchs did not go through the necessary rites and rituals, and therefore, they lacked the necessary protection like charms that could make someone disappear and reappear, charms that can free someone from clutches when held. They only rely on foreign religions for protection.

“A monarch should not be kidnapped anyhow like that if he is immune and he embraces traditional things. Before a king sets out on a journey, there are things he must do. He must be able to see ahead if it is a journey he should embark on. He must have a spiritual guardian, but they have abolished all that.

The Yoruba Nation Activist, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, in a statement, urged the traditional rulers in the region to call a security stakeholders meeting, where measures would be fashioned out to tackle the killer herdsmen, bandits, and other criminal elements terrorising the region.

Adeyemo said he made attempts to reawaken the consciousness of the South-West people regarding the influx of bandits and other criminal elements into the region a few years back.

But rather than listening to his agitation for a better secured South- West state, Adeyemo said, “I became the object of elimination and vicious attack which led to the brutal killing of two of my aides in my residence in Ibadan.”