This Friday, the new Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba Adesuyi Haastrup, would be presented with the staff of office to formally announce the commencement of his reign as the supreme sovereign of all Ijesha. The Friday ceremony is to emphasise the new arrangement imposed by the Nigerian state on the old order in Yorubaland. In precolonial times, obas were sovereign indeed. Now, a higher power, the Osun State government, would need to validate his reign.
Of course, Yoruba obas, especially those who inherited their crowns from the House of Oduduwa in Ile-Ife, are never crowned in public. That would have been done in the sacred sanctum of the kingdom where the ancestors would give their blessings to the new inheritor of the progenitor’s mantle. Therefore, what Governor Ademola Adeleke is doing on Friday is a mere ceremony to confirm what the Agba Ijesa have done. We are witnessing the dawn of a new era at a time of new challenges and expectations.
Haastrup represents those attributes that Ijesa people value most. He is an Osomaalo, a businessman of international relevance who, through a lifetime of labour and astute management, has accumulated considerable fortune. He is an educated man with good university education in a land that has produced many leading scholars including numerous vice-chancellors among whom were the iconic Professor Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, the second V.C of the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Prof. Wale Omole, also of OAU, the late Prof. Oye Ibidapo Obe of the University of Lagos, Prof Isaac Adewole and Prof. Idowu Olayinka, both of the University of Ibadan.
He was a politician and rose to become the first elected Deputy-Governor of Osun State sharing the ticket with Serubawon, Governor Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke. Note that the first elected governor of old Oyo State, Chief Bola Ige, was also an Ijesa. Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the fourth elected governor of Osun State is from Ilesa. Ijesaland also produced the second ceremonial governor of the old Western Region during the First Republic, Chief Odeleye Fadahunsi who took over from the legendary Oba Adesoji Aderemi, the Ooni of Ife.
In the old country, the Owa Obokun was a powerful sovereign answerable to no one but Olodumare. Then Yorubaland was governed by ancient beliefs forged in the furnace of experience which guided our people for centuries. One of it was that all land belonged to Oduduwa, the progenitor of the Yoruba nation. He brought his crown from heaven and that gave his descendants the divine right to rule. At the dawn of time, Oduduwa children and their descendants were presented with bearded crowns and the mandate to move out with their entourage.
Whenever they settled, even when they meet autochthonous people there, the land automatically belonged to them. Thus, the first Owa, Ajibogun Ajaka, marched north with his entourage and settled for some years in Ibokun. Ajaka’s son, Owaluse, is reputed to be the founder of the present city of Ilesa. Therefore, the new Owa is not just a new sovereign, he is also the reincarnation of the first Owa that first ascended the throne in Ilesa and embodies the full essence of his ancestors. He is the father of all Ijesa wherever they may be.
Kabiyesi is to deal with the changes that have occurred since the Constitution of the old country was challenged by the military class in the 19th Century. That was the first time the right of Oduduwa princes to seat on the various thrones was challenged by foreign forces; the Fulani from the North and the British from across the sea. Trouble started from the most powerful Yoruba state, Oyo, where the leader of the military, Afonja, the Aare Ona Kakanfo, rebelled against his sovereign and declared the independence of his provincial capital, Ilorin. Though Afonja paid dearly for his treachery when he was killed in a coup detat and his followers, led by a Fulani Islamic priest, seized Ilorin. From that city, the victorious rebels led a successful war against Oyo. The domino effect was to lead to the rise of several military states, notably Ibadan, Ijaiye and Abeokuta, and the re-arming of old ones. Generals like Ogedengbe, Lisabi, Fabunmi, Bello-Kuku, Latoosa, Lagelu and Oluyole, became the dominant figures of the 19th Century, overshadowing the Ife princes who were occupying the various thrones. It led to demographic shifts and the explosion in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
The rise of the military class led to wars across Yorubaland in what the late Professor Ade-Ajayi called the Revolutionary Years. The last of the wars was the 16-years Kiriji War which pitted the Ibadan against the Ekitiparapo grand alliance led by Ogedengbe. One of the most prominent of Ogedengbe’s generals was Prince Haastrup, who had escaped slavery to become the commander of the Rifle Corps made up of sharpshooters which inflicted great fatalities on the Ibadan forces garrisoned in the battlement of Igbajo. Haastrup was also a prominent member of the Ekitiparapo Society of Lagos under the leadership of Doherty, an Ekiti man from Ijero, which was importing repeater rifles, the Dane guns, from Europe. It was the first time that European weaponry would be used in a Yoruba war.
After the war ended in 1886, Prince Haastrup became one of the towering heroes of the war, next only to the legendary Ogedengbe and his deputy, Fabunmi of Okemesi. When Owa Alowolodu died in 1896, Haastrup became the new Owa Obokun in September 1901, taking on the throne name of Ajimoko (the man who steer the ship at dawn). His worthy descendant is taking the staff of office on Friday. He is now the captain of the Ijesa ship. He coming into office after the 42-year reign of Oba Adekunle Aromolaran who died last year.
The new Kabiyesi should remember that he is coming into office at a different era. The bards, the royal women, the drummers would recite his panegyrics and praise songs, but those poetic renditions belonged to a different era. He needs to create his own relevance and set out a proper development agenda for Ijesaland. He should not embrace false and divisive narratives that would harm his quest for unity and development. He should remember that the ancients in Ile-Ife emphasised the oneness of the land and unity of purpose of the princes wherever they may migrate to establish their kingdom. The relevance of those ancient wisdom is apt for today. The land is crying for leadership and no one is expected to lead better than the captain.
In this modern era, the oba’s role is central to the development of his domain. I will give only one example that is closer home to our baba, the Owa Obokun. Not too far from Ilesa is the small town of Oke-Ila, the seat of the Orangun, one of his brothers who also brought his crown directly from Ile-Ife. By December 2026, it would be 20 years since Oba Adedokun Abolarin, a teacher, lawyer and one of our heroes during the struggle against military rule, ascended the throne as the Orangun in the somnolent community of Oke-Ila. Since then, Abolarin has been embarking on a single-minded ministry of improving the human capital of his people. His transformation agenda has shown that you can use the ancient pedestal of obaship for modern mobilisation and development.
Haastrup has a greater advantage than Abolarin and many other obas. His people are rich and influential in the Nigerian polity.
Therefore, it is for him to recognise his mission and ensure that his reign will be filled with concrete achievements instead of needless pitch battles over ancient privileges and dubious royal protocols. He has a duty to set a new agenda to mobilise Ijesaland and reassure the Yoruba people of Nigeria and beyond that there is a future for the obaship institutions. If the House of Oduduwa could survive the bumptious challenge of the military class and the riotous upheavals of the 19th Century, there is no reason why it should not thrive in the present era. Congratulations Kabiyesi! May your reign be long and filled with positive transformation of Ijesaland and beyond.
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