My proximity to the palace has exposed me to few exclusive features, particularly Kabiyesis oppressive tendencies or a semblance of them and subjects devilish plots to sabotage and disable Kabiyesis. Haven’t I made a case for a Kabiyesi’s subordinate starved of the basic tool to effectively work for the Kabiyesi? You may want to ask ‘Why should an employer deny his employee his basic tool?’
Haven’t I also had my chest kissing the floor on behalf of a sinner aide who was desperate to retain his job and its associated privileges? Inside the palace, Kabiyesis see what they can’t come out and say. I once asked one of the reasons he left his juicy job and opulence in the US for his town not the size of a university campus. His answer reminded me that I have no royalty in my veins. That’s not a sin.
Now, we have all shed tears justifiably in sympathy with the unfortunate Baba Abraham Areola entrapped in the den of the power intoxicating Olorile of Orile Ifo, Oba Abdulsemiu Adewale Ogunjobi; let us move a step further. And luckily, we don’t need to wear our glasses again in search of the remote and immediate cause of that thing which stole the sanity of the supposed royal father. The police had completed their investigation, the magistrate court had sat, a three-count charge established, and the case adjourned till March 6. What a speedy trial in a country where awaiting trial inmates are said to embarrasingly out-number the convicted in our correctional centres.
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Anyway, justice is not delayed this time perhaps on the understanding that social media citizens are keen and impatiently waiting. The world is eager to confirm the boast of Ogunjobi who said that inside his pocket daily reports the Inspector-General of Police and his subordinates on one hand and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation on the other hand. To many patriots who heard him well and saved the video, if he is not served at least a-year term at the Ibara Correctional Centre alongside his Lukosi and the boy that slapped the 73-year-old Baba, they will rush out and declare him hero of this matter.
Oba Ogunjobi should better be ready for a major engagement; in the next few days, public will get to read and see more of allegations and copies of petitions long submitted by his victims who are now emboldened to speak out, realising that when a big trouble wrestles you to the floor, little ones would compound the problem.
Already, other Kabiyesis should even appreciate him for creating this opportunity for them to know how aggrieved and, thus, disrespectful the public are to the palaces? Kabiyesis should read reactions to the video and take statistics of views and anger coming from frustration that they have compromised and thrown to the dogs traditional values bequeathed to them by their ancestors.
One day, the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, after he had read a piece about a traditional ruler, asked about my opinion on that particularly scandalous act attributed to that king. I told him my mind but my mind wasn’t his mind. Whenever Baba doesn’t agree with you, despite the merit of your point, he would do as though sleeping, buy time and change the topic.
On this day, however, he didn’t change the topic. What did he do? He skipped it and expressed a worry on the fate of royal fathers after his exit and departure of his generation. Using the same Kabiyesi as a reference point, he said jocularly that he would have joined “my forefathers before they start wearing their crowns to disco hall.”
Truth is that public conduct of some traditional rulers is taking away the respect supposedly reserved for the stool. And the contempt is going to be worse in years to come due to this devil-may-care speed of social media, the CCTV standing to expose all their deeds to the world.
While addressing a gathering of traditional rulers about three years ago, I told them of few danger of social media on them. What I think I missed out in my paper titled “Managing Royal Institution In the Age of Social Media”, is that they’re no longer secure to do things the way they were doing them in the pre-internet age. I failed to tell them that if, for instance, they pull over and pee on the highway, before they return to the car, their pictures would have gone viral and probably ‘photoshoped’. I also failed to alert them to expect revolts, not placards again, when the youths are fed up with their ways and utterances in the palace.
Oba Ogunjobi should better be ready for a major engagement; in the next few days, public will get to read and see more of allegations and copies of petitions long submitted by his victims who are now emboldened to speak out, realising that when a big trouble wrestles you to the floor, little ones would compound the problem. It’s well.
*Busari is the publisher of The Tabloid newspaper
