The news that the Governor Seyi Makinde Makinde-led administration has intensified efforts to amend section 28, sub-section 1 of the Oyo State Chieftaincy Law, which seeks to grant autonomy to the governor to single-handedly decide who wears the beaded crown in the state taking out the role of council of traditional rulers in the state came as a rude shock and a display of dictatorial government.
Reports have it that the move has already been approved on Friday, May 5, 2023, by the Oyo State Executive Council as a draft amendment of an executive bill and set for reading for the first time at the plenary of the Oyo State House of Assembly. This further corroborates the rumors in town about the demonic move.
To set the records straight, the decision to determine who wears a beaded crown in the state is a very sensitive one and has been the responsibility of the Council of Obas and Chiefs (traditional stakeholders) to enable proper checks and balances necessary for the protection and sustenance of our traditional heritage while promoting peace and tranquillity in the State.
The government has given the inability of the Council of Obas and Chiefs to meet for some time now which has led to the delay of the coronation and presentation of beaded crowns to some applicants as the excuse for this proposed amendment. However, this excuse doesn’t hold water to warrant such a big move that could tell on the value, sanity, and survival of our traditional system sooner or later.
The Council of Obas and Chiefs can instead through the Deputy Chairman call for the council’s meeting to sort out applicants in the absence of the Council Chairman which was the late Alaafin pending the installation of the new Alaafin of Oyo and Soun of Ogbomoso among others.
The move to strike out the primary custodians of our tradition from such a crucial role is tantamount to the vulnerability of our traditional heritage. It is a move that will render our traditional rulers almost useless and further relegate them to the mercy of the government of the day.
The moment politicians become legally empowered to decide things of traditional sacredness and heritage, then trouble looms. The implication of this is that a governor can decide to crown anyone from anywhere at any time without recourse to the traditional arrangement and stakeholders. Since it is a legal move anyone who kicks against that decision becomes a criminal.
This is a clarion call and observations positively driven that requires all and sundry to stop this action. We can’t rule out the possibility of having a governor in the nearest future who will appoint a stranger as a king or chief in the state because he has the absolute power to do so.
This sensitive role is crucial to the survival and sustenance of our traditional heritage and culture and must not be left in the hands of any politician who is known for politicizing appointments to head every position at their disposal.
We must unanimously reject this plan that could take away the peace of the state and subject our traditional rulers to become political beggars. Our traditional heritage must not be eroded by the political class. The pervasion of justice, fairness, and equity should not be allowed to take over the traditional system that has given us peace so far.
Conclusively, Governor Seyi Makinde must remember that this is a situation of “absolute power corrupts”. The Governor should immediately drop this plan and take another route instead of endangering our peace, traditional unity, and heritage as a state.
To check the level of acceptability of this move, the public hearing must be allowed to play its role because this is a very sensitive issue and of serious interest to the people of Oyo State. As the Yoruba saying goes “Oní ìlú kìí fé kí ìlú rè tú”, the true sons and daughters of the land only care about the unity of the land.
E-signed:
Samuel Abodunrin,
Press Secretary to Tawfiq Tayo Akinwale, Oyo State LP Guber 2023
May 7, 2023.
