Elegboro of Ijebu-Jesa in Oriade Local Government Area of Osun State, Oba Moses Agunsoye is the Vice Chairman of the Osun State Traditional Council. In this interview with ADEOLU ADEYEMO, he speaks about the roles of obas in the modern er, industrialisation of the country, amongst other issues. Excerpts:
How was life while growing up?
I was recalcitrant while growing up, but I was serious with my education. I started my journey at Anthony in Lagos. From Anthony, I moved to Ojodu and from Ojodu to Mushin where I lived for 21 years. I gave birth to all my children in Mushin. During that time, I knew all of the joints in the area but being a king now has taken social life away from me. It doesn’t mean that I don’t go to functions again. When I was in school, I was a member of the Kegite Club and I was the Songito.
During my time at the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, I went to three Nigeria Polytechnic Games Association (NIPOGA) games. Everybody loves women but there are limits to everything. I have one wife and four children.
How did your family take the news of you becoming a traditional ruler?
When the stool became vacant and I told my wife that I’m interested, she wasn’t in support. My children also cried when I told them, but I told them it is the stool of my forefathers and the opportunity must not go like that. I told them I wanted it and I approached it head-on. My family later accepted.
Six years on the throne, do you have any regrets?
I will say there’s no regret. There are times I wanted to regret, but I always look unto God and everything will become calm. There are many pressures and unforeseen things that you don’t think can happen but are now happening. I am talking about serious challenges that you think can be easily surmounted but you find out that they are complex. I won’t call it regret but it’s part of life’s process that one must undergo.
The stool strengthens me, but it has not been easy.
Why are marriages collapsing these days?
I won’t even call it marriage nowadays. It’s just two people meeting themselves and getting pregnant. It is no more marriage. There is no love and trust. Society has brought so much evil or maybe the world has brought so much evil into the system that you cannot even understand what is happening. A lot of things happening now are signs of the end time.
How many marriages have you salvaged?
Many of them. Some marriages were salvaged through cajoling while some were saved through empowerment. Many marriages have been saved but still the younger ones are not ready for marriage. This is because the majority are not even matured for marriage; some are matured but because they don’t have a job and have passed the marriageable age, they end up hooking themselves up with the wrong person. That’s the way things are nowadays. But we have been saving and empowering some of these marriages like I said.
How do you see the roles of obas nowadays?
In the olden days, it was the obas that took decisions, but that is not happening again. Now, we are fighting for a constitutional role for royal fathers. Most times, I settle more than 90 per cent of cases before they even get to the police stations. For security, we are the ones securing our towns. I know what is going in and out of my town. I’m the one empowering the hunters in the town. Talking about policing, I’m the one policing my environment. So, the constitutional role should be well spelt out.
I’m a member of the Osun State Traditional Council. We’ve set up a tripartite committee with selected lawyers from among the obas, the ministry of local government and the ministry of justice. We are going to meet the state governor so that we can have a bill that spells out our constitutional roles.
There’s also the issue of bringing police officers from another state to our domain. They do not know our terrain. The officers do not also know the rules and regulations of the town. Different communities have their do’s and don’ts so, the role of a traditional ruler should be well spelt out for effective monitoring, coverage, protection and overall benefit to the government. The role must be well spelt out for us to curb the menace of criminals and bad boys.
What do you think the country needs in order to grow?
What the country needs is industrialisation. Parents suffer a lot to send their children to school. At the end of the day, when the child completes his/her education, they roam about looking for a job. This is not encouraging. We need to look at cottage industries to spring up in the nooks and crannies of our towns. It is not necessary to be big. What we need is to look at a particular environment and set it up there. If you set up one with about ten workers in the factory, before you know it, you would have taken 100 or 150 people out of poverty and that is going to reduce the menace. A lot of things are so bad in the country such that to put things straight will take a longer time but we need to start from somewhere.
Is there any collaboration among traditional rulers in protecting their subjects?
Most places we go, they keep telling us to protect our environment. How do I protect my environment without collaborative effort from the other communities? If I decide to protect my own town and the next village is not protecting its own, the spillover of their issues will affect us. So, it should be a joint effort.
What do you think should be changed in our system?
A lot of things must change. I’m an advocate of running the country with full-time senators but that of the House of Representatives should be on part-time basis. A lot of the representatives don’t do what they are voted to do. They just go there to collect money. When it is part -ime, it will cut down the expenses.
As the vice chairman of Osun Traditional Council, what will be your recommendations to the government regarding the appointment of kings?
There should be many criteria before somebody is chosen as a king. The first thing is that the background of such a person should be looked into. Although, they do ask questions but, at times, the way the government goes about it is not good enough. If what is going on in Oyo State is not urgently addressed, there is likely to be a problem because the Oyo State government has totally usurped the powers of the traditional ruler, according to the bill that was passed in the state recently. The local government should be the one in charge. They are to recommend to the governor. Now, traditional rulers in settlements under some obas become first class due to the abnormality. A lot of things are wrong that we need to correct.
What will be your advice to traditional rulers interfering in politics?
We are all politicians. You cannot take politics away from us because in the environment where we are obas, we head everybody.
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