Royalty, loyalty and disloyalty: Protecting our traditions from their keepers, by Owei Lakemfa

The simple and straightforward appointment of the Awujale of Ijebu Kingdom, one of the most revered, is stalled like a car with a dead battery. Actions associated with the Benin monarchy, one of the most famous in Africa, is clanging like a faulty engine.  

Meanwhile, the new Alaafin of Oyo’s public displays are like a man fossiled in the distant past.

The Ijebu Kingdom had known peace since the enthronement of Oba Sikiru Adetona in 1960 until he joined his ancestors 65 years later. When the brutal Abacha military regime was on rampage, Oba Adetona and Oba Salaudeen Afolabi Oyefusi, the then Ayangburen of Ikorodu, were amongst the handful of traditional rulers who stood up against it.

However, the kingdom has not been the same since the Kabiyesi joined his ancestors on July 13, 2025. First, his burial was marred in unnecessary controversy as the traditional accommodation of different faith was jettisoned. In fact, gun-wielding soldiers were deployed to physically stop traditionalists from paying their last respects to a king they had installed. I wondered what the business of soldiers were with the burial of a traditional ruler. Then, controversies over the selection of a new Awujale began. For instance, where all eligible princes should have been allowed to aspire as was the case of Oba Adetona who was a 26-year-old student when he was appointed, the process was monetised. Apart from some aspirants being accused of compromising the process, the Fusengbuwa family that is to produce the next Awujale, imposed a whooping N100 million eligibility fee per prospective candidate. It claimed the money was for “administrative expenses”. This was later reduced to N10 million, and a dozen aspirants paid before the Ogun State Government intervened to force a refund.

There is also the toxicity introduced by Fuji musician, Wasiu Ayinde, who claimed he was eligible, and rather than establish this within the family, went to court. Wasiu’s manner of intrusion led to snide remarks about the suitability of a musician becoming  a king. But, indeed, a musician can aspire not just to be a king, but a great one at that. Ede, in Osun State, is one of the greatest kingdoms in Nigeria. One of its best known kings was Oba John Adetoyese Laoye I who reigned from 1946 to 1975. He was a musician who was a master of the talking drum, called Dundun. He helped to internationalise  Yoruba music with beautiful performances in the country and abroad, including before Queen Elizabeth II.

So, the issue is not that Wasiu is a musician. Rather, it is his character. Who would want to make a person enmeshed in unending controversies, including a suicidal bid to stop a commercial airline from taking off, king?

So, while traditional kingdoms would be proud to have a Sunny Ade or Ebenezer Obey as king, I am not sure any would want Wasiu or Portable.

As things stand, the appointment of a new Awujale might not be soon. It can even be after the 2027 general elections when new governors will emerge.

The highly developed Benin Kingdom was established by the 11th Century. It was a coastal power with reach to present day Ghana. It was defeated and looted  by British colonialists in 1897. The monarchy was however restored in 1914 and is currently ruled by “Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Ewuare II,  a 73-year-old former Nigerian Ambassador to Italy, Angola and Sweden with accreditation to Norway, Denmark and Finland.

 In the morning of  Sunday, December  28, 2025, Don Pedro Obaseki, PhD, one of the best known sons of the kingdom was playing football at Uwa Primary School, Igbesanmwan Street,  Benin City when armed thugs swooped on him like vultures too impatient to wait for their victim  to die.

In a viral video, Obaseki could be seen being battered and hauled along the streets like a criminal being dragged to Golgotha. Later, he was stripped naked. In front of Holy Aruosa Church, he was publicly paraded before being dragged around Ring Road and then deposited in the Oba’s Palace.

Pedro later recounted: “Inside the Oba Palace premises, I was slapped, beaten, gagged and forced to kneel while naked. While in this condition, I attempted to plead for my life and dignity as the Oba drove past me within the Palace compound.”

Later, he was  forced into a Hilux vehicle and deposited at  the Oba Market Police Station where, rather than being freed, he was detained for five hours. During his incarceration, he said the State Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, visited thrice assuring him he would be released after clearance from Oba Ewuare II.

Obaseki on his release said: “I hear that my sin was that I went to London and in a public statement I said May Edo people live long and prosper, that I should have said May the Oba live long and prosper, that my saying may Edo people live long and prosper is a cardinal sin in Benin… for me who has elevated the culture of the Benin race in my 35 to 40 years as the pioneer of the present Nollywood.” 

None of the claims of Obaseki have been disputed, including the role of the police. The later statement from the palace neither commiserated with Obaseki nor condemned the killer-thugs. Rather, it merely distanced itself from the criminality and blandly admonished “our youth not to take the laws into their hands on any issue no matter the degree of provocation.”

Although the attackers of Obaseki are identifiable, neither the police nor the Federal Government whose citizen was almost murdered, have brought up criminal charges.

Also, perhaps it is lost on the palace that the attack on Obaseki, including inside the palace walls, was a desecration and dishonour of the monarchy.

A similar incident had occurred in Benin about seven weeks earlier when on Sunday,  November 9, 2025 armed thugs chanting they are  enforcers from the palace, invaded a private exhibition at the Museum of West African Art, MOWAA. Vandalising property and attacking individuals, the invaders held guests, including the European Union, Danish and German ambassadors, hostage for about two hours. These incidents, coupled with the virile November 2025 letter of Crown Prince Ezelekhae Ewuare to his father,  have not put the Benin Monarchy in  good light.  

Generally, traditional rulers, especially in Western Nigeria, need to be more circumspect, respect their thrones and avoid unnecessary sense of superiority as is  evident between Alaafin Abimbola Akeem Owoade I on one hand, and Olubadan Rashidi  Adewolu Ladoja and Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, on the other. They would need to rein in monarchs like Oluwo Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi who seems to be on a solitary ego trip. 

The post Royalty, loyalty and disloyalty: Protecting our traditions from their keepers, by Owei Lakemfa appeared first on Vanguard News.