Yinka ADETUNJI
Advertisement
Oba Reuben Adesina Amao, JP, Alaaje of Aajeland, a.k.a. Aaje-Ologo, Ogbomoso North local government area of Oyo state, has highlighted a 47-point agenda for a traditional ruler stressing his position is developed over years of being a top security czar in the Department of State Security (DSS).
In the treatise, Oba Adesina, a trained pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) ACME Parish (along with his wife) and who once served as pastor of Faith and Victory Bible Church, Adekunle Village, Ikeja, Lagos, unveils what he called the dos and don’ts of a traditional ruler who wishes to have an impact and live above board.
These are itemized below:
- He must be honest
- He must be trustworthy
- He must be loyal
- He must be selfless
- He must be a person of good background
- He must be God fearing
- He must be reliable
- He must struggle for the benefits of his community
- He must know he is the Chief Security Officer of his community.
- He should not be a person of evil background such as being a thief that stole when he was young, a person that had a tarnished name e.g. who had had affairs with same family members, a silent killer, no sustainable job at hand, kidnapper, generally a criminal and cultist, that uses membership of such societies to oppress his supposed subjects.
- Advertisement
- He should sustain our good tradition without getting involved in criminal activities.
- His moral background should be positive and must not be a greedy person that can kill because of money.
- He should as well be a seasoned administrator, with requisite and cognate experience to be able to handle chieftaincy matters to enable him to lead with relative ease.
- Rural conflict resolution ability essential
- He needs to be up to date in current affairs, he must be ahead of his subjects in issues especially those in rural areas.
- Mastery of languages and history of ethnic groups are essential.
- He must be familiar with the duties and ranking system of traditional institutions e.g. His Imperial Majesty, His Royal Majesty, His Royal Highness, High Chief, Chief, Baale, Mogaji, Oba etc. He must know the differences and similarities to understand the intricacies of respect. This will enable newly appointed persons to know their position, limitations and to accord respect to their superiors.
- He needs to embrace all religions but be free to worship God in his own way, without seeking to bring down others in order to ensure equality in the various cultures, religions, customs, norms, values, moores etc in the community.
- For this day, being literate to interact with foreigners in the community is essential.
- He should supervise societies, associations, and bring them together to achieve unity for development.
- Advertisement
- He should make sure elders are duly respected and have democracy always at the back of his mind.
- He must be conversant with the digital world.
- He should study and understand the chieftaincy law deeply.
- In sales of any commonwealth, there should be equity in sharing. He should prevent the encroachment by strangers and intruders into the community and family land to prevent rich outsiders from taking them over.
- Leadership should be by age – ranking seniority as agreed within the chieftaincy family ranking.
- Each ruling family needs to work on having a Chieftaincy Declaration to enable equity to avoid rural coup d’etat in our communities. Emphasis should not be placed on money alone in appointments. Men and women of good reputation should always be appointed as heads for peace to reign in the community.
- Land should not be the only reason for being a rural leader.
- Advertisement
- History should be documented, while computer literacy may be essential in this digital world. Museums should be built to retain histories and instruments and equipment of the past.
- Native intelligence cannot be over-emphasized. He should understand languages and know their history.
- Appropriate link up with the local government, state and possibly the federal government to make possible the implementations of their policies.
- Attracts development by influencing the government to bring development.
- Encourage people in the diaspora from time to time to have interest in their roots.
- Assist the widows, orphans, father/motherless family members.
- Uphold and sustain the truth in all activities.
- Be security conscious in whatever is being done to avoid being embarrassed by security agents.
- Coordinate meetings from time to time to maintain sanity. However, it is a position without security vote, imprest etc. Hence, one should think twice before holding the chieftaincy position and it is essential one has a profitable means of livelihood.
- A chief should have a mindset of having a secretariat, with few staff as assistants. However, he knows he is not being paid salary but stipends.
- He should strive to leave a legacy behind and as well leave the community better than how he met it, for it is for life except he runs afoul of the law.
- He must be loyal to government officials without compromising. Remember, culture differs from community to community and so, he cannot impose his own culture, custom, religion, values, norms on others, for no culture or religion is superior to others.
- Siblings should know their rank, age-wise in the nuclear/extended family. This determines distribution in the family.
- Spiritually, physically, he carries out rituals and activities believed to help in maintaining peace as was done by his forebears without causing disunity in the community.
- Avoid selling a product like land to multiple persons in the name of being a traditional ruler, asserting authority without viewing the implication of the law.
- A pastor must know the bible, traditionalist the account, chief, chieftaincy law while a Muslim must master the Quran etc. A traditional ruler should therefore know the rule that goes with the position or else he will constantly be embarrassed and possibly get sentenced for nobody is above the law. Every one of our activities should be recorded or computerized.
- Being a cult member should not be a criterion for being appointed as a king. Family choice and community support backed by age ranking plus character etc should be used.
- Traditional ruler helps in investigating issues concerning his community by security agents, he has no right to question them or stop them from performing their duties.
- It’s voluntarily compulsory to join PCRC for the peace of his domain and give time to briefing to security agents.
- Relationship with the DSS operatives is as well essential in terms of grievances to be passed to the government before any form of protest etc. He should know the differences between security agents, similarities and where they can synergize.
- In conclusion, vetting by the DSS before appointment asides from traditional vetting, needs to be done. The background checking by the DSS is particularly important as it will guide the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters and prevent approval of criminals as traditional rulers. So, vetting recommendation from the DSS should form the first stage of any appointment as is done with ministerial, commissionership nominees, who are compulsorily screened.
- Advertisement
