Deconstructing the persona of Doyin Odebowale and his claims on the Soun of Ogbomoso
Femi OGUNLANA
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A claim on Lagelu FM in Ibadan, Oyo state capital, during an interview on a programme Bosenlo, a social-political programme, by a former Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties and Strategy to the late Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, Dr. Doyin Odebowale, has irked some people especially in Ogbomoso as the interviewee made some abominable claims, considered derogatory and denigrating to the exalted stool of the Soun of Ogbomoso. He remarked during the ill-fated interview anchored by one Temitayo Oyeladun Aboo Oro that Ogbomoso had no Oba but a “High Chief,” whose allegiance is to the Alaafin of Oyo. Wilfully maligning the stool of Soun, he stressed, pontificating that Soun could not claim to be a true Oba as he was elevated by (David) Jemibewon during his tenure as military governor of the old Oyo state. The loud-mouthed Odebowale also defamed Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God dismissing him as “the Ijesa man beside the road who put crown on the (current) Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye.” He similarly maliciously mentioned the great progenitor of the Soun Dynasty, Ogunlola, amusing himself and flaunting his self importance by saying if he ever comes in contact with Oba Ghandi, “I will never prostrate for him, I will thrust my hand for a handshake.” However a simple analysis will show his claims are egregiously marred by distortions, ignorance shaded in knowledge and redolent with scorn, emanating from a shallow-minded character.
Sincerely, I never knew the man but his impudent submission made me do a little research and I discovered to my chagrin he is a mere demagogue, a combustible personality, who is psychologically unstable. A few instances will suffice.
In an interview in the past he said of marriage, “You may blame this woman (referring to late Governor Akeredolu’s wife, Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu) for indiscretion. Marriage is a scam. I hate cohabitation. … On his wife’s management Aketi was a weakling.”
During his time in office as Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties and Strategy to Akeredolu, a campaign was instituted for his sack, on account of his numerous perfidies against the opposite sex. He once was alleged of slapping a “heavily pregnant woman, an employee of the state government, for failing to stand to greet him in a market place.” The woman reportedly landed in a hos[ital for urgent medical attention. Also, the man was accused of having the habit of upturning stalls in the market destroying goods and triggering commotion.
In one of the petitions against him initiated by one Maha Olatokunbo, and shared online, requesting support, and titled, “We demand the immediate removal of Dr. Doyin Odebowale,” it was stated, “The petition is addressed to the Government of Ondo State under the leadership of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), and to the good people of our dear state.
“It is no longer news that the current Senior Special Assistant (SSA) for Special Duties, Dr. Oladoyin Odebowale, has, since inception of office, constituted himself into a special scourge of Ondo womenfolk. He is accustomed to calling our mothers and sisters, our daughters and wives, prostitutes on different forums. In a recent video, he was seen personally destroying the goods of women in a marketplace in Akure, in a manner that will scandalize even a hired thug.
“Ondo women have endured this psychological and physical brutalization for too long, and now we say ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.’
“We call for the immediate sack of Dr Oladoyin Odebowale, otherwise we shall use every means available to us, both secular and spiritual, as intrepid Ondo women, to redress this matter and rid our land of this human plague.
“We are ready!
“Support now
“Sign this petition.”
Such is the portrait of the man taking recklessly on the stool of the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye, Pastor Adeboye, and the people of Ogbomoso generally. Indirectly, he has also attacked the Ibadan monarchy because by saying Jemibewon was the one that elevated the Soun to the position of Obaship he has as well mocked the Ibadan stool as the Olubadan and the Soun got elevated the same time in 1976 by the same Jemibewon. However, what the likes of him failed to fathom is that the elevation was not cosmetic, it stemmed from the heroic contributions of the two communities to the pageant of history. Indeed, without the two historic cities, headed by the Soun and Olubadan, the Yoruba country would have taken a different character and its history would be different today. We all know how the armies of the two towns in the 19th century took the lead in the wars to repel the fierce imperial incursions of the Fulani Empire into the region. This spectacular feat and other monumental ones fostered the consideration and eventual recommendation for the historical elevation, endorsed by the leading Yoruba Obas at the time, who unanimously recognized this unequaled role and similar in terms of heroism and importance to the ones performed by the founding fathers of the race. The Obaship status is incontestable like the global leadership of the US is incontestable today though it once was colonized by Britain and its existence predated by many other countries. The likes of Odebowale cannot understand this.
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He equally claimed that Pastor Adeboye “crowned” Oba Ghandi. He believed what he wanted to believe (he is entitled to how he interprets events) but that does not invalidate the legitimacy of the Oba. Oba Ghandi was enthroned and crowned by the kingmakers in accordance with tradition and law, which got officialized by the Oyo state governor Engr Oluseyi Makinde through presentation of staff and instruments of office during a coronation ceremony. Pastor Adeboye as an addendum anointed him during a thanksgiving service not even captured in the laws guiding the coronation of an Oba. Odebowale’s legendary mischievous inclination which saw him bullying helpless women and denigrating the womenfolk in the past, and his apparent unstable psychological state, is what might have prompted him therefore to be making such unfounded unsavoury remarks.
Whatever his intention, Oba Ghandi Olaoye remains a darling of his people because he symbolizes an ideal king; he is a royal that has been redefining Obaship; urbane, focused, un-parochial, occupying an eminent stool that evolved through series of acts of bravery. Odebowale’s vituperations only further betrayed his psycho state.
It is best he be ignored.
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