Image caption: Soun Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye Orumogege III
A New Order is here, let go of old glories: Soun Mogajis to Olugbon Princes in new article
The Mogajis of the five Soun Ruling Houses in this article declares that there is a prevailing New Order in Yoruba land particularly Oyo state urging those they say are still savouring the Old Order to seek new glories to enhance their status. They aver that the Old Order cannot be the sole basis of today’s decision and merit.
The fact remains a New Order is here. We sympathize with the writers of a rejoinder against the Mogajis of the Soun Ruling Houses by the people who described themselves as Princes of Igbon. The rejoinder titled: “Igbon Princes berate Soun Mogajis,” we deem as hollow because the writers are still locked in the distant past. We urge them to be transported to the present era and act in consonance with the present reality. Their fury is understandable, no one who lost something valuable will be happy, only the philosophically-minded individuals accept such fate with calmness. Though we are sure the authentic princes are not behind the write-up because we are aware they are diametrically opposed to Oba Francis Olusola Alao the Olugbon over irreconcilable differences and they wouldn’t fight his battle this way.
Advertisement
We maintain our stand that old things are gone everything is new. We do not contest Igbon had a glorious past as a tributary town to Oyo Oranmiyan, that it preceeded the founding of Ogbomoso. Though their claim to owning vast land in this area is contestable unless they are able to answer some questions with irrefutable evidences and not with cooked up stories they conjured in their last write-up. Meanwhile, let’s consider these:
1. One of such germane questions is: Where/Which is their original homesteads? The present Orile-Igbon in Surulere Local Government area lacks even the relics of ancient settlements, no palace (hence their Obas live in rented houses or personal houses). Where is their ancient palace and old houses if truly where they refer to as their Orile today is the original settlement that stood the test of time? Let them avail the public with evidences of their original settlement. Saying they are the custodian of Oba river is not enough. That Oriki could have been invented and adopted after their later settlement there.
After Soun Ogunlola delivered Oyo from the menace of Elemoso he was made the traditional head of all the areas. Did Alaafin not know of the existence of Igbon before conferring leadership on Soun Ogunlola? Questions and questions. But while they remained apogees of Alaafin all history Ogbomoso had a different destiny, followed a path of self-discovery and overtook them. So, all the cock and bull stories about someone being father, someone being Bale, someone being a rapist, the Bere saga, biting the fingers that fed someone’s ancestors, helping someone to become Oba, directing someone to sit on someone’s land to oversee it, someone a soldier of someone, someone a long time settler and someone a foreigner, someone having a classical kingdom etc have long been overtaken by events. They might have had a cherished history as lieutenants of Alaafin but all that we reiterate got buried at Katunga at the unfortunate fall of the Oyo Empire. That incident sent a wave of refugees across Yorubaland. Igbon if it survived the fate of Oyo should have succeeded Oyo and instead of decreeing the congregation of soldiers in Ogbomoso as it claimed should have made its seat the centre of resistance against the invaders. That would have been the logical thing to do. “We relocated to another part of our land in Ogbomoso,” which others have alluded to too, is half-truth, it is a smart way of dodging reality, who willingly leaves his home? “O de ba Olugbon o mu mora” is not a phrase out of the blues, so what actually befell Olugbon is a question people are patiently waiting to hear answer to? Moreover, we are reminding them of the assertion of Samuel Johnson in his History of Yorubas: “But wherever the representative head of the family may be, he is completely subject to the ruler of the town, be he a Baale or a king. Thus the Olugbon at Ogbomoso is subject to the Baale of Ogbomoso…” What further confirmation do they need of the NEW ORDER? After all they also quoted the eternal book. In addition they affirmed our disclosure by quoting Iwe Itan Ogbomoso: “Tanmoni Adio ti o koko je Olu Igbon ni Ogbomoso ko ni okiki bi Kolawole Ajai ti o je tele. Ajai pe pupo o si gbe oye re ga pupo. Baale Ogbomoso ko si je fi oran re sire. Lodoodun ni bale ni lati mu eran, owo, obi ati agbo lo si Ile Olugbon fun ebo odun…”
It should be noted how Tanmoni Adio was first installed Olugbon in Ogbomoso and how it was included that the second Olugbon in Ogbomoso exceedingly promoted the Olugbon stool. Isn’t that enough validation of our assertion of their refugee status? If it’s an Olugbon that actually directed the convergence of military officers in Ogbomoso would there be need for specific references to the first and second persons who took position as Olugbon in Ogbomoso? They shot themselves in the foot! Yes, the Bale (Soun) gave gifts to Olugbon during his yearly festival, that is because Olugbon provided some valuable services and that is a strategy adopted by the Soun Dynasty, the ruling monarch flattered serviceable people by rewarding them to ensure their loyalty and retain them to maintain its power.
Meanwhile, the so-called princes deliberately refrained from reproducing the whole of that section of the book on page 69 and 70 of Iwe Itan Ogbomoso. These are the parts they omitted: “kò sì jẹ fi oran rè șire.. Lododun ni bãiẹ ni iati mu eran agbò, owo ati ob lo sile Olugbọn fun ẹbọ odún. Bi ohun nla kan kò sí ni ilu, Olú Igbọn ki i jade lo si Ile Bale. Olugbọn kì í dobalę fun enikeni. Ajai gbe oye rè n’iyi pupo; ilu feran re, balę papa si bu ola fun u.
“Lehin Ajai ni Ògúngbadé ati Oyèwale je Olugbọn. Orişafayò lo tele Oyewale. Orişafayò gbidanwo lati pada si Ile Igbọn; gęgę bi akoko ti nyipada ti a si fi ànfāni fun awọn kan lati pada si orile won, Oba Alaburo yi rò pe kò si ohun ti o ye lati da on na duro! Sugbon Olugbon tobi ju eniti ilu le gbà fun kiakia pe ki o tan ifę okan rè lorun, ki o pada si ilu rè bi o ba fẹ. Kò si okan ninu awọn ilu ileto ti o ti pada si orile wọn ti o le lọ li àlọtán. Bâle Oyewumi pinnu pe bi Orişafayò ba lọ si Igbọn. on yio si fi Oyèdépò ropo. Orọ yi di eyiti Oibo ni lati da si; ljoba si pari orọ nã pe ki Olugbọn mașe jade kuro l’Ogbomoşo.” It is a mixed fortune. But it shows the power of Soun over Olugbon how he threatened to replace Orisafayo with Oyedepo should he leave for Igbon and so on. Nonetheless, Orisafayo children never rose to the throne again.
It is a statement of fact that a weaker state at a particular time in history kowtows to the superior power but the pendulum always changes and when that happens the equation also changes. That is the painful reality for them. They never grew out of the shadow of Oyo but triumphantly Ogbomoso did!
2. Secondly, let them produce a succession chart of their kingship. Here is ours!
We are certain they have nothing of such because it’s disjointed, it has no setting. Particularly let them show the lineage of their present Oba.We won’t go deeper because we don’t want to further offend the authentic royals of Igbon.
3. But we would remind them the Soun has long been included in the Obas’ Council in the Western Region. Olugbon only made an entrance in 1996 through the efforts of late Olugbon Oba Samuel Adegboyega Osunbade.
Advertisement
4. The present wielders of power invented the use of Imperial Majesty, Paramount Ruler, Rotational Permanent Chairmanship and so on, and they conferred same on deserving monarchs based on the New Order (Soun and Olubadan) and out of respect for the Old Order (Alaafin). It’s obvious they are jealous of those titles, hence their usual obsession with denigrating the throne of Soun. But they will continue to fail. Ogbomoso paid its dues and made greater sacrifices to the sustainability of Yorubaland and Nigeria as a whole. Without Ogbomoso and Ibadan the history of Yorubaland would have taken a reprehensible turn and perhaps would have been an extension of the Great Sokoto Empire with Emirs who have allegiance to the Sultan running the land!
So, they should henceforth spare us their cock and bull stories, they should with philosophical calmness embrace the new order and only savour the old order. Their constant flaunting of those stories insisting they should solely form the bedrock of today’s decision is delusional. We are proud of their glorious past but the fact remains others have soared into glory too to create a New Order and that is what is recognised by today’s power wielders. Unfortunately it is what they are fighting, rather than seeking ways to reenact their past glorious era with new deeds of merit.
5. In the meantime, there is one commentator who calls himself Aare Onpitan, we encourage him to always back his accounts with evidences like stating verifiable sources, quoting pages of books he relies on.
Summarily, we advise the Olugbons of this world to divest themselves of old stories and seek new glories. That will be profitable adventure than flaunting old accomplishments by their ancestors. What are they able to accomplish themselves? Let’s relate on that basis and seek to outdo one another in a healthy competition. Let’s jettison this retrogressive tendencies, that draw us back.
Egypt, Persia, Babylon, Greece, Rome, Britain, Korea, Japan, Germany, China, Mongolia etc all had great empires but each had put that behind them, they can only exude pride based on it, they would only be making themselves laughing stock to expect the world to quake at their approach today. So, each is arduously seeking to outdo one another with breathtaking technological breakthroughs.
We commend our brothers to take a cue from this.
Signed:
1. Mogaji Olawuyi Itabiyi (Aburumaku)
2. Mogaji Sikiru Oyelami (Gbagun)
3. Mogaji Olawale Olaoye (Laoye)
4. Mogaji Oyebamiji Oyedeji (Bolanta)
5. Mogaji Ilufoye Layode (Odunaro)
Leave a Reply