Olowu of Kuta, HRM Oba Dr Hammed Adekunle Makama Oyelude, Tegbosun III, has urged traditional rulers in Yorubaland to respect the oath of their office.
According to a statement issued by his media office on Friday in Kuta, Osun State, the Olowu urged Yoruba Obas to uplift the culture and traditions of their forebears.
Oba Makama, who was reacting to a statement credited to Justice Phillips Akinside of the Ogun State High Court that traditional rulers must accept the burial rites and customs of the institutions they voluntarily joined, arguing that once a person becomes an Oba through cultural processes, they relinquish the right to reject those traditions — even after death.
Oba Makama eulogised the judge for his boldness and validating what he has always emphasised that the primary focus of Yoruba Obas should be according to the dictate of the instrument of their office.
The Osun monarch, who is also a custodian of culture and tradition, has said times without number that the primary focus of an Oba according to the letter of their appointment is that “they would be custodian of culture and tradition” and not the other way round as some Obas have jettisoned their primary duty for religions.
Oba Makama said those Obas who are not ready to abide by the dictate of their offices should withdraw from Obaship and stop causing chaos through unguarded utterances capable of rubbishing the Yoruba traditional stool they represent.
He, however, explained that Obas in Yorubaland are neither crowned in mosque or church but according to the dictate of the tradition and culture which they swore to uphold after their installation and coronation.
Oba Makama said: “There’s a ductum is law, which says “Violenti non fit injuria” which simply translates to the fact that you cannot complain once the details of what you’re subscribing has been spelt to you beforehand.
Justice Akinside, who was the keynote speaker at the fifth Chief Kehinde Sofola Memorial Bar Lecture, organised by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Sagamu branch in Ogun State, on Wednesday said; “The Obas have no right or legal right to change the tradition they have voluntarily come into.”
He explained that the same customs that guide the selection, nomination, and installation of an Oba should equally apply to their burial.
According to him, “One cannot become a traditional ruler in accordance with the customs of the land and later reject those same customs. Religious freedom exists under the 1999 Constitution, but once an individual chooses to enter a traditional institution, they can not claim an infringement of that freedom when the rites of that institution apply.”
Justice Akinside argued that accepting the role of an Oba is a voluntary act, and by doing so, the individual implicitly agrees to uphold and be governed by the associated traditions, including burial rituals.
