How God chose me as Olu of Ilaro –Olugbenle Today, Saturday, April 20, paramount ruler of Yewaland, Oba Kehinde Gbadewole Olugbenle, the Olu of Ilaro, Ogun State, marks the first anniversary of his coronation. The Redeem Christian Church of God pastor turned monarch crowned at 44, in this exclusive interview with Deputy Editor, Daily Independent, Rotimi Durojaiye and News Editor, Saturday Independent, Ajibola Abayomi, reveals how he was ordained to succeed his great grandfather who ruled the town 200 years ago, and how he copes with tradition and religion. Excerpts: You were crowned as Olu of Ilaro a year ago. What is the experience like being a monarch? By the grace of God, I have been progressing. He has been sustaining us in time of needs. The challenge of the office requires a lot of patience and a lot of reasoning. In all these, God has been very faithful. With the little experience as a pastor, God has prepared me for the challenges of this office. People are my greatest supporters. When the people are for you, everything will fall in line and if God is for you, who can be against you? The government of the day in Ogun State has been very supportive too. The last one year was just like yesterday such that I say to myself that, so, it is one year now that I have been crowned as Olu of Ilaro. Have there been challenges? I believe with God on our side, there is nothing we cannot do. Unity is one of our greatest challenges in Yewaland. Without unity, there is little one can achieve. I have been trying to encourage our people to let us speak with one voice irrespective of religion and political affiliations. We are brothers and sisters. The people in my own opinion are beginning to realise that that is the way to go, though some of our people are still timid and are not forthcoming as expected. I operate an open door policy that accommodates everyone irrespective of where you are from in Yewaland. The task ahead of us is greater than what happened in the past. I will keep praying and extending olive branch to my brothers. We should sit together to design the map for our future generation because it is the foundation that we lay now that they would build upon. The one our fathers have laid down is the one we are facing the consequences today. We must build the future for our children so that they can be proud of Yewaland. We have to come home to develop our fathers’ land. A brighter future is ahead us. Where were you coming from before you were crowned? I was based in Abuja for 12 years before I became a royal father. If you go through the Bible, all the men of God that we respect are kings, even Jesus Christ our lord is being referred to as King of Kings. If we are his children, then we are kings. Where most people goof is the misconception that a pastor cannot be an Oba. There is nothing wrong in a pastor being a king. How do you mix religion with culture as a pastor? Culture is everywhere. You cannot do without culture. As a pastor, you must cherish your culture. When you say you are a pastor or an alfa that does not detach you from your culture. As an Oba and pastor, will you go to an Oro shrine? You are now going deep to things that people fear. There is no kabiyesi that is an Oro or Ifa man. Every lineage has what they are known for. There are families that worship Ifa, Oro, Obatala and other deities. As a king, I preside over all of them. There is no law that says you must be a member of a cult or Oro before you can be an Oba. Even in the traditional setting, there is nothing that says the condition for being an Oba is that one must belong to a cult or worship any deity. It is a matter of choice. As a child, what was your growing up like? I came from a humble background. I played football on the streets and I trek like other children. I was born in Lagos and I grew up at Mushin. I attended Methodist Primary School, Oshodi. Later, I came to Ilaro to attend Anglican Grammar School in 1983. I left Lagos in 1985. My twin brother, Taiwo and I were the only male children my father had. The rest were females. I have many friends in Ilaro today because I was brought back home to complete my secondary school education while Taiwo completed his own in Lagos. Later, I gained admission into Yaba College of Technology to study Estate Management. I graduated in 1990 and I started working in a survey company. I rose through the ranks to become the Managing Partner of the company. I grew up under very disciplined parents. I had my roles cut out for me and they don’t spare me with cane when necessary, not nowadays that parents don’t flog their children anymore. Can you recollect any moment of despair as a child? I could only remember when I was sick in Ilaro. My parents have to move us back to Lagos. I was placed on permanent injection and was going to hospital for about three months to take injection to the extent that it became part of me. But along the line, God took control. That was the only challenge that made me sad. People began to mount pressure on my dad to move us back to Lagos after that. Growing up, my dad was very supportive. I remember he used to tell me and my twin brother that we should sit up that it was because of us that he was delaying his retirement from the civil service. Every prince prays to become Oba someday; did it ever occur to you that you will be Olu of Ilaro before now? There was no prophecy or any ambition on my part to become an Oba at all. So you were not praying for that as a pastor? No child born today will know that he is a prince except the parents tell him when he grows up. I grow up to know that my father was a prince. It is only when they began to eulogise one in the family that I began to appreciate who I was. Otherwise nothing came to mind that one day I would be crowned as a monarch. When the stool of Olu of Ilaro became vacant, the royal families met and they decided that it was the turn of our own lineage to present a candidate for the stool. I never prayed to become Oba. You have a twin brother, why was he not considered for the stool? Yes, we are two but only one head will wear the crown. There are many princesses within the family. Only two of us were male children. The contest was narrowed to two of us. Taiwo and I are pastors at Redeem Christian Church of God. Was he also considered for the throne? I was just coming to that. When they say our family should present candidate, we had only two candidates and we are both pastors. We threw it back to God to decide and asked whether He even wanted any of us to be king? Taiwo came back to say Kehinde, you are the one to go for the stool. We prayed and the confirmation came from God. Oba are chosen by Ifa in Yorubaland. How come that the diviners in Ilaro picked a pastor like you, giving the trust of your faith? There is a procedure before any Oba can emerge in any state today. There is a law guiding appointment of Oba and there is nowhere in the chieftaincy law that says Ifa should be consulted. There is no law that says either that you should not use Ifa to decide. The procedure is that the kingmakers will vote. That is why you hear of Oba elect, and not Ifa elect. Oba are elected by the council of kingmakers. They are the ones that are saddled with the responsibility to elect an Oba constitutionally. It is left for them to choose to go to the prayer mountain or consult Ifa. In my own case, the kingmakers were nine and they voted. Whether what determined the vote of each kingmaker was predetermined by Ifa or not, that was personal. It is not compulsory that all of them must vote for one person. Why is it that some will get one, three or five votes when it comes to Oba’s election? In those days, I would agree with you that Ifa decided. These days in Yorubaland, there are chieftaincy laws that regulate how an Oba will emerge. They brought issue of Ifa when our family was about to present candidate. I told them that it is something that cannot be defended in the law court if anyone is aggrieved. Election remains the only transparent option as stated by the law to determine the selection of an Oba. How do you see Ilaro in the last one year? I would say things are changing and more developments are coming to Ilaro. With the presence of Dangote Group of Companies here, at Ilaro, the capital of Yewaland remains the hub of business activities and government cannot but do one or two things here. If you go to the Government Reserved Areas (GRA), I have issued several application forms for land allocation. As the holder of insignia of the founder of Ilaro, tell us how your forefathers founded the town? There was a man called Aro who migrated from Oyo centuries ago. Ilaro is a coinage from two combined words; Ilu Aro which literarily means the town of Aro. Aro was a hunter. He migrated and settled down here. As time passed by, he had issues with the Dahomey people now in the Republic of Benin and they often invaded his territory. He was forced to invite one his brothers, a warrior called Orona from Oyo to assist him to ward off the external aggression. Orona is being celebrated in Ilaro today because of his exploit while defending Ilaro people against the external aggression. History recalled that he had so much magical powers that he disappeared into a crown and left behind a small portion of his chain visible within the crown and told the people to call him whenever invaders attack Ilaro for his assistance. He used to play around with a tiger and a chain tied to his waist. After several years, the war stopped, and peace reigned in the town. Some people decided to test may be he could rise to defend them as promised. They pulled the chain and called him. Immediately, the chain was pulled, the man resurfaced, thinking there was war and began to slaughter people. He felt bad at a point when he realised that he was killing his own people. He was angered and he disappeared with the chain completely when he discovered that he was fooled. Till date, there is Orona hall in Ilaro where every monarch that ascends Olu of Ilaro stool must be crowned. After Orona left, all the royal fathers that reigned in Ilaro used to return to Oyo every three years and another person will be appointed as Oba. But by the grace of God in 1812, my great grandfather, Ashade Agunloye, which I am the forth in his lineage was the first Oba that refused to return to Oyo and stopped the idea. So I ascended the throne at exactly 200 years after he passed on. Many indigenes of Ilaro are not happy that sometimes some Dangote truck drivers kill people on highway during accident. What are you doing about this? The Dangote issue is a development that we all pray for. Every good thing always comes with a challenge. By the nature of the business Dangote company is doing, they cannot do without trucks. Unfortunately, they cannot determine the state of mind of the drivers. We have called them for a meeting and we have mandated them to build speed breakers across the roads to curtail accidents. Dangote people are new in the community and they are not used to our roads. The state governor has assured us that he would dualise our roads particularly the express roads. He would have done it if not because some people are playing politics with the project. We hope the Federal Government will cooperate with Governor Ibikunle Amosun. Don’t you feel threatened being the youngest paramount ruler in Ogun State? Among them I may be the youngest, the relationship between us is like that of father and child. They respect me and I respect them too as paramount rulers. I am lucky to be in the midst of elders who are ahead of me in terms of age. I have learnt a lot from them. I also learn from other lesser monarchs. They don’t make me feel like an outcast because of my age. The three of them, Alake of Egbaland, Awujale of Ijebuland and Akarigbo of Remoland see me as their equal. You are entitled to more than one wife as a traditional ruler, aren’t you going to marry more wives because you are still young? Pastors like me should not have more than one wife. It is not compulsory that I should have more than one wife. Thank God you people are here. I have one room for myself and for my wife. If my people bring me more wives, I already have your contacts, I will hand them over to you people as gifts. I don’t need more than one wife. How did you meet your elegant Olori? You mean my Olori? We met under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Are you saying the Holy Spirit assisted you to toast the woman? (Laughs) If the Holy Spirit is not with you, you cannot be divinely inspired to make a move. We met at a wedding in Ilaro in 1996 and we married in 1998. On the issue of Olori you are stressing, I will fulfill my promise by handing over a woman to you because you are so particular about that. How do you relate when it comes to social events, do you go clubbing? And how often do you associate with the people? My friends are still my friends. When I don’t have occasions, we lock ourselves in one room and we take Five Alive and everybody takes wine or any drink of his choice, by then, all protocols are suspended. What are the things you are missing now as an Oba? That is not a problem. I love travelling. My greatest joy as a pastor is when people around me are happy. When people visit me, they must go with gifts. Some of my people sometimes complain that I am giving out gifts. I ask them where they want me to keep all the ones they have been giving me? Even in the church on Sundays, I give out money to the needy. Do you still preach in the church? I do that whenever the opportunity comes. I still counsel people. This job is more of counselling. Many come to me for prayer. If one was not a prayer warrior before, it would have been difficult to cope. When did you become a pastor? It is a conviction that comes with confirmation from the Holy Spirit. It is a calling. Your own job is a calling even though you read Mass Communication. If one is not called, he won’t succeed. So you have the calling of an Oba as a pastor? If I was not called, I won’t be on throne of my forefathers today. What is your desire as an Oba? I want to leave the throne better than I met it such that generations yet unborn would say; yes, an Oba came and made his mark as Olu of Ilaro. But why are you not living in the ancient palace, are you afraid of Oro? (Laughs) No, it is because the old place is not befitting enough. This is one of the challenges I talked about when I say people are not coming forth as expected. By the grace of God, in a about a year from now, I will move to a more befitting palace built to modern taste. I have left everything to my people to decide the kind of palace they want for their monarch. Are you going to build a church there and a space for Orona shrine and other deities in the new palace? No. It is not a place of worship but I will have a private church where I can worship with my guests on Sundays. Orona’s shrine is somewhere in town. I cannot have it where I live.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 07:13:12 +0000
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