Why I Erected Statue Of Oduduwa In Front Of My New Palace -Oba Onisabe Of Igbobi-Sabe

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Clearly one of the debonair monarchs in the Lagos royal circle, Oba Owolabi Adeniyi, Onisabe of Igbobi-Sabe, whose domain covers the metropolitan Yaba, Igbobi and environs, in this interview with Gboyega Alaka, speaks on his new palatial palace, his link with the historical Yoruba progenitor, Oduduwa and why traditional rulers must learn to speak with one voice.

Your new palace is a statement of class and royalty, befitting of a Grade A Oba in the Centre of Excellence. What’s the story behind it?

We give glory to God almighty because it is not by might. It has been a long journey. An elderly man brought me to this particular spot about a year and half before my installation. I was on the lookout for a suitable place to situate my palace, although I told him I was inspecting it for a friend of mine who was relocating from the US. He actually showed me two places, but when I got here, I thought: ‘Wow!’It was nice and the street, spacious. Even the structure was good and solid enough for a palace. The other option was on Shiro Street, but I considered it a bit in a corner; and to think I’d have to bring down a whole three-storey building turned me off. Eventually, I got talking with the realtor of this property but the price tag was too high. However, my mind kept telling me, this was going to be your palace. Let me tell you a secret: During one of our tour of the property, I bent down, scooped the soil and prayed to God that: ‘O Lord, if it is your will that I will become the king in this domain; pave a way for me to be able to acquire this building. Do not allow anybody to pay for it until I become the king in this kingdom.’ I dropped the soil and left. About a year and half after the Obaship thing had come to reality, one day, I was in seclusion, when my friends and a few other close relatives started asking me, ‘Where are we going to use as palace? Would I use the family house? I said ‘no’, because tussle issues may eventually arise going forward. Right there, they decided to go look around to see if they could find a befitting place. Thirty minutes later, they came back and said they found two places: one on Lawal Street. The moment they mentioned that it was beside a church, I supplied them the address. I said ‘Number 7’. They saw another on Jibowu Street, about 3000 square meters, really big.

So why did you not go for that?

I considered Jibowu a bit out of town for an Igbobi-Sabe palace. So my desire for this property on Lawal Street remained; but the exorbitant price tag remained the same as well. Clearly, I couldn’t afford it. I had been back from the US a long time, 2008; so it was not as if I still had some lump money stored somewhere. However, one day, fortune smiled on me. I was sitting at home quietly, when they brought the documents to the property to me. A friend, whom I wouldn’t want to mention, had paid for it for me in full. It was one of my happiest days. My prayer had come to past. That is why we have to be careful whatever we say with our mouth because power lies on our tongue. If you pray for yourself, the prayer is more likely to stick than for anybody else to pray for you. It is the same if you curse yourself. Nobody can cure you of a curse you place on yourself.

Next was the dilemma of whether to pull down the structure on it or renovate it, because it was solid. Eventually, we decided to pull it down. But even that was not cheap. Then I called in the architect, my son-in-law, and gradually, we started. It was a long journey, on and off. At a stage, people were telling me to solicit financial support from the government; we wrote a letter, appealed to the government; the letter was there for a while; and later, we picked up again.

Did the state respond?

Not for the whole structure; they could only guarantee renovation fund; and you can imagine how much they would offer for renovation to a stool that was graded B at the time. (Thankfully, it’s now a great A stool.) At a point, BRF left and Ambode came in; again, we applied for assistance. We were unrelenting. Let me at this point appreciate the Chairman of Yaba LCDA and his team; they performed wonderfully well. The state government also helped along with a few Obas. At a stage, it became overwhelming but thank God who has provided for me the Olori, the flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone, Olori Mosunmola Ramotalai Anike omo Adepitan now olori Oba Adeniyi . With her support, we picked up again. It took about five years, but finally, we give God the glory.

Many would look at this edifice and conclude that Kabiesi must have sold parcels of land to be able to afford it; what’s your answer to such people?

I was at Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, recently and one of the staff was complaining about his new posting; and I asked him, ‘When they were employing you, did they tell you that you would be in one post for 35 years?’ I told him, wherever they post you, go and resume there. God will continue providing for you. And then I told him my own little story; how as an Oba, I don’t even have a single parcel of land to sell to make money, yet God has been providing for me. Everybody knows that Yaba-Igbobi-Sabe is a fully developed domain. Besides, I have never called any property owner to say, go and bring the C of O to your property. What for? A property bought and built over 50, 60 years ago? Like I have said before, I have prayed to God to help me to never put anybody through pain on account of land or any property at that. So, I have never for once sent a group of boys to go and harass anybody because they are putting up a structure on their land. But look at me, God is doing it, except if I want to play Oliver Twist. It’s a different case if any of my subjects comes and says to me, ‘Kabiesi, I am the owner of that property, this is what I have brought to say hello to you’. Of course, I will collect heartily and pray for such person.

I noticed you also have the statue of Oduduwa in front of your palace. What informs that?

That is to tell you that I am a bonafide son of Oduduwa. Back in school in those days, they thought us about Oduduwa and Okanbi and their seven children, which included Onisabe, Onipopo, Alaketu, Orangun and so o. Of the existing thrones, we have two Oni-Sabes – one in Nigeria, which is the stool I presently occupy; and one is Benin Republic. It will interest you that the two of us have a relationship and we communicate from time to time. Aside that, among the panegyric (Oriki) that my mother chants for me as far back as when I was young was Omo Olodo n’Lare (Son of the stream owner of Ilare). Now, Ilare is one of the quarters in Ile-Ife. Right from when I came back from the US and didn’t even know I was going to become an Oba, I had started digging up and learning about all the places where I had ancestral link. Fortunately for me, the person who crafts my crowns is from Ilare and comes to deliver it from there. One day, I asked him, where is Ilare? He said, ‘Baba, are you from IIare? I said ‘Yes, although I have not been there before.’ I recited my panegyric lines to him and he exclaimed, ‘Baba, we are from the same quarters!’ However, even in Ilare, there are different households; I am from Olodo, which informed that line in my panegyric. My crown, whenever it is crafted, passes through the ritual of going through the ancient palace of Oduduwa. It is not the commonplace crown that theatre artists wear in their plays. So clearly, I have the DNA in me and it is not as if I am trying to rewrite history. As we speak, Tedimole Awo Ilare calls me and I call him. I also interact with the Sookos. One day, I slept and saw the image of Oduduwa in my dream. So I told my wife, I feel I should erect the statue of Oduduwa in front of the palace, so that people can know that this is not just any throne. Before now, the name Igbobi-Sabe was almost going into extinction in Nigeria; so what I’m doing is to let people know that Sabe is a frontline lineage in the Oduduwa heritage. The statue is a statement to let people know that I am of Oduduwa. Even the Ooni is aware that I have the statue in front of my palace.

Don’t you think the sheer magnificence of the palace could become like wedge to the common man who may have genuine reasons to want to come to the palace?

I have been making myself available from the beginning. I am a grassroots Oba. I don’t have a special day when people can visit me. I have received visitors today, even from as far as Sangotedo; even without appointment. And don’t forget that we have left that era when the Oba was solely responsible for governance. At most, the security men would ask if such visitor was on appointment; if not, they may arrange one for him. Besides, I don’t like to keep people waiting.

How easy is it for you, as a core Christian Oba, to relate equitably with subjects of other religions?

Actually, I was born into a Muslim home in Isale-Eko (Lagos Island), but traditionally my mother was from a royal family. I attended Holy Trinity School, Ebute-Ero for my elementary education. So I had a background of Islam at home, where I went to Quranic School; and then I learnt the Christian mode of prayer and culture at school. Mum even entertained the Jehovah’s Witnesses whenever they showed up on Sundays. However, back then in Isale-Eko, there was hardly any local boy who didn’t belong to one traditional cult or the other, so again, I imbibed that. In fact, it was my mother who pushed me into that, when she saw that I was too scared of them. And when I travelled to the US, I became a member of the Celestial Church of Christ. Within seven years, I became shepherd in charge, a full-fledged church worker. Somehow, I have noticed that the number 7 is very important to me. So that is why I can relate with all religions.

Let’s talk about the current problem bedevilling the Southwest, which is the constant clash between farmers and herders and the invasion of bandits suspected to be of the Fulani extraction. Of course you don’t have that in Lagos yet, but as a Yoruba Oba, what is your position on open grazing?

When I was young and living with my big aunty in Tejuosho, the only time we saw herders and cattle was in the night, around 10 or 10.30pm, on their way to Tejuosho abattoir. They took care to make sure it was in the night, when there would be little clashes with humans and vehicles. The ranching system would have been better. The truth is that just as the cow is important to a herder, so also is the farm produce to the farmer; so there is no way cows would go and eat up a farmers produce and he would not complain or react. Because it means he won’t have anything to harvest. Interestingly, these herders are largely Muslims and I know that even the Prophet said it in the Quran or Haddith that if your cattle eat up the produce on a farm, you should pay recompense. I believe even we traditional rulers should come together and speak with one voice against the situation. We should not wait or ignore simply because it has not happened to us.

A lone man, Sunday Igboho has stood up in this battle. Some see him as a hero, while some see him as a villain who is out to cause trouble or score some cheap points. What’s your opinion on his posturing as a Yoruba freedom fighter?

When you are pursued to the wall, you don’t have any other option but to turn around fight back. If the government had done the right thing, which is to protect lives and property, it would not have been Sunday Igboho’s business. Mind you, where that incident happened was not even Sunday Igboho’s home or hometown, but because he could not stomach what he saw as injustice…. Don’t forget that the moment Igboho stood up, thousands of Yoruba youths also stood up to hail and even joined him. The truth is that there are millions of Sunday Igboho. The government should be very sensitive to the cry of the people, because that is why they are there. It would have been a different case perhaps if it were not under a democratically elected government.

Let’s talk about your pillar of support, your Olori, Olori Mosunmola Adeniyi. You’ve spoken loftily about her even in the course of this conversation.

You know God is a Good God. I actually met Olori Mosunmola Ramotalai Anike omo Adepitan now Olori Oba Adeniyi at a post office in the United States, where incidentally her own sister also met her husband. She had been in America since she was a teenager. I had gone to the post office to collect a parcel; lo and behold, I saw her, fair and beautiful, standing, also waiting to collect a parcel. So, I left my original mission and approached her. We chatted for a while and I wrote out my number and gave it to her; but because it was not our style in Africa for a woman to call a man first, she probably just dropped my number somewhere and forgot about me. I collected my package and left. We lost contact. As God would have it, much later, my friends and relatives organised a send-off party for me when I was to return to Nigeria and one of the guests invited her. These are the reasons I said our union is divine and she was destined for the palace. I, however, kept my distance on that occasion because I had my own babe at the time and didn’t want to create any scene. That party came and went and I relocated to Nigeria. Again, we lost contact.

Fast forward a few years later while I was in the three-month seclusion on my way to becoming Oba, I started foraging the social media to kill boredom and along the line, Facebook started bringing images of people you may know. I saw her and after a while, I said ‘Hi’ to her, connected her and we started chatting. By that time I was not married and unattached. We both began looking forward to our little chat and one day, she called. Not long after, an Ifa priest consulted the oracle and said he saw a fair skin woman by my side. He said she’s a blessed woman but tough to handle. I chose to hold unto that ‘blessed woman’ part. I am also tough. We’ll know how to sort that out when we get there. To God be the glory, she has been a blessing unto me. One thing I can tell you about Ifa is that it does not tell lies. One of my younger ones also testified to her good nature, corroborating what Ifa said, so I intensified my effort and here we are.

Tell us about your professional qualification and business.

I’m a Cisco Router Engineer from the Cisco Networking Academy, Houston Texas, USA. I also doubled as Shepherd-in-Charge of a Celestial Church back in the states. I later joined Christ Apostolic Church, Agbala Itura as an Associate Pastor before relocating to Nigeria in 2008. Since coming back to Nigeria, I’ve been into a little bit of businesses and contracts here and there; but at my age, I’m above 60, I now take things easy. I take time not to get involved in anything that would put me under undue psychological stress. My wife also runs her own business. We however have plans to own a piggery farm. The land has been allocated and we have fenced it. The palace project has been a distraction in that wise but now that we’re done with that, we’re going to give it all the attention it requires.

We try never to turn anyone away empty-handed —Olori Mosunmola Adeniyi

Being Olori to a Grade A Oba requires a lot of tact, aside glam which you no doubt exude. How do you keep up with the expectations?

It is hard to satisfy everybody, but my model is whoever comes to us for assistance, even if it is only once, we would have to take care of that person. Nobody comes to us for help and goes away empty-handed. And that is part of our prayer points when we check in at night to sleep – to provide for us more than our demands, because any man who has only his own money does not have money.

Coming with over three decades background in the US, how easy has it been settling down into the highly revered role of an Olori?

It’s been pretty easy. I don’t want to repeat anything he has said but I wished I had said yes much earlier. To God be the glory. The challenge has been about the fact that I’ve been gone for too long. I finished high school there, finished college there; I started work there and had children there. I actually came back 36 years after, so things are a bit different. I however feel bad that my parents are no longer here now that I’m back fully. I got to see them back then whenever I came on holidays and they used to come to the US as well. When we first started, I tried to shuttle on and off between Nigeria and the US; but I soon realised I could not leave a man to a cook and house-help all by himself; so after he did the needful, I took it upon myself to come back and be by his side.

What kind of man is Kabiesi?

Kabiyesi is a no nonsense man! Nevertheless, he is very caring, honest and God-fearing. Yes, he can be temperamental but once I stay calm and go on my knees….. You can’t keep your ego and keep your home; so I’ve chosen to keep my home. A little bit of begging and persuasion doesn’t hurt anyone.

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