Obaship in an Era of Palliatives – By Abiodun Komolafe | New Nigerian Politics newnigerianpolitics.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newnigerianpolitics.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Without doubt, the Obaship institution in Nigeria, especially, in the Southwest is shifting and drifting. When society begins to drift, it continues in that trend, until there is a jerk to change the direction. But that doesn’t just happen! As if the gods are angry, the traditional institution is no longer as potent as it used to be. So, the central advice really is for all traditional rulers to rule according to the dictates of the native intelligence within their domains.
In an interview with journalists recently, the Elegboro of Ijebu-Jesa in the Oriade Local Government Area of Osun State, Oba Moses Oluwafemi Agunsoye stated that “no one can sit on the throne as a monarch nowadays without having good money”. According to the first class monarch, “gone are those days when people brought things to the palace, where the Kabiyesi would sit down and expect manna from heaven. Now, it is the palace that is giving out … So, an Oba must be up and doing, must have a job, or source of handsome income and he cannot rely on the people.”