Posted by KUNLE OYATOMI,, DAPO OLUFADE & DAPO AKINREFON on
PRINCE Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, penultimate week, emerged the Alake-elect. With his election, he is set to succeed Oba Oyebade Lipede, the immediate past Alake of Egbaland, who joined his ancestors last year.
PRINCE Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, penultimate week, emerged the Alake-elect. With his election, he is set to succeed Oba Oyebade Lipede, the immediate past Alake of Egbaland, who joined his ancestors last year.
The Alake-elect fielded questions from Sunday Vanguard in Lagos last Wednesday during which he claimed to have known from the beginning that he could one day be king in the ancient city of Abeokuta, Ogun State. Excerpts of interview:
CAN we know who Oba-elect Gbadebo really is?
My name is Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo. My Christian name is Michael, my Muslim name is Abdulkadri. I am sixty-one going sixty-two years old. I‘m by profession a military educationist. I am a member of the Gbadebo family, a branch of Okukenu family of Larun ruling house in Ake, Abeokuta.
What have you been doing since you left the military?
I‘ve been a business man since I left the military.
Can you tell us how growing up was like at the palace?
My father was not an Alake of Egbaland as a matter of fact. Among my late great grand father, grand father and father, he was the only one who was not an Oba. My father was three years younger than the late Oba Gbadebo II having been born in 1911, while his elder brother, the late Alake, was born in 1908; so my uncle was the late Alake from my ruling house.
How was growing up like in the palace?
I was in the family house directly opposite the palace in Ake and growing up was a lot of fun; between our house and the palace, there was this big open space which has been tarred now and we used to have two football fields there while I was growing up. I went to school at Itesi which was behind the palace. My nursery was at the same place which was montessori in a Catholic school and I spent close to seven to eight years at Itesi, Abeokuta. Thereafter, I went to the famous Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta and I had the privilege of meeting General Obasanjo for a few months in that school. I missed Chief MKO Abiola and I met a great number of great Nigerians that we had either coming back from the university to come and teach us or they were my seniors in school among whom were Dr. Onaolapo Soleye who came from the university during long vacation to teach us in the school.
My seniors included Chief R.A.B Adeyi, the immediate past deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the late Tunji Oseni. Growing up was a mixture of religious and academic training particularly at the Baptist Boys High School. Every morning, we would have sermons for almost 30 minutes before the start of the day and there was no way we could have started any class without first reading the Bible and listening to the day's lesson from whoever preached to us.
The most important sermons that we listened to were the ones on Monday morning by our principal, the late Deacon E.S Akinsanya. These sermons were always in Yoruba and the major topic was "Awa ni Ogun rere" We have a godly heritage. That they insisted we must maintain at the Baptist Boys High School, the heritage that has been passed on to us must not be tempted, it must go from strength to strength but we must add our own contribution to it.
So you have a Muslim background?
Yes, my parents were both Muslims. My father was baptized at Saint Peter's Church, Ake. Among all the children of Oba Gbadebo the first after the death of their father, they were all taken away by their mothers and his (my father) own mother happened to be a Muslim. So naturally they reverted to Islam. Every one of my siblings had a normal Muslim eighth day naming ceremony and Muslim names but my father never stopped us from choosing whatever religion we wanted to pursue and since we went to Catholic primary schools, virtually everyone of us became Catholic.
At what age did it occur to you that you would one day become the Alake of Egbaland?
I told you that I was born in a house directly opposite the palace. Since the day I could understand what people said to me, I knew the names they called me which were the names they called every other prince. From the day you could understand what they were saying, you were called Omo Oba or they called you Oba lo la (crown prince); so that naturally told you that the very crown that the late Oba Oladapo Idowu Ademola II wore at that time could be on your own head too. We knew that from the very beginning. We revered every Oba particularly the late Oba Oladapo Ademola II because he towered above every one else; I could not think of any other Oba including the ones that we thought naturally should be slightly higher than the Alake. The Alake at that time was a great gift to the Egba nation. So, I knew from the very beginning that I could be an Alake; as a prince, I was told that from the day I could understand what people said to me.
Let‘s look at the way you emerged as the new Alake, how did it come? What are the prerequisites to be an Alake?
Apart from the nobility at birth, you have to have yourself re-born in the sense that the expectations were so high that you just have to try hard to ensure that you do not let your family down in anything, in any assignment, in any human endeavour you have been called upon to participate or lead. So in my case, I believe it was God‘s own doing, I didn‘t join the Army on my own volition, or go to BBHS where we learnt education plus. It was not just education, it was education plus character, education plus leadership, plus humility, education plus the desire to make this nation a better place than we met it. That was how I started off. The Army now, above any other profession, places so much emphasis on leadership, it occupies a major area of any military training and I enjoyed my 16 years in the Army very much.
I was part of everything that we did for the professional development of ourselves. I was among the second set of Nigerians trained in the Staff College on a regular course which was a course of eleven months. I was there for three years instead of one year, I was there as student for one year and on the staff for two more years which means that I attended and participated in all the activities for three whole years. That sharpened my desire to lead successfully, to put together resources of those that have been put in my charge towards a stated objective and to ensure that I reach that goal with the resources available.
What made you join the Army considering the fact that you came from a royal family. One would have expected you to choose any other profession. Why the Army?
There‘s a saying among the British people that there is no nobler profession than the military. If you go into history, you‘ll find out that most of the kings that you had in Britain and even now, must have at one time or the other served in the military or had some military training to toughen them mentally, physically and in terms of leadership. The endurance you have in the military is hardly known in any other profession and unless you are determined to see a particular project through, you‘ll find yourself abandoning it halfway when the pressure is too much.
So, my going into the military as I said was by divine direction and it turned out to be the training expected of princes; every prince who desires to lead by example and to contribute more to his community or the nation needs military training. I will recommend it for so many other professions too, including your profession (journalism).
Were you compelled to join or you volunteered to join?
Well, I wanted to go into the foreign service, but by the time I finished from the university in 1969, we were going through a civil war and foreign postings were frozen. So naturally, I looked for something else that I could do in the meantime and that could give me additional training because I never regarded university training as an end in itself, it only prepares you for further training, it broadens your mind in a chosen profession.
How were the candidates chosen? How was the nomination for the election of the new Alake done?
If you want to serve in any capacity or you are seeking an appointment, and you are the only one going through all the interviews and the various processes through which you have to emerge, then you must watch out; maybe you have not grasped the essence of that job you‘re seeking to do, because you cannot be the only one who wants to occupy that place particularly if it has to do with your birth. There will be people, princes who are as qualified as you are and who want to serve in the capacity as you are, aspiring to serve. So, when we started, they said we were to show our interest by submitting our CV and paying the prescribed fees to the family. You had to read through the declaration several times to educate yourself about the requirements of what the law says about that office.
After submitting your CV, you had to learn from time to time the number of people involved, because until somebody submits his CV, he may just be saying that he wants to become the next Alake.
Eventually, they said eight people had submitted. Then we went for the family interview at which you had to give the panel an overview of what you hoped to achieve in that office.
Questions from kingmakers
You had to even tell them your family oriki and a host of other questions were asked. After the interview, through another interview by 24 king makers. In my case, it was questions upon questions and you were answering 24 people from all angles, then you were asked to walk to see whether you had knocked knees, whether you were limping. They even had to check whether you were okay physically and physiologically, because the Yorubas believe a king should have no physical or mental handicap because of the demands of his office.
We went through that and they scored us. The next one was this court action that put hold on further action by the kingmakers and after a month, they resumed. They took our names this time to the oracle and for an Oba to emerge, there is no question of appeasing the gods, it has to be the person whom the Ifa has chosen and in every facet, fits the bill.
Others kept on throwing one spanner or the other in their works. That done, they now went into the session for voting, one of the king makers was also a contestant and so that reduced the number further to twenty-three. He could not vote while his name was also being presented, they had this election last week (penultimate) Wednesday and that was where I emerged with 15 votes to my next contestant who had eight votes. The remaining nine contestants had no votes at all. That is the process.
Among the late Egba kings and leaders, who among them would you say was your role model or hero?
I have no role model, I have aspects that I take out of the various leaders, not just in Egba land, not just our forebears but also from all areas of the world. I trained as a historian, I have areas of characters and make up of people I want to emulate. I just take bits and pieces and put them together. I have no single person after whom I want to totally fashion out my life.
Could you give us insight into how you intend to transform Egbaland? I understand you are already working on a development programme.
I am going to produce a contract between me and the people of Egba nation. I‘m going to give them my word on what I intend to carry out. Top on that contract is to work for the unity of Egba land. When we were growing up, we never knew somebody came from Egba Alake or Egba Oke-Ona or Owu or Gbagura; but these days, you find that kind of division has crept into the Egbas.
I want to work assiduously to remove it, I want the Egbas to think the same way when they are in London. Outside Egbaland, we never separated ourselves and even now, we don‘t separate ourselves, that‘s what I want to work very hard to remove. Secondly, I want to work on the educational development of Egbaland.
We have always been in the forefront and we‘ve maintained this for a long time but others have gradually moved up the ladders, I would not go into details. I intend to support the Egba science and technology project that is being pursued by the elders in Abeokuta right now; I intend to join forces with others to ensure that the educational advancement that has been in place in Egba land long before we were born, I‘ll take it back to that level and even beyond. I am sure we can work very hard to close the ranks between us and the developed countries. We have to start from our local kingdom in Egbaland, that I intend to work very hard on.
There‘s also industrial development. Government is gradually leaving the economy in the hands of the private sector. The private sector is not yet vibrant in Egbaland even though Egba sons and daughters command the various industries in Lagos in particular. I intend to create the point as the Alake of Egbaland and so I invite Egba sons and daughters back home to help industrialise Egbaland. A foremost industrialist, Chief Tunde Abudu is doing a lot now. I want to combine my efforts with others to bring in more industrialists to join Chief Tunde Abudu in making Egbaland a place where work is available for citizens and idleness becomes a thing of the past.
Is it true that the state government opposed your emergence as the new Alake?
The government is not opposed to it. What they said was that they had not been notified of the election. It was a pure procedural programme; who says what; at what point is the next Alake meant to be made known to the people, at what point should the vote for each person be made known to the people or be announced? I think they have rectified all that now.
What about those who contested with you, how do you intend to accommodate them?
Well, it‘s only natural for people to say things when they lose. I hope they would not be bad losers and I‘m prepared to welcome them on board. The task of developing Egbaland cannot be left in the hands of the Alake alone. The princes who contested with me, many of them have already called me even before the voting to say we‘ll work with you, we are your siblings and I‘ve already welcomed them, I‘m waiting for the others.
It is widely known that as an Oba, you‘ll have so many queens around you, how many do you intend to have now that you are Alake-elect?
I have one
Do you intend to have more?
No
Now that you are Alake-elect, you will not be able to do some of the things you were previously doing, how do you intend to cope?
It is a sacrifice I‘m prepared to make for my people. There are restrictions, I cannot go to places, I cannot eat outside, I cannot do the things I used to do before. When you‘re given a higher responsibility, there are demands on you, so I‘m prepared to make this sacrifice in order that I may be able to pull the resources of my people together and, with everybody supporting me, move Egba kingdom forward.
What is your favourite food?
As you know very well, any Egba son who does not eat lafun is what Fela refers to as suwegbe. In BBHS, we had a place we called down below. At down below, you ate very hot and very smooth lafun every morning. I still do that. Lafun is my best food with ewedu.