past Alake of Egbaland, Oba Oyebade Lipede, joined his
ancestors, according to the father of a former Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, Chief Alani
Bankole, at a launch of his book, titled, ‘ Alake of
Egbaland:The Succession Dynamics’.
Chief Olusegun Osoba , business mogul, Chief Tunde Abudu,
and Chief Alani Bankole at the launch of the book on Egba
monarchs.
Bankole, the Seriki Jagunmolu of Egbaland and Oluwo of
Iporo Sodeke /Iporo Ake, claimed to have witnessed one of
the most heart-breaking violations of tradition during the
performance of the traditional rites for the Lipede, the 9th
Alake of Egbaland, when the location of the remains of the
late Oba got enmeshed in controversy.
“In the days of old, nobody would dare make such move”, he
said.
Lipede ascended the throne in 1972 following the transition
of Oba Adesina Samuel Gbadebo on October 26,1971.
He died on February 3, 2005 after spending 33 years on the
throne, aged 90 years.
While revealing how the corpse of Lipede went missing
shortly before burial rites, Bankole said the transition of the
monarch did not go without some drama. Indeed,there was
a tussle between the kingmakers and the family of the late
monarch, particularly the youngest Olori who was alleged to
have taken the remains of the Oba away to the traditional
ruler’s private residence in the Government Reserved Area,
Ibara, Abeokuta.
“Traditionally, as soon as an Oba joins his ancestors, his
family ceases to have control. So, the Olori or family, does
not have the authority to go near his remains, let alone
take them away. The impasse was resolved when the
kingmakers found the Oba’s remains in one of the rooms
in the palace, but that was not without a thorough
search”, the Egba chief stated .
“If such thing occured, I would not blame the Olori or
whoever was involved in such abomination because, as it is
popularly said, if you give a hoe to a mad person, he will
till the soil to his side. I think that, we, kingmakers, should
take full responsibility for all the drama that happened.
“I make this statement on the grounds that we should have
been more proactive in our responsibilities. Ideally, the
moment we begin to sense that the health of an Alake is
deteriorating, all the occupants of the palace are supposed
to be sent packing and the palace taken over by the ‘Omo-
Iya-Marun’.
“Perhaps, I should state here that the palace does not
belong to the Alake because it is actually owned by the
entire sons and daughters of Egbaland and kept under the
care of the ‘Omo-Iya-Marun’.
“Aside the fact that we did not act according to the dictates
of our culture and tradition, most of us arrived the palace
late. So, we provided the grounds for those traditionally
ignorant individuals to violate the tradition or, mildly put,
make attempt to do the unexpected. In the process of
searching for the remains of the Oba, we were shuttling
between the palace and the Government House for
consultation because the Alake is not an ordinary Oba”.
However, while speaking on the intrigues that greeted the
selection of the incumbent Alake, Oba Gbadebo, the
kingmaker claimed that government had wanted another
person to ascend the throne.
Bankole said government wanted a younger brother of the
incumbent as the new Alake.
“Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo became the Alake not with
my effort alone. During the struggle, one of the contestants
came to my house and told me that I was the only one
blocking him and that everyone had agreed except Sarafa
Ishola and the deputy governor.
“On the eve of the election, I got an anonymous telephone
call during which the caller told me that government had
decided to either scuttle what we wanted to do or make sure
somebody else was chosen”, Bankole said.
“I reported to Sarafa Ishola who called the then
Commissioner for Chieftaincy Affairs who confirmed to him
that they were taking some steps to install another person,
but I told them none of them was from Egba and that they
should leave the Egba sons to handle their affairs.
“On the first day we wanted to do the election, the then
governor was outside the country; Ishola ran to us in the
palace around 12 midnight and said he had come to plead
with us that the governor wasn’t around and wouldn’t want
us to run into collision with government, and we listened to
him.
“The truth was that the governor wanted somebody else and
he didn’t hide it. After the election, the governor phoned me
around 12 midnight accusing me of announcing the result of
the election; and I told him I only announced the result of the
election and not the choice of Alake and that he had the
audacity to disagree or allow it.
“He went ahead to write it in one of his books that the
present Alake was not as popular as Adeleke, but most of
you here are witnesses to what happened when the new
Alake was announced; I have never seen such a tremendous
support for the Alake”.
He also revealed how he scuttled the plan by the then
administration to announce the Alake-elect within seven
days as against the provision of law which stipulated 14
days within which petitions are entertained. According to
him, the decision of the then administration was to create a
lacuna and good ground for other interested parties to fault
the selection of the Alake-elect.It would be recalled that Oba
Gbadebo continued to accuse the former governor of plans
to remove him.
In his remarks, the Alake acknowledged the role Bankole
played during the interregnum, saying he as a king maker,
refused to collect a dime from him when he was seeking the
throne.
“More importantly, when you are going to be an Alake, you
give free
traditional gifts to all other chiefs, it is free, you are not
compelled the same way you were given when you were
being elected or
before the election of all kingmakers. The only one that
declined anything from me throughout the six months, it
was exactly six months after the death of Oba Lipede,
that election was 3rd of August, Oba
Lipede died on 3rd of February, so for the six
months,Chief Alani Bankole told everybody else ‘I have
collected my own , so go and take your own’, but, he never
took any penny from me. For that singular reason today, I
should show my love to him”, Oba Gbadebo stated.
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