The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Chief Gani Adams, speaks with BOLA BADMUS on the recent arrest of Boko Haram elements in Ilesa, Osun State, and the need for governors of South West states to buckle up, the emergence of the new Alaafin of Oyo, among other issues.
Some Boko Haram terrorists were arrested recently in Ilesa, Osun State and were taken to court in Abuja. What do you make of the development?
Definitely, we are worried and we have discussed it at various parleys. We discussed it at the Aare Ona Kakanfo-in-Council meeting in December. We discussed it at the National Coordinating Council of Oodua People’s Congress in Lagos, and the South West Security Stakeholders’ parley, we discussed it there, too.
You know, the influx of Northerners into Ilesa is because of mining of solid minerals and Ile-Ife. We have seen that. There was a day we were coming from Kogi State after an OPC event that took place there. We passed through the inner forest of Ilesa and Ile-Ife, the Northerners we saw there inside the forest would not be less than 30,000 and they had created a lot of villages in that forest and there were no Yoruba people living there. Yoruba always take their safety with levity. Who is the Baale of that area? Who is the Oba of that area? Who gave them the authority to mine your solid minerals? Would you open your community to security threat? And most of the communities in Ilesa have been overrun because of these mining activities. And unfortunately, 95 to 98 percent of those resources is being taken away by the Northerners; we don’t benefit from it. So, it is easy for the miners to hide Boko Haram elements where they are living. ISWAP is the most dangerous terrorist organisation all over the world. We have the influx of some ISWAP elements in the South West and that was one of the reasons we issued a statement. I had written to South West governors that I was ready to cooperate with them; to have synergy with them so that we can work effectively on the security of Yorubaland. Security is supposed to be part of the role of every living citizen. I have traveled to more than 57 countries, and all hands are always on deck on security issues. Even those who do not have power to carry arms, what of giving hints? What of intelligence? So, it’s unfortunate that our political class plays politics with the security of their states.
There are about 13 security groups that we formed under the aegis of South West Security Stakeholders. We can partner, we can have synergy. We are not saying we want to take over the security of the people of the states, we are talking about synergy. But since I spoke about it, they haven’t lifted a finger, I mean the governors. What are the security agencies doing to stop these criminals from entering the commercial nerve of Nigeria? It is left to the governors who are the chief security officers, according to the country’s constitution, to talk to them.
As the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, the traditional defence minister, according to the old Oyo Empire, according to the history of Yorubaland, you have to give me a role. I can’t force myself on you people. If you don’t give me a task, it will be very difficult for me to play it. If I try to do it, I would be intruding into your government and it could bring problems to my own office. So, I am being very careful. We have the structure, we have the materials, and we have some brains who are my friends in higher security cadre, who normally discuss with me things that can be helpful to the South West. So, the ball is in the court of the South West governors to do the needful because we continue to remember Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the defunct UPN governors because of what they did when they were governors of their states. But how many governors can we remember as progressives or very sound administrators? They have to write their own history, especially on the issue of security.
There is a bush in Owo in Ondo State where these people were mining our solid minerals. About three years ago, there was information at my disposal that a helicopter usually came to that forest to drop food items and weapons. Six months after I got that information, a road between Owo to Ikare now became a security threat. They always attacked and kidnapped people in broad daylight. The road that leads to Kogi also became a threat.
In governance, you don’t underate your citizens giving you information and when you know somebody is giving you information and the information is right, you bring that person closer so that he can be useful to you. The Oke-Ogun issue started about five years ago. I have been raising the alarm on Oke-Ogun before it became a serious issue. It’s not easy for me as Iba Gani Adams, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, to just go to a community where I don’t have the clearance of the local government chairman, where I don’t have the clearance of the governor and I then say okay, OPC, go and attack the criminals there. It amounts to an illegal activity. So, the legality of any operation starts from the presidency or the governor, or the local government chairman.
What is the level of collaboration or cooperation that has existed between OPC and Amotekun as well as other security outfits in the South West since Governor Seyi Makinde raised the alarm about the movement of terrorists from the North into the region?
Well, at the inception of Amotekun, most of their cadres were recruited from hunters, OPC, vigilantes and other private security outfits, but it is not enough. The spread that some states can cope with is just 1,000 at a go, now they are increasing to 1,500 and you are saying that 1,500 people should secure a population of several millions people. The geographical spread of Oyo State alone is like 80 percent of the entire South East. So, you are talking about 1,500 or 2,000 people securing a mass land with a population of eight-nine million in Oyo State. Ogun State’s population is about seven million people now. The strength that can cover that state will be like 30,000 security men and the limit that the governor can cater for in the allocation is just 2,000 men. Most of them have not even recruited 1,000 but we can back it up with our relevant security groups coordinated by my office.
If you are running away that the Aare should not take the shine off you, I would stay back, I would be doing another thing. My hands are full. I am working on cultural promotion, I am working with my groups in the Diaspora, I am working on the activities of the Oodua People’s Congress and even social issues.
But sometimes, mind you, I also work on the security issue of Yorubaland spiritually, underneath, because I don’t want the issue to bounce out of proportion. It is part of my office. But even though you are working spiritually underneath, and they don’t allow it to evolve physically in terms of strategy and tactics, that is not enough. Heavenly Father helps those who help themselves.
You asked if I ever contacted them? Yes, I have written a letter; I wrote a letter February last year to the governors. The security agencies in the states are controlled by the governors. The police are answerable to the IG, but there is a security office in the Governor’s Office and the governor is in charge. So, I have written to the governors, but there has been no action taken on the letter; no single reply to the letter. But we will continue to inform them because the wave of this insecurity started from Borno State, and from the North East, it got to the Middle-Belt. The South East has its own challenge and it is not Boko Haram. It is kidnapping, threats and others. The South South has its own too. But the major one that is coming from the North is this group of pretending Islamic fundamentalists and the agenda is the solid minerals in that area. Mind you, anywhere you see terrorists, putting their footprints is about the solid minerals in that place. They would cause crisis in the affected areas, scare the people away and they will be mining there.
If the governors are not responding to your letter and this insecurity persists, what are your demands on them to address this challenge in the region?
What could you ask them to do when they are not responding to your advice? They would turn you into a paper tiger. If you were not important to me, how would I grant you an interview within 24 hours? I agreed because I know how responsive you are to us on anything that has to do with the media. As the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, I don’t talk anyhow in the media. So, if they don’t respond, we know what we can do underneath, and in the future, history will judge us. There are certain things you do that are not in public domain, about which Heavenly Father would judge you according to your heart. So, we will continue on that pathway. There are a lot of things that I have to lay my hands on, so I would be working on the level I can control to satisfy the public and make sure that they don’t make this office redundant.
OPC members still guard neighbourhoods across Yorubaland. What code of conduct guides their operations?
I am a leader. There is a limit as to how much I involve myself in security operations. We have pegged the issue of security in OPC to the local government level; it doesn’t even get to the state or national level in order to avoid unwarranted insults from the public. If you call me that you are in need of security in Ikeja Local Government, I would connect you to the OPC local government coordinator in Ikeja. He would arrange for security for you. The last word I would tell you is that if they did not act well, report back to me. That does not mean I want to know how much you are paying them, that does not mean I want to collect any money from them at the local government level. We pegged it to that level deliberately because we don’t want the issue of security to derail the aims and objectives of the Oodua People’s Congress. When we started in 1994, the aims and objectives did not involve the issue of security. But in 1999, when the public, communities, saw the braveness of OPC members, they started begging them to come and secure their areas for them. That was how OPC started involving itself in security matters.
We are being conscious of the aims and objectives of our group so that we don’t deviate. The promotion of culture is there, liberating Yoruba is there, the restructuring of the Nigeria polity is there, so the issue of security is not part of the initial aims and objectives of the organisation. So, what our people normally do at the grassroots is that we assist the government, especially in the urban areas.
You see, most of the chairmen of landlords associations in the urban areas, they are like local government chairmen of their communities. They provide internal security, they do their roads, they buy transformers, they make sure the environment is clean. So, it is their prerogative to decide on the group they would employ as security outfit and majorly, they have confidence in the OPC. At that level, the group is trying its best on securing the various communities. Even multinational organisations approach us. They get our people for the job, sew uniforms for them to take care of the security of their respective organisations.
Most of the security people you see at the Nigerian Ports Authority, about 50 percent of them are OPC members, although some of them don’t come to meetings of the organisation anymore. And when you talk about securing properties, OPC is there. I will not mention the organisations the OPC is securing in the South West. They are countless. We don’t want to go there. What I will tell you is that the National Executive Committee and the National Coordinating Council of the OPC don’t normally allow the grassroots to bring the issue of the security of their communities to our meeting because it will distract our attention from the original agenda of the organisation.
If the governors say yes, we want you to be involved in the security architecture of Yorubaland, we can discuss it at the highest level, at the National Executive Council and the National Coordinating Council, but talking of security issues at the community level, the vigilantes and others are about grassroots.
Just recently, one of our leaders came from Canada. He bought a house in Magodo. He now called me and said, ‘Oga, I want you to provide me with two guards’. I said, why should he be calling me for security guards? It’s like ridiculing the office of the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland. If you are talking of between 20 and 50 guards now, I can say, let me call Oki, my brother. I just asked him to call the coordinator. We would link him with the local government coordinator of this area, Ikosi-Isheri. And they have arranged it for him. I don’t even know how much they discussed. This is because the organiser would harass you if you are coordinating the security of a community. Even before I became the Aare Ona Kakanfo, I didn’t put myself to that level.
But when it comes to the level of government, it can attract the attention of my office, it can attract the attention of the National Coordinating Council and National Executive Council. We will now discuss at the high level and talk to the grassroots, to map out the strategies as well as apply spiritual approach to it. In the olden days, our fathers secured communities at the spiritual level more than the physical. That’s still there. Even on the one that they are shouting about, I have been working underneath. I won’t talk much about that. I know my way.
A new Alaafin has been appointed in Oyo. How would you describe the process that led to the emergence of the king? And what is your advice for the Oba?
When a king dies, we don’t normally use the word ‘die’ in Yoruba, rather, we say ‘Oba wa’ja’. The two people that they would hand over Oyo to when an Alaafin dies are the Bashorun and the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland. It is in the archives, it is in history. Go and check the archives.
After the passing of Alaafin Adeyemi, Kabiesi Ooni of Ife called me. He said, ‘The handling of Oyo is now between you and Bashorun. Monitor the process. The process of the burial is becoming so wrong, monitor it and make sure you correct the wrong aspect of it’. I had to issue a statement. It was the Oni of Ife that told me so. And I went into the archives. You know, in Ile-Ife, they have the records of the most important communities in Yorubaland. They have them in Oyo, too. I have checked the archives.
They didn’t want to accord the late Alaafin the normal traditional burial rites. I had to issue a statement asking them not to rubbish our tradition. And it was because of the information I got from the Imperial Majesty, the Ooni of Ife. The next day, I went there. I saw faces there that were not happy with my statement, but I had done my job. I had done my job as the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland. Before I left the place, the media people came to me and asked, ‘How will you pick the new Alaafin?’ I pointed to the Bashorun of Oyo and the Oyo people. Those are the people that would pick the new Alaafin, it is not my duty.
It’s not the duty of the Aare Ona Kakanfo to choose the new Alaafin. The duty of the Aare Ona Kakanfo is to make sure that during the vacuum, when the Alaafin is not there, you must make sure that the Oyo Empire is peaceful. That’s my duty, and that’s what I told the newsmen that day. I told the media, ‘If you want to talk about Yorubaland, ask me, not the Bashorun. Anything about Yorubaland, you can ask me. But talking about the selection of the new Alaafin, those in charge are the Bashorun Oyo and the Oyomesi.
Concerning the process that produced the new Alaafin, yes, definitely, I am satisfied. Professor Wande Abimbola is a reputable person. He granted an interview and said that they consulted Ifa and they gave a 21-page report to the governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde; that the governor kept the report for weeks, went through it and after he was satisfied with it, he gave his approval. That means the process was well conducted. Professor Wande Abimbola is a man of integrity. I have known him for more than 30 years. He was Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University for eight years and he was never found wanting.
He was Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo for four years. After the first term, he told President Obasanjo, ‘I can’t serve you for the second term, let me resign’. He resigned honourably. This is a man that has travelled the world preaching the Yoruba traditional religion. He gave a lecture in front of the Pope at an interreligious conference in Europe. A person of that caliber will not involve himself in anything that is questionable.
I am okay with the process. The governor has given the staff of office and letter of appointment to the new Alaafin. I have called the new Alaafin to congratulate him. I have issued a statement to congratulate him. I have been discussing a working relationship with him. I won’t be part of anything that could cause controversy in Oyo town. I don’t want to write my history negatively in Yorubaland.
I could not involve myself in the process of the selection of the new Alaafin, but I spoke frequently with the Bashorun to know how Oyo was faring. If he tried to say anything about any issue, I just asked him to try and resolve it; I didn’t want to be involved. Two things prevented me from being involved: First, I am not from Oyo town and second, history does not permit me. I have always been very cautious about anything that is not stated in the documents that I should be involved in.
If you don’t want to have any clash with the Alaafin, you have to be very careful about your role in the process of picking him. If you supported a candidate and they did not pick that particular person, he (the Alaafin) will become your enemy. So, it’s better for the Aare not to be involved in the process. You can’t find in history any Aare Ona Kakanfo that lived with the Alaafin in Oyo. The two Jabatas were from Oyo town, but immediately they picked the first Aare Ona Kakanfo from Oyo, from Jabata quarters, the Alaafin gave him another town. He relocated him to Jabata community in Ogbomoso. So, I was not involved in the process.
Now, how rich is the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland and how do you fund your office?
It’s very difficult to ascertain how rich the Aare Ona Kakanfo is because there was no Aare Ona Kakanfo in history that was poor. In terms of assets, in terms of liquid cash, if the Aare is broke in the morning, he can be a billionaire in the evening. Look at the history of the past 14 Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland and tell me any one of them that was not rich? Was it Latoosa that owned almost 70 percent of Ibadan before his demise in 1860? Was it Ladoke Akintola? I know some houses owned by the late Akintola. They are still in Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos. He was Premier of the Western Region for six years. Was it MKO Abiola, the pillar of sports and one of the richest persons in Africa? Abiola was a friend of Bill Clinton of America before he was arrested. When you are talking of Iba Gani Adams, I was never a poor person before I became the Aare Ona Kakanfo. I invested millions of dollars in building my group in the Diaspora. I invested billions of naira in my organisation locally. You may not see the cash; it is about the inflow.
If I told you how much I spend, you would ask how I get the money. You may not see my wealth in terms of assets, but you will see it soon. My asset is the people that have I built. My asset is the structure of the organisation that I built. My asset and my influence are the structure of the organisation that I built. And that is what makes me to be where I am today.
I was not installed as the Aare Ona Kakanfo because I was a multi-billionaire. I was installed as the Aare Ona Kakanfo by the late Alaafin, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, because of the organisation that I built, because of the nature and resourcefulness of that organisation. He wrote it in the last paragraph of the letter of installation. He said, ‘I am giving you this title because of the Oodua People’s Congress that have structures in the entire Yorubaland and because of the Olokun Festival Foundation that promotes more than 20 cultural festivals’. And lastly, he said, ‘I give you this title because of the Oodua Progressive Union based abroad in 77 countries’. By then, it was 77 countries. Now it’s 102 countries.
When will you write your autobiography?
I have written many books. I have written about five or six books. In those books, I have dealt with the issue of autography tactically. But I am looking forward to the age of 60 when I wIll be doing a comprehensive autobiography.
Who is your hero in Yorubaland?
Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
Why?
History is there for us to follow or to make references to. Tell me of any administrator or politician in Nigeria for a period of eight years that built a generation through free education for his people. Tell me of any leader that built an investment, the Oodua Investment that has 25 companies, for his state or his region. Tell me of any leaders in Nigeria that did that. Tell me of any other leader that built a road network for the entire South West, even down to Asaba in Delta State. You know, the Western Region ended in Asaba then.
Tell me of any leaders that have a good agricultural policy like Chief Obafemi Awolowo. They were breeding cows from Argentina and they built farm settlements in the entire Western Region. They planted rubber in Bendel and planted cocoa in a number of places. They tested the soil of every area in the region and planted anything plantable in those places when he was Premier of the Western Region. The region was living on cocoa and other crops, including coffee, cola nuts, and we had external reserves in Britain. Besides, we had embassies in about five countries, including Britain, Canada and Saudi Arabia.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo gave free education and free health services. I was not born yet then, but we read it in the books. The one I physically benefited from was one executed by UPN governors. They adopted Awolowo’s policies and he monitored them, the governors of the five states. I was one of the beneficiaries of free education and free health services of that era. I attended Municipal Primary School, Obele-Odan in Surulere, and when we had just a headache, they would take us to a dispensary. And if it was discovered that the headache was getting more serious, we were referred to Randle Avenue. Immediately we got there, they would say this is a student, he or she should be the first to be attended to. After we have been treated, they would use the hospital’s vehicle to take us to our parents. They gave us 13 books to read. The books were free. We were also given free exercise and note books by the Lagos State government. All these policies were those of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
And the UPN, after they had won elections, all their promises, manifestos, they fulfilled and took care of all their members. It is not what you see today where political parties would use their members, give them N5,000 each and drive them away after elections; you can’t see the local government chairman; you can’t see the governor. Every member of the UPN had access to the chairmen of local governments and their counsellors.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo was not a promise-and-fail politician. He would not deceive you. If he wanted to probe you, he would tell you he would probe you. If you didn’t vote for him, he didn’t care. He would tell you the truth. He didn’t believe in diabolical diplomacy. And he was a grassroots person. I heard a story from one of the aides of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He said they were having a meeting with him and Chief Awolowo said, ‘Look, my people have been waiting for me, let them see me’. He said they asked him (Awolowo), ‘Who are your people?’ He said they later discovered that they were local farmers from Ekiti, commoners who came to see Chief Awolowo. He held a meeting with them for three hours before continuing the meeting with the leaders. How many leaders can do that now? They would just drive them away to go and ask them to meet their councilors or chairmen. And those are the people you kept under the sun when you were campaigning. You kept them under the sun for seven, eight hours. You drove your vehicle with air conditioner, you put a cooling fan in your tent and after 30 minutes, you made your speech, you left with your security and the hooligans who came to the campaign would be attacking the commoners thereafter. Some of them would sustain injuries and when you win the election, you erect a barricade; they can’t meet you again.
Is today’s Aare Ona Kakanfo as powerful and as relevant as his predecessors such as Oyabi and Latoosa?
He can be relevant, but he can’t be powerful like Latoosa and Oyabi. The Aare Ona Kakanfo of today can be popular, but he can’t be relevant like those in the past. He can’t have the kind of power that the Aare Ona Kakanfos of the olden days had. You don’t know the Aare Ona Kakanfo. If he was visiting a king, the king would know that trouble was coming. The only kings that could say there was no trouble were the Alaafin and the Ooni.
Why was there a feeling of looming trouble with an imminent visit of the Aare Ona Kakanfo?
Because they didn’t know his mission in their community. Aare Ona Kakanfo npe o, o n d’Ifa, bi Ifa re ba fo’re, ti Aare o ba f’ore nko?’ The only monarchs that could receive the August visitor were the Alaafin and the Ooni. If the Aare Ona Kakanfo was visiting any place, the entire area would become jitteryThe Aare would move with about 2,000 soldiers, 30 men on horses. And the Aare Ona Kakanfos never went out anyhow then. He never went to every war. Thde Aare Ona Kakanfo always sent his lieutenants. You will remember that Yorubaland was shared into four places before.
If there was war in a certain area, he would instruct his lieutenant there to fight it. But if he knew that that war was fierce and beyond the capacity of the person he sent, he would to join the forces. Is it not Reverend Johnson that wrote the Book of Yoruba? Reverend Johnson, in his book, called the Aare Ona Kakanfo the generalissimo of Yorubaland. That’s why they say that the Aare title is about envy, jealousy.
The role of the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland was created when the empire was still in existence. Where is your own empire to create a role now? Do you understand what I’m saying? The empire lasted for 640 years. History is there, you can’t erase it. All Yoruba Obas are following history. The Ooni is following history. The Alaafin is following history. The Awujale is following history. The Alake is following history. So, why would you say that the Aare Ona Kakanfo should not follow his own history? Even a first-class Oba in his community is following history. So, all of us are following history. Nigeria, as a country, is also following history as an independent nation.
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