Yoruba elders, under the aegis of Council of Yoruba Elders, have asked former President, Olusegun Obasanjo to tender a public apology for asking traditional rulers in Oyo State to stand and greet Governor Seyi Makinde during a recent event.
Obasanjo had ordered the monarchs to get up and greet Makinde, during the commissioning of the Iseyin Campus of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Renewable Natural Resources of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Iseyin.
Obasanjo, was a special guest of honour at that event.
The Introduction
All was going well until it was time to introduce dignitaries at the event.
That was when the former President expressed dismay over the behaviour of the kings.
He described it as ‘disrespectful’ toward the governor’s office and himself when they were being introduced and the monarchs were seated.
Reacting to Obasanjo’s remark in a statement signed by the Secretary-General, Dr Victor Taiwo, and Publicity Secretary, Lanre Ogundipe, the elders lampooned the former president for disrespecting the Yoruba monarchs.
Fictional Movie
The elders described the act as defamatory and shameful, adding that Obasanjo’s behaviour demeaned the Yoruba culture and tradition.
The statement reads: “Obasanjo acting like an adept overwhelmed by the spirit of Sango celt repugnantly vituperating and lambasting the large congregation of our Obas in attendance and commandeering them in the utmost contemptuous and denigrating manner to rise, and sit down like an Army General would his soldiers.
“When we saw this video, it initially occurred to us as a fictional movie.
But when it dawned on us that it was a reality, lo and behold, it was a scene that could burst one’s lachrymal gland into rupture.”
The Taboo
“For one thing, what Obasanjo did was infra dignitatem to our Yoruba culture and tradition. It was a taboo. It was arrant display of megalomania and utter rudeness to our crowns in Yorubaland.
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“The position of our Obas could be discerned from their appellation as the Igbakeji Orisa (second-in-command to the deity).
That the desecration of our Obas has come from a person in the status of Obasanjo is a great shame and denigration of the Yoruba culture and tradition.
We, therefore, condemn this dastardly act from Obasanjo in all totality and we call for his public apology to all the disgraced Obas and the entire Yoruba people by extension.”
