Leadnaija
Olowu of Kuta, HRM Oba Dr Hammed Adekunle Makama Oyelude, CON, Tegbosun iii, has urged traditional rulers in Yorubaland to respect the oath of their office.
According to the statement issued by his media office on Friday in Kuta, Olowu urged Yoruba Obas to uplift the culture and traditions of their forebears.
Oba Makama was reacting to a statement credited to Justice Phillips Akinside of the Ogun State High Court that traditional rulers must accept the burial rites and customs of the institutions they voluntarily joined, arguing that once a person becomes an Oba through cultural processes, they relinquish the right to reject those traditions; even after death.
Oba Makama eulogised the judge for his boldness and validating what he has always emphasized that the primary focus of Yoruba Obas should be according to the dictate of the instrument of his office.
The monarch has repeatedly said that the primary focus of an Oba, according to the letter of their installation, is “they would be custodian of culture and tradition and not the other way round as some Obas have jettisoned their primary duty for religion.”
Oba Makama said that Obas who are not ready to abide by the dictates of their offices should withdraw from Obaship and “stop causing chaos through unguarded utterances capable of rubbing the Obaship stool they represent.”
He, however, explained that Obas in Yorubaland are not crowned in mosque or church, but according to the dictate of the tradition and culture which they swore to uphold after their installation and coronation
