By Tunde Odesola
Many miles apart, two babies were born to different couples in the twilight and dawn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Eleven years was the age difference between them. On the eighth day after his birth, in the year 1892, the older baby was named Oyinlola Oyewole, just as the younger baby was named Adisa Adeleye Adenle, eight days after his first cry, in 1903.
The blood flowing through their tiny veins bore none of the haemoglobins of common birth. It carried the quiet authority of crowns yet to be worn, sceptres yet to be wielded, and kingdoms yet to be lorded. Ultimately, the elder grew to rule over Okuku, the land of his birth, reigning as Oba Oyewole Olaifa Oyinlola between 1934 and 1960, while the younger mounted the throne of his Osogbo forefathers, ruling as Ataoja Adisa Adeleye Adenle between 1944 and 1976.
Time sculpted both princes into religion-trailblazing monarchs, who converted from Ifa worship to Christianity – the elder taking up the name of the leader of Israel, Moses, and the younger taking up the name of the first prophet of Israel, Samuel. I must reveal that after the elder came into his own, he exchanged his family surname, Oyewole, for his given name, Oyinlola, pushing Oyewole to the middle of his name – Moses Oyewole Oyinlola.
Exhibiting the kingship virtues of nobility, honour and integrity, both kings formed an enviable bond built on trust, respect and dignity. The fire of their friendship radiated far and wide, kindling a love so rare that Yoruba memory immortalised it in a proverb, “Àgbà ló ń wo àgbà, Olókukù ló ń wo Adénlé.” This is how a loose English translation of the proverb looks: Elders look after each other; Olokuku looks after Adenle.
Very soon, the mortar in which the Olokuku-Adenle proverb was pounded, shattered into smithereens when Nigeria abandoned indigenous languages and cultures, to cuddle Western languages and cultures, twisting the beautiful proverb out of context and meaning. Thus, “Àgbà ló ń wo àgbà, Olókukù ló ń wo Adénlé,” became “Àgbà ló ń wo àgbà, Olókukù ló ń wa Adénlé”, meaning: “elders look after each other; Olokuku drives Adenle”.
No! Olokuku never drove Adenle.
Speaking with me on the phone a few days ago, Brigadier-General Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a son of Olokuku Moses Oyewole Oyinlola, said the relationship between the two royal fathers was built on love, trust and mutual respect. Elected Osun State governor between 2003 and 2010, the younger Oyinlola said he read about the exemplary bond between Olokuku Oyinlola and Ataoja Adenle from a diary.
He said, “There was no major event that my father did not write in his diary. He was an excellent diarist, meticulous at note-keeping. It was from his diary that I read in detail how close he was to Oba Adenle. My father maintained a good relationship with all his fellow obas and his subjects.
“According to the diary, there was a plot against Oba Adenle that should be between 1945 and 1948; I’m in Abuja right now – I don’t have the diary with me here. But about that time, Oba Adenle had a problem with his chiefs. He needed to visit the Osun groove on foot, but a thick plot prevented him from doing the trek. And if he didn’t embark on the trek, there would be grave consequences for him. So, he sent for my father,
“That was the time my father came from Okuku and led him to the grove on foot. My father was going in front, and Oba Adenle was coming behind. This and other events in their close relationship were what gave birth to the proverb, “Àgbà ló ń wo àgbà, Olókukù ló ń wo Adénlé.”
Olagunsoye was not done yet. He recalled that Ataoja Adenle was the last human being who saw his father alive before he joined his ancestors. He said, “He was the one with my father when he joined his ancestors. He was with him when my father took his last breath. He came out of the room and said nobody should enter it, and he went to the market and bought ‘aṣọ aran’ (velvet cloth) with which he covered my father.”
As a journalist, I never met Ataoja Adenle, but I met his successor, Oba Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III. It is to the honour, memories and legacies of Adenle and Matanmi that I dip my quill in ink, using its pointed nib as a blade to incise words of wisdom on the forehead of the incumbent Ataoja, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun. It is in my utmost respect for Osogboland and in defence of its unity that I dare pull the ears of Ataoja Jimoh Olanipekun. A king who decides to tear his own kingdom apart because of political gains is unkingly. An Ataoja who beats the bata of division should have no one sing to his shortsightedness. Obas come, and obas go. Adenle and Matanmi belonged to an era when kingship wasn’t on display in a kingshop, looking for kingchop.
Until he joined his ancestors in 2010, at the age of 75, I was a regular visitor to the palace of Ataoja Matanmi, especially during the annual Osun Osogbo festival when he flagged off the weeklong ceremony at Orita-Gbaemu, where he embarked on a trek called Ìwọ́pópó’ every August.
I love the departed Matanmi, the Ataoja whose name still teaches wisdom for Matanmi means “Don’t deceive me.” Oyewale Matanmi conned nobody, either. He was forthright and straight, like an arrow. For Oba Oyewale Matanmi, education was not an afterthought, an abandoned pathway embarked upon in middle age when the doors of breakthrough in life were closing. As a true prince incubating the unity and development of Osogbo in his heart, Matanmi went to primary and secondary schools, finishing both in flying colours. Afterwards, he pursued higher education at the renowned Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, and Folks Lynch Institute, London, qualifying him as a graduate and associate member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in Great Britain. He was also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management.
Throughout his 34-year reign, there was no public outrage against the person or the crown of Ataoja Matanmi, who nurtured the peaceful ground that consolidated the smooth rotation of kinship among Osogbo ruling houses. As a thoroughbred king who was not rushed through ‘Ipebi’ in one night, Matanmi was too decent to be a land grabber or serve as a lapdog in the corridors of power. He understood and respected the boundaries between royal authority and political power, knowing full well the importance of culture and tradition in a developing state capital that carries ancestral history and responsibilities on its shoulders.
Matanmi was not a ‘laulau’ king. He was never high on kaikai, ‘501 brandy’ and goro. He reasoned before he talked. Probably being a seasoned chartered accountant, Matanmi never rolled in the gutter for money. He never called a cow his brother. It was through his involvement that the Osun Osogbo grove was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005 during the Olagunsoye Oyinlola administration. Rats squeaked like rats, birds chirped like birds during the reign of Matanmi,
It is the misbehaviour of the living that makes the heart remember the dead. I remember the no-holds-barred interviews members of the Osun State Correspondents Chapel held with Oba Matanmi and the tumbling of jokes, puns and proverbs from royal lips. If Matanmi weren’t a king, he would have been a wordsmith. Cool, calm and dignified, Matanmi was never erratic.
It is a few weeks to the world-acclaimed Osun Osogbo festival, rats are not squeaking like rats, and birds are no longer chirping like birds; the water of the Osun River is boiling with animosity. Who is muddling up the peace of Osogbo’s river? It is no other person than the king of Osogbo himself, Ataoja Olanipekun.
Many videos of Olanipekun taking combative postures against the main political opposition in Osun, the All Progressives Congress, are in the public domain. In some of the videos, Olanipekun dealt his political hand on a podium, wailing that Osogbo must vote for the Accord Party candidate in the August 8, 2026 election, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
To say the least, the videos desecrate the exalted throne of Ataoja, which should exhibit political neutrality. Oba Olanipekun needs to know that making criminal allegations and substantiating them are distinct responsibilities available to a petitioner seeking the face of justice.
Over the years, the Ataoja has predicated the reasons for supporting Adeleke on the ‘ise ribi ribi’ that Adeleke has done in Osun, good; but where can he place his intolerance of the opposition? It is wrong enough of Olanipekun to openly campaign for a particular party; it is wronger of him to attack any party based on his political preference, and it is wrongest of him to pressure the masses to submit to his cultural authority and manipulation.
Here are a few questions for Olanipekun. What if Governor Adeleke and the main opposition candidate of the APC, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, end up in the same party? Ataoja Olanipekun should be wise to know that nobody digs the pit of politics too deep because you may fall into it yourself. As things stand today, nobody knows where the pendulum of the Osun election will swing. If any party claims to know, it should stop campaigning and wait for INEC’s return certificate on August 8. This is why traditional rulers especially should be wary of their actions and utterances because if you think the tree would fall southwards and it falls northwards, where would you hide?
A few days before the Osun Osogbo festival, the Ataoja and the Osogbo Progressives Union are at loggerheads. The OPU is the engine room that coordinates the indigenous activities of Osogbo. While the Ataoja is the traditional voice of Osogbo, the OPU is its bureaucratic voice. The National President of OPU, Alhaji Kamorudeen Makinde, has faulted the open endorsement of Adeleke by the Ataoja. In a statement, Makinde said it was wrong of Olanipekun to direct Osogbo indigenes to vote for Adeleke in the August election. “It is important to state that the Osogbo Progressives Union under the leadership of Alhaji Kamorudeen Makinde has never at any point in time declared support for any of the candidates for the August 15th, 2026, governorship election in Osun State,” Makinde said.
Speaking with me in a phone interview, Makinde said the Ataoja should not queue behind any political party, insisting that Osogbo welcomed all political parties. He said if Osogbo was going to take a political stand, it should involve the OPU and all stakeholders, maintaining that if need be, the OPU would let Osogbo people know where it stands.
If Olanipekun is not at home with proverbs, he should seek Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon out, and ask the Ifa sage to explain to him the meaning of these proverbs: “Eniyan lo wa leyin oba, ti won fi n pe ni aleeba,” “Obe kii mi ni ikun agba,” “Gbogbo wa o le sun, ki a kori sibi kana,” “Agbalagba to ba so agbado modi, o so ara re di alawada ediye,” “Gbami gbami o ye agba, eranko n le mi bo o ye ode,” “Oju lagbalagba ma n ya, agbalagba kii yanu.”
If Olanipekun cannot reach the Araba of Osogbo, I’ll explain in two words the meaning of all the proverbs – decency, integrity.
Ataoja Olanipekun is not dumb. The reasons why he has embarked on the journey to collapse his kingdom on his own head are known to him. Or how would he not see that his actions weaken his image as a father to all? Olanipekun is not blind. How would he not see that campaigning against the interests of Osogbo indigenes in other parties diminishes his moral authority? Ataoja is not deaf; how would he not hear the outcry that his traditional attitude compromises his role as a peacemaker? Olanipekun has politicised his throne; he has attracted stones from every Tom, Dick and Tunde, thinking that he would count the cost and pay for the repairs at the end of the day.
The cost of repairs may be more than the cost of the throne.
Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com
Facebook: @Tunde Odesola
X: @Tunde_Odesola
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