by Tribune
Oba Alamu Oloyede Kehinde, the Onikosi of Ikosi, Kosofe Land in Lagos State recently marked his tenth year coronation anniversary. In this interview with AKIN ADEWAKUN, the pastor-turned monarch gives a scorecard of his administration in the past decade, explains why being a king has not stopped him from preaching the gospel, his vision for Ikosi and other issues.
How would you describe ten years on the throne?
I thank God Almighty for seeing me this far. If you look at my recent tenth coronation anniversary, you would see that it’s not by my power, but God’s power. Everything went smoothly with over 3000 people in attendance and there was no negative incident. This is an attestation of God’s hand in my administration in the past decade. Yes, there are problems, but it should be expected. I know that without problems, we will not be inspired. One will always encounter problems, but with the power of God, the problems would be resolved. But as far as this community is concerned, I thank God that there is peace in the community. Prior to my ascension, the community had always experienced skirmishes but since I became the Oba, God has been helping me. The people are pleasant, they always respect my views and they believe so much in my counseling. I think all these have been responsible for the relative peace we experience today.
I was dismayed; I didn’t like the idea at all and I did everything humanly possible to resist it. You know I was a pastor; I was the Baba Aladura of Ibudo Iyanu, Moses Orimolade Cherubim and Seraphim, in Ikare – Akoko, Ondo State. So when my father died and they told me I was to succeed him, I refused because I didn’t want to be involved in the problems and challenges that go with the throne. But my elder brother insisted I should ascend the throne, I refused and told him that ordinarily, he should be the one to succeed our father since he is the eldest but he told me it would not be right for him to be the next king since he is the eldest as he would have no elder within the family to run to for counseling whenever there were issues. He told me he would give me the necessary support and actually did all he could to convince me, but I still had my doubts until I prayed and told God that I wouldn’t want a situation where my activities on the throne would affect my spiritual life as it would be practically impossible to serve him while on the throne. But God’s response to my complaints was baffling; while going through this dilemma, I had a dream where God spoke to me. He asked me who Moses and David were and I said David was an Oba and a man of God. God now told me I could be like David. That was what broke my resistance. I eventually succumbed to pressure and was made the king of this community.
How do you combine your spiritual and Obaship duties?
Since I got God’s consent before embarking on the journey, I have been able to manage the two without one affecting the other. I still go to church and sometimes, they invite me to the mosque when they have events. So, I participate in church and mosque activities. Atimes, they invite me to preach in churches; in a week I preach up to four or five times. I’m a preacher. I had been doing that before I was made a king and I don’t see myself abandoning preaching.
How did Ikosi become a settlement?
The man who first settled in Ikosi was called Aina Ejo. His forefathers came from Ile-Ife, to Iyoru Ota, in Ota compound now in Ogun State. Aina Ejo was son of the Akanbi Egun in Ota. He woke up one day and came to this place to settle. He was a hunter and fisherman. And when it was time to get married, he went to Agboyi to marry Onikoro’s daughter who gave birth to three sons; Taye, Kehinde and Idowu, who died without an issue, Taiwo and Kehinde survived, married and had offspring. That is why there are two ruling houses in Ikosi.
What is the relationship between Ikosi and Ketu, they seem inseparable
Ketu is from Dahomey. They are not Nigerians. I can show you the article written by the Oba of Ketu, when he did his five-year anniversary. He went to Dahomey, his forefathers’ village to pay homage to the Oba there. Ketu was a visitor in Ikosi. I have all the documents with which their forefathers bought land from my forefathers. And I always say this; Ketu is popular because it is a bus stop. When you are going to Alapere, because nobody knows Alapere, Agboyi, Oregun and others, they always use Ketu Bus Stop for description. When you are going to Ikosi, Alapere, Osoogun, Arowosegbe and other communities within this area, they will ask you to come down at Ketu Bus Stop and ask for these places. You know Ikorodu Road passes through the place; that is why it is very popular. That does not make Ketu an original indigene of Kosofe, we, from Ikosi are the original indigenes, Ketu only bought land from our forefathers.
I’ve tendered this document at different places in the past to backup these claims.
What do you think of violent youth agitations and how immune is Ikosi to this?
It is unfortunate. It does not allow for growth in any community. But I thank God, we Aworis love strangers, we don’t have disputes with strangers. We are not divided; such will not arise because we would not even quarrel with strangers in the first place. We regard them as part and parcel of us. For instance, if you say that your land is meant for indigenes alone, how many of such indigenes do we have? How many of them can bring development here? When you count the number of houses in Ikosi here, you will discover that the strangers are more than the indigenes. Can the indigenes alone build all these houses?
It’s not possible. We have to allow the non-indigenes to live among us. I believe, a community can develop, we love strangers, we are not hostile to them and they are my subjects.
What are you doing to minimize the impact of flooding on your community?
While one would always keep trying, I think one should not forget the fact that there are some of the things that are beyond individuals, It’s not only in this place that we experience this, it happens in other places, including overseas. During the rainy season, when the water starts coming, you cannot hold it. Nobody knows where the water is coming from. But the state government is trying its best through different agencies; they enlighten the people on the need to maintain a flood-free environment by not dumping wastes in the gutters. But some would still not listen. Even in my frontage here, I use my personal funds to remove dirt so that when rain falls, water will have easy passage. I don’t think we can blame government alone, we also have a share of the blame because government will not come and stay with us and ensure the gutters are clean, we should be able to take care of these things since we are directly affected.
What do you think is responsible for the recent face-off between Magodo and Shangisha?
All I know about this is that they went to court some years ago on the ownership of the place and one party won. The winning party insisted it would exercise the court judgment. Once there is a court judgment, I cannot go contrary to the court’s judgment. But government is trying its best to ensure the matter is amicably settled. I think the matter will be settled by the grace of God. I talked to them that I do not want crisis in this community and they should take it easy for the relevant authorities to settle the matter amicably and they accepted. It is not yet settled but I believe by the grace of God everything would be settled because crisis has a way of hindering the growth of a community.
Government has announced the relocation of Mile 12 market, what do you think about this?
Government actually said that the action was based on the frequent crisis that always occurs around that place. People are appealing to the state government not to go ahead with the plans. I wouldn’t know government’s plans now concerning the issue. It is because of the frequent fight between the Hausa and the Yoruba living in the place. You know such crisis in the past had resulted in loss of lives and properties and no responsible government would want to fold its arms and watch such things happen. But I’m hopeful there would be solution to this at the end of the day.
What is the most pressing need of your community?
Interestingly, there had been no request I made to the state government that was rejected. I told you that this present governor listens and he has been very accessible and helpful. Whenever you take your request to the place, he would listen to you.