You Can’t Abandon Tradition After Taking the Oath, Olowu Tells Obas

The Olowu of Kuta, His Royal Majesty, Oba Dr Hammed Adekunle Makama Oyelude, CON, Tegbosun III, has cautioned Yoruba traditional rulers against abandoning the customs and traditions they swore to uphold.

Oba Makama gave the advice in a statement issued by his media office on Friday, stressing that no monarch has the right to disregard the culture and ancestral practices of the land after voluntarily accepting the title of Oba.

The monarch was reacting to a recent statement by Justice Phillips Akinside of the Ogun State High Court, who insisted that traditional rulers must accept the burial rites and customs of the institution they willingly joined.

Justice Akinside maintained that once an individual becomes an Oba through traditional processes, they cannot reject those customs, even after death.

Commending the judge for his bold remarks, Oba Makama said, “It is clear from the installation rites that an Oba is first and foremost a custodian of culture and tradition. Unfortunately, some monarchs have abandoned this primary responsibility in favour of religion.”

The Olowu warned that traditional rulers unwilling to abide by the customs of the institution should step aside rather than damage the throne with careless utterances that threaten the dignity of Obaship.

He added that no Yoruba Oba is crowned in a mosque or church, but through traditional and cultural rites, which they pledged to uphold during their coronation.

Quoting a legal principle, Oba Makama explained, “There is a dictum in law which says, ‘Volenti non fit injuria,’ meaning you cannot complain about the consequences of something you knowingly agreed to.”

Justice Akinside, who spoke at the Fifth Chief Kehinde Sofola Memorial Bar Lecture organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, Sagamu branch, stated clearly that “Obas have no legal right to alter the traditions they voluntarily accepted.”

He argued that the same customs guiding the selection, nomination, and installation of an Oba must apply to their burial.

“One cannot become a traditional ruler in accordance with the customs of the land and later reject those same customs. Religious freedom exists under the 1999 Constitution, but once you choose to enter the traditional institution, you cannot claim an infringement of your rights when the rites of that institution apply,” the judge said.

He likened attempts by some monarchs to discard tradition to “changing the goalpost in the middle of a match.”

In recent years, some Yoruba Obas have publicly kicked against being buried according to tradition, while others have deviated from the customs they pledged to uphold at their coronation.

But Oba Makama insists the throne is built on the foundation of tradition and culture, warning that no individual is greater than the institution they represent.