Original image, Joshua Adegbuyi, Olota of Odo Owa
- Writer, Ahmed Ambali
- Name the person who wrote the story, Journalist, Africa Planning
- Send a report from Lagos
“Before my appointment, the electors of the king escorted me to my mother, in a visit that I think will be the last time I will see her,” said Joshua Adegbuyi Adeyemi, chief of Odo Owa of Yoruba country in Kwara state.
“She prayed for me, her words full of pure love and advice. Since that night I haven’t seen her again”.
King Joshua was talking about ancient Yoruba traditions, which stipulate that King Odo Owa must be separated from his mother.
“I never wanted to be king,” he said.
“I know this will separate me from seeing my mother forever.”
Royal destiny
Odo Owa is a farming town in Kwara state in central Nigeria, where life is easy, compared to other major towns and cities in the country.
Although he came from a big house, King Joshua grew up hoping to become a university teacher, while tending his farm on the one hand, and living a happy life with his mother and children.
When he was young, a church leader told him that he dreamed of seeing Joshua in a high position.
As the leader of the church tells him the dream, Joshua thinks that he will probably become a priest. This also gave him the motivation to do his master’s degree in Christian education.
But while he was trying to tell his mother about his studies, he got news that shocked him.
“The electors of the king came and told us that the king died,” he said.
“I didn’t even have time to tell her the news, they said that I will be appointed king.” It was Bokanya who started talking that my time has come to become a king.”
King Joshua is now in a difficult situation between honoring the tradition of the kingdom and living without seeing his mother.
It’s something he couldn’t imagine. Under pressure, he quickly accepted the status of his ancestors and became king.
A rich culture
In the Yoruba country, kings are chosen from the royal houses, and the kings continue to receive respect. The traditional kingdom is full of traditions and things that are forbidden by the culture and are seen as secret.
“The king is the father and the head, a wall that protects his people from harm,” said Ifayemi Elebuibon, a prominent linguist and expert on Yoruba culture.
“There is an advantage to being a king, but a king is a kind of shield against any evil that will befall his people. He must make sacrifices to ensure that his people live in peace.”
Elebuibon said that it is hate that protects the special position that protects the king and informs him of some secrets.
“If a person becomes a king, then everyone returns under him, including his parents,” he said.
Dr. Reuben Akano of the Kwara State University, said that the cultural and superstitious things surrounding the king, originated from rumors that were believed to protect the king from illness.
“It’s not just people who woke up one day and said they like these superstitions, they did it,” he said.
“You can’t believe that you will be king, then you say that you will turn your back on these traditions, that will never be possible.”
The last time King Joshua saw his mother, the king’s electors held many cultural and superstitious events including asking him to return her ‘Oja’.
“Oja” is the nurse she supported him with when he was a baby.
Returning the sick person marks the end of the relationship between the son and his father, which will allow him to prepare for the great work ahead of him.
“This separation between a son and his mother or his parents in some cases, are some of the things that indicate the return of the king of Kabiyesi, that is a person with strong power that cannot be suspected,” said Elebuibon.
Original image, Joshua Adegbuyi, Olota of Odo Owa
In order to be able to run his kingdom peacefully and peacefully, Elebuibon said King Joshua must obey the traditions.
“One thing about these superstitions is that the person who breaks the tradition is not necessarily the one who will reap the consequences,” he said.
“It may be his children or there may be instability in his country. It is always challenging to break the tradition. And no king would want that for his people”.
In addition to not seeing the mother, King Joshua will not see a corpse or a baby, or even be alone with his wife during the day.
But the ban on seeing his mother is the biggest thing that bothers King Joshua.
“I know nothing in my life, except my mother’s love since I was little,” he said.
“She paid my school fees, so I became what I am today. I feel sad and disappointed not to see her because of a ritual.”
At one point, the king’s desire to see his mother was so strong that he wished to defy the custom, regardless of the consequences.
“I wanted to stop her from stealing,” he said.
In response to the fear of this, the electors of the king in the kingdom took measures to prevent them from meeting, where they locked him in his palace and hid his mother.
Original image, King Abdulrasheed Akanbi
King Joshua is famous for his adherence to Yoruba culture, at the same time that some Yoruba kings are avoiding this kind of culture.
The Emir of Iwo, Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi of Iwo town, who is full of Islamic teachings, has challenged the way some cultures prohibit what is permissible for them, which has caused controversy among the traditionalists. which sees that as something that goes against the norm.
In 2016, King Abdulrasheed ordered the removal of an idol of Ogun, a metal Yoruba idol and other idols from the entrance of his palace, saying, “the palaces must be cleaned of idols”.
When the idol was taken away, the traditional worshipers of Ogun were unable to offer sacrifices to their idols. They threatened to hold a rally of one million people to protest against the king’s decision, but later they relented.
Still nothing happened to King Abdulrasheed, because he went against the tradition and continued to criticize the traditions of the traditionalists.
In Odo Owa, no king has ever violated the custom that prohibits the king from seeing his mother.
“If I want to be like other kings, Kenan is against this law. I also agree with those who choose the king of our kingdom to continue honoring this tradition in our country,” said King Joshua.
“If I could change this law, I would change it, but I can’t,” he said.
The king said that he hopes that in the future there will be a hero who will put an end to this tradition, but he cannot.
In a sad thing, King Joshua obeyed the tradition that provided that as long as a man becomes a king, he will not see his mother again, the fact that he did not see her face again until she died.
His mother died in July 2023.
