The Olowu of Kuta, His Royal Majesty, Oba Dr Hammed Adekunle Makama Oyelude, CON, Tegbosun III, has urged Yoruba traditional rulers to respect the oath they swore during their installation and focus on preserving the culture and traditions of the land.
Oba Makama, in a statement from his media office on Friday, stressed that it is the primary responsibility of Yoruba Obas to protect the customs and traditions handed down by their forebears, not abandon them for personal or religious sentiments.
The monarch was reacting to remarks by Justice Phillips Akinside of the Ogun State High Court, who stated that traditional rulers must accept the burial rites and customs of the institution they voluntarily joined.
Justice Akinside argued that once an individual becomes an Oba through traditional processes, they relinquish the right to reject those customs, even after death.
Commending the judge for his boldness, Oba Makama noted that he has consistently maintained that the role of an Oba, as defined by their installation rites, is to serve as a custodian of culture and tradition.
“It is unfortunate that some Obas have abandoned their primary responsibility in the name of religion. You cannot jettison the tradition you swore to uphold,” the monarch said.
Oba Makama warned that those unwilling to abide by the obligations of the stool should voluntarily withdraw rather than cause confusion through unguarded statements capable of undermining the revered institution of kingship.
He emphasized that Yoruba Obas are not crowned in mosques or churches but in line with cultural and traditional rites, which they pledged to defend.
Quoting a legal principle, Oba Makama said, “There is a dictum in law, which says ‘Volenti non fit injuria,’ meaning you cannot complain about the consequences of what you willingly agreed to.”
Justice Akinside, who delivered the keynote address at the Fifth Chief Kehinde Sofola Memorial Bar Lecture organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, Sagamu branch on Wednesday, declared that “Obas have no right to change the tradition they voluntarily accepted.”
He noted 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 that your rights are being violated when the rites of that institution apply,” the judge stated.
He likened attempts by some monarchs to reject burial traditions to “changing the goalpost in the middle of a match.”
In recent years, some Yoruba monarchs have openly resisted being buried according to tradition, while others have deviated from the customs they pledged to uphold at their coronation.
Oba Makama, however, insists that the sanctity of the traditional institution must be preserved, warning that no individual is bigger than the stool they occupy.
