In Defense of Chief Obasanjo By Rev Dr John Adebayo Abolarin

In my opinion, l cannot see why Chief Obasanjo would publicly berate twenty or more prominent Yoruba Obas just because one Oba or a few Obas offended him in the past.

The first video clip about the memorable encounter Chief Obasanjo had with the Oyo State traditional rulers, which first went viral yesterday lasted only for about 30 seconds.

The video clip only gave us the picture of the point when Chief Obasanjo ordered the Obas to stand up, but not more than that.

Much later, however, a longer version of the same video clip came out. The later video added context to what happened during the occasion.

Except if anyone wants to read meanings to the video other than what ordinarily meets the eye, the incident happened spontaneously, at the spur of the moment.

It was not a preplanned matter at all. How would Chief Obasanjo have known that Governor Makinde would come into an event and the Obas in attendance would remain seated in breach of protocol?

The event planners duly arranged the seating order and timing of entrance of distinguished guests.

The normal arrangement is that the most senior attendee should be the one to come in last.

On that occasion, Governor Makinde was the Chief guest. He came into the event venue after their Royal Majesties were already seated.

The Governor may be a “Small boy” in relative terms and when compared with the other older temporal leaders on that occasion, it is a good practice and a matter of protocol for the Obas to rise to welcome the Governor.

If it was the other way round so that the Governor was seated before the arrival of a traditional ruler, naturally, the Governor would not have hesitated to honor a traditional ruler by standing up to welcome him.

It is not a matter of flexing muscle to show who has more power or authority, it is a matter of reciprocated honor.

It does not matter who the Governor is, whether an old man or a young boy, he is the boss and should be respected.

We may not like it, in which case we can change the constitution to reflect our wishes, but until then, the Governor has the power to hire and fire, including the removal of a King regardless of his status.

Sanusi the Emir of Kano was removed, heaven did not fall. This is not an argument about whether or not it was right to remove the formal Emir, but just to demonstrate that a Governor has a formal authority to do so.

Although the approach adopted by Chief Obasanjo may be seen as offensive, he was the most able personality to correct the wrong on that occasion.

While most people believed that the Obas were humiliated, the truth is that the person who was humiliated on that occasion was the Governor.

When we saw the earlier version of the video clip yesterday, what most of us thought was that Chief Obasanjo chastised the Obas because they failed to honor him as a former Nigeria President for their failure to rise to their feet when he came in, but that was not the case.

Chief Obasanjo was not fighting for himself but defended the young political ruler, Governor Makinde of Oyo State.

If not Chief Obasanjo, there was probably no other person bold, courageous, and competent enough to correct the wrong inflicted on Governor Makinde on that occasion.

Therefore, given all the circumstances of the case, l hope the public will find a place in their hearts to forgive Chief Obasanjo for the approach he adopted in correcting the error in the house. On the other hand, we should see beyond that error and commend Chief Obasanjo for his boldness in righting a wrong.

Rev Dr John Adebayo Abolarin

16/09/2023