Generalissimo warns against desecration of Yoruba traditional rites

Berates Abiodun for signing traditional council bill into law

The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Gani Adams, has expressed worry over the desecration of Yoruba traditional rites, warning that the desecration portends monumental disaster.

He insists that observation of the sacred rites before installation and burial of Yoruba royal fathers are part of what earned the monarchs due respect.

In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Kehinde Aderemi, in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Wednesday night, the Yoruba generalissimo said the installation and burial rites of monarchs remain the most important aspects of the Yoruba traditional institution.

Wondering the pace at which the core Yoruba tradition was going into extinction, Adams said: “Our traditional rulers are the custodians of Yoruba culture. The rites are also part of our treasured tradition. Once you remove the rites from the Yoruba traditional institution, the whole essence of the tradition is lost and the institution is empty.

“The Yoruba traditional rites give the monarchs the reverence. It is the depth of our core values, including the myths that enabled the monarchs to be respected as deities in their communities.”

According to him, there are records that the relegation of the global empire affected Europe, and the entire continent lost the respect that comes with the monarchical system.

He, however, frowned on ritual killing in the name of preserving the traditional rites.

“The traditional rites for installing or burying a Yoruba monarch is beyond the family of the monarch; it is purely a community’s affair. Therefore, I am appealing to all our royal fathers to stay away from actions that tend to destroy Yoruba culture and tradition.”

Adams described the ‘Obas, Chiefs, Council of Obas and Traditional Council Law of Ogun State, Bill 2021, signed into law by Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, on Monday, January 10, 2022, as an aberration to the Yoruba culture and tradition.

His words: “There is no ambiguity in the way we instal or bury our traditional rulers in Yoruba land. Rites are the major bases for dignity, cohesion and orderliness in every race all over the world.

“If this is not corrected, it will be a bad precedent in the history of Yoruba. It has never happened in our history that a government will enact such law. Traditional rite is the symbol of our culture and tradition in Yoruba land.”