Awujale’s burial ends butchering of Yoruba kings in death- Osun Monarch

The royal father of Iwo, Osun State, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, has said that the burial of the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, has ushered in a new era where the bodies of late kings will no longer be subjected to indignities.

Oba Akanbi said the burial of the Ijebu monarch according to Islamic rites has brought freedom for Yoruba kings who can henceforth determine how they wish to be buried.

It would be recalled that the late Awujale was interred in his residence in Ijebu Ode in accordance with Muslim rites.

The members of the Osugbo cult who showed up at his funeral service in a bid to hijack the process were escorted out by the soldiers on guard duty at the ceremony.

The late monarch had previously fought for a law to empower a royal father in Ogun to choose how to be buried after their death.

He pioneered a bill which passed through the Ogun House of Assembly and was ultimately passed into law in 2021.

The bill, among other things, prohibits the compulsion of fetish practices in the installation and burial of a king.

The late Awujale’s wish not to have his body subjected to traditional practices after death was fully respected at his burial on Monday.

Commenting on the burial, Oluwo of Iwo said it was a freedom for the Yoruba traditional institution and a step towards restoring its sanctity.

Oba Akanbi, through a statement released by his Press Secretary, Alli Ibraheem,  lauded the courage demonstrated by the Awujale, his family, and Governor Abiodun, calling it a victory for the Yoruba race.

The monarch said any town that wanted their king to be butchered after death should appoint a herbalist, or a member of the Osugbo or Ogboni cults as their king.

He said the sanctity of the Yoruba traditional institution had been protected by the process adopted in burying the late Awujale of Ijebuland.

The monarch said kings are servants to their subjects and are honourable men, and their honour needs to be protected even in death.

“Honour doesn’t die with the king. They should be honoured to the grave and beyond, and not butchered like an animal after death,” he said.

Oba Akanbi asserted that the burial process to be adopted in burying Yoruba traditional rulers should henceforth be on the recommendation of the king before his passage or his family after his death.

He emphasised that the seizure of the king’s corpse from his family by any secret cult or traditional group should be optional, depending on the wishes of his family.

The Oluwo said that in his ten years of rulership, he had freed the people of Iwo from the bondage of traditional cultism.

He said he would not relent in his campaign against such retrogressive practices.

Oba Akanbi declared that the “Osugbos and the Ogbonis have no relation with the Yoruba monarchy”.

He said his stool would eternally resist every attempt to enslave the stool.