Standup Order:  We Shall No  Longer Greet Obasanjo At Public Events – Yoruba monarchs 

Traditional rulers have resolved into greet or accord former President  Olusegun Obasanjo  respect at public events .

The monarchs are also considering boycott any occasion  organised by the former Nigerian leader should he (Obasanjo) failed to tender unreserved apology over  his recent open disrespect to traditional institutions.

Reacting,  Oba Adedokun Abolarin, the Orangun of Oke-Ila said the outburst of the former president was not honourable. He, however, opined that old age could have taken a better part of Obasanjo at the event to warrant such controversial utterances.

“My constitution and grand norm is the Bible. The book of First Peter, 2:17 states, honour all men, fear God and honour the kings. It is biblical and I believe that was not the best way to honour the kings. So, I believe there are better ways to make corrections. He (Obasanjo) is no longer growing younger medically. Old age is old age, maybe that was a reflection of his age. We know that he is an icon and the general is no longer a young man.“I tell my colleagues that we are within the ambit of the constitution and we must respect the law. What happened in Oyo is not new and it won’t be the last time. You cannot develop the people without the monarchy and that was why Awolowo regarded the traditional institution as the soul of the people.

“Some people may not like the faces of traditional rulers and because power intoxicates, they think they can do as they like. We must guide the thrones jealously,” the monarch said.

In his position ,the  Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, flayed the former president for allegedly disparaging the kings in public, commiting sacrilege and dragging the traditional institution into disrepute.
He declared that Obasanjo would not go “unpunished” if he failed to tender apology.“The former President Olusegun Obasanjo was rude and I have asked for an apology and if he doesn’t do it, there will be some other things and consequences. All the kings must not greet him (Obasanjo) anywhere, they must not even accord him any respect, and no king should go to him or attend any of his functions, and there would be more steps to be taken.

“When someone is President or Governor, we (traditional rulers) do accord them respect, we stand and greet but they are still our children and subjects and God has placed them in that authority for some time. Either four or eight years, they will still have to leave that position some day, but we will be on the throne for decades until God takes our souls,” he stated.

He added, “Obasanjo’s behaviour was not only bad for traditional rulers in Nigeria but in Africa because people have seen that video everywhere. General Obasanjo has a king and he is under the Olowu of Egba. He is a Chief. If it were to be in Iwo that somebody did that, that would be the last time he would see that chieftaincy title. I will derobe such chief instantly and appoint somebody else in that position immediately.

“If Baba Obasanjo apologises, I will see him as a man, but if he didn’t, I will see him as a coward for his actions that are unbecoming of a former President of a country. His funeral event would be devoid of kings.”

He said even if the monarchs at the Oyo event might have had an interface with Obasanjo in the past, the “stand up and sit down order” would still not have been necessary.

“I don’t know if they are in the same Ogboni cult with Obasanjo, that was why they fell for that order and that is why we tell kings not to join cult. You can be an ogboni or Osugbo before you become king but as soon as you become king, you are now greater than cults and you oversee everything under your domain because we are representing God Almighty on earth,” he said.