By Gani Lawal

Permit me to recount my encounter with the late Ooni Sijuwade of Ife as a way of tribute to the late Oba.
The European perceptions of Africans as heavers of woods and drawers of water were stylishly changed by late Oba Ooni Olubuse Sijuwade during his life time. He established that all the menial jobs performed by black man for the white that made the blacks appear inferior can actually be reversed in that order. This is the idea I got from his style during my encounter with him.

A telegram was sent that Ooni will be visiting my mission, situating in a country where blacks are regarded as outcasts. I sent a note to the Foreign Ministry that we were expecting a first class traditional ruler in Nigeria and would like state protocol facility extended to him at the airport. The response was capital NO. I insisted that Nigeria will reciprocate anytime a traditional chief from this end visits Nigeria. The foreign Ministry will not budge since of course they don’t have any traditional chief visiting anywhere. Then I sought audience with the director of protocol explaining the title of Ooni as comparable to any of their known peoples traditional leaders and as a representative of the ancestor of the Yoruba Kingdom with a population of more than 50 million people and that these people will not take kindly to your country treating their monarch as an ordinary person in your country and can affect relations between Nigeria and your country. The director decided to oblige me and ordered the protocol facility opened for the Oba.

Ooni of Ife, Oba Sijuwade Okunade

When Ooni eventually came, his arrival did me proud and changed the perception of the doubting- thomases about an African King. Ooni came with a retinue of service personnel all white from security to the secretary and the interpreter. I can see my host running helter-skelter providing all small chops and asking for appointment with the governor of the province and arranging visits to places of interest all of which were not in the itinerary of the visiting monarch. In fact he was to be wheel-chaired from the plane to the lounge and the white security man insisting that no one but him would push the wheel chair. I later discovered that the wheel chair was a strategic choice as Ooni walked about in the hotel without any assistance.

Ooni had arranged for a limousine to drive him from the airport to the hotel while the bus I came with (since they would not provide the deputy head of mission with a befitting car) as well as the car provided by the state protocol followed from behind while I was seated with the King in the limousine with his wife and son. The hotel was a seven star hotel in which Ooni occupied three suites for all his entourage.

The visit lasted five days but I was able to decipher that the visit changed the perception of these white people of Africans with the numerous requests we received in the embassy to meet the monarch.

His second visit was a hit. He was accompanied by his friend the late Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero who came with his son. A more befitting reception was arranged for them by the government. In fact many of the senior protocol officers and the director came to greet the monarchs. As a matter of fact Ooni did not realize his first visa has expired but the protocol director quickly arranged a visa at the airport for the monarch. Ooni was such a generous person that the waiters in the hotel started outdoing each other in the struggle to serve the monarch. This is a country where blacks are not visible at all. Talk of irresistible tips you will be saying the obvious. I was a witness to the height the late monarch carried the black man’s pride.

Ooni was such a nationalist that all our discussions centered around the precipice Nigeria was falling as this was the time we were having Yaradua’s succession crisis. Ooni believed that politicians at that time had no clue and that if they allow military to come back it will not augur well for the country. At the end of the visit he invited me to the palace anytime I came home but I did not go. Unknown to me I had told him about the impending wedding of my daughter I was shaken to the marrows when I saw the representatives of Ooni in my compound with lots of gifts led by his son Deremi. I later visited the palace to thank him. It reminded me of the music composed by Ebenezer Obey in the seventies for him “Nibiti Sijuade ba tinnawo keni keni mama pariwo, atewo omode konije kagbo tagbalagba ariwo ata” It was a true account of his generosity.

Ooni was such a nice, social and kind monarch who will be sorely missed by all that passed his way. That was my brief but close encounter with Olubushe Ooni of Ife Oba Sijuwade of blessed memory.

May his soul rest in perfect peace.

G. A. Lawal PhD, former Deputy Principal Rep of Nigeria.