ÒKÈÒGÙN AND THE NEED FOR SELF-IDENTITY AND SELF-DEFINITION

[Bravebold]

ÒKÈÒGÙN AND THE NEED FOR SELF-IDENTITY AND SELF-DEFINITION

Favour Adéwoyin,
September 19, 2023.

Someone gave the following response on one platform to one of my submissions on the burning issue concerning the OBJ-Traditional Rulers brouhaha:

"Everybody that discuses the case places the order of discourse above the order of the cause. Perhaps we follow the order of the source, we will not alter the order of the result. We only discuss the result and abandon the source which is the first to follow. Obasanjo is a man of tradition and culture. If we agree that what he did was wrong, don't we see anything wrong in what the obas did"?

The same person continued his as follows

"Which story do we want to re-write? Which identify do we want to define? No more new definition, but re-definition. Well, I can see, we mention Yoruba, entirely. We want to re-write the story of Yoruba that will never complete without mentioning the name of Obasanjo and other leaders from the six states in the southwest. Even the name of Nigeria is not complete without his name"!

Now, it was response was predicated upon the above response which was contrary to the my opinion and position that there is need to find a definition and identity for Òkèògún region and its people.

As you can see from the position of the responder, there is no need to find any definition and identity for our region. According to him, Òkèògún and her people already has definition and identity, what we need is redefinition.

So, the first response I gave was to ask if the responder had read any of my responses to the matter regarding OBJ-Traditional Rulers's sàga in other platforms. The, I went on to state some of the facts about what transpired in Ìsẹ́yìn few days ago. The following are some of the facts I stated from my own perspective: 

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1. If it was true that the Obas refused to observe the protocol, they erred.

2. If they erred, they deserved to be corrected or reprimanded.

3. It was not the error and the correction that I personally have problem with, but the manner of approach which was unfriendly, disrespectful, disgraceful and embassrasing, not only to the kings, but to the entire Òkèògùn people. A slap on one is a slap in another and I take exception to that".

Then, I continued to say that there is always an effective and a more mature way to correct people, especially the elders, for them to redress their wrongs. In the case at hand, it was the the royal fathers that the matter concerned, caution supposed to be the watchword because they are forces to reckon with in our society how modern and civilise our thinking followed by our action is.

Not to make the kings feel embarrassed as they were, our former president supposed to have done what he did in another way using another method. To me, his motive was right and genuine, but his method was crude, uncouth, military, uncivil, unfriendly and harsh.

In clear tone, what the former president did "kù díẹ̀ káàtó" as our people would have loved to put it.

Again, I went further on my response to my responder to say: now, before I go to your next question about definition or "redefinition" as you preferred to put it, I think, it is good if I deal with OBJ again in respect to his being "a man of tradition and culture" as you addressed him which I like to humbly register my slight disagreement with your position considering the following points:

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1. Yes, OBJ has vaunted severally that he has respect for Yoruba culture.

2. Yes, OBJ has prostrated for some Yorùbá Obas in the past both in secret and in the public in spite of his age and social status which is a mark of respect that the Yorùbá culture holds in high esteem.

3. Yes, OBJ has demonstrated the charisma of "ọmọ Akin ó gbọdọ̀ ṣ'ọ́jọ́" (bravery) which the Yorùbá people are known for when he corrected our erring kings which was a feat that many others couldn't have ventured into if it were them.

4. But, OBJ has erred  when he displayed the spirit of anger, impatience, lack of courtesy, lack of self-control and emotional intelligence when he disrespected, disgraced and ridiculed the Yorùbá royalties at Ìṣẹ́yìn few days ago in the name of protecting the official protocols of the government as written in the constitution, though I have not ventured into reading which aspect of our constitution takes care of that and no one has succeeded in quoting to us where such respect for protocols is in our law book.

Now, do you want to tell me that all the points that I mentioned in the last paragraph, ranging from anger, impatience, lack of courtesy to lack of self-control and emotional intelligence, are not part of Yorùbá culture? I'm not sure you can succeed in convincing me that they are.

The truth of the matter is that the display of anger that have led to the melodrama under review is nothing but an expression of arrogance and pride.

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Furthermore, don't mind me that I'm coming with many questions, can I ask you, is arrogance a part of Yorùbá culture?

Prostrating flat on one's face on the floor for different kings in the open and in the secret that OBJ has previously been doing was/is an expression of humility or meekness.

If we juxtapose these two activities coming from the same person, how can we reconcile them? How can we say one individual successfully has been playing the same role given the same cultural assessment and the next thing we should do is to feel comfortable with such double-dealing? Is double-dealing an acceptable phenomenon in the Yorùbá cultural heritage?

With all of these, therefore, I have a serious problem with this controversy that the same personality has been creating for us to witness. How can we reconcile that the spirit of arrogance and humility are finding expression in one man who is laying claim to be the same Yorùbá culture?

To further crave your indulgence, I like to say that you won't mind my style here, but I like to register that the only way the Yorùbá people would have explained away this was to use the word "aláìlójútì" which means a person without shame for the person under review.

From what I have been saying so far on this matter and couple with various antecedents of OBJ, I want to believe the Yorùbá description of "aláìlójútì cannot he far from the truthful assessment of his Ìsẹ́yìn action, partularly with his defense and justification for his crude action.

Behaving like" aláìlójútì", to me, calls for serious investigation and probing since our people have said "àgbà kìí ṣ'orò bí èwe". But, from what happened in Ìṣẹ́yìn, "àgbà bàbá tí ṣ'orò bí èwe báyìí o"!

Having said all the above, let me now attend to the issue of definition and permit me to say that you got me wrong in the sense that I was talking about defining and seeking for identity for Òkèògùn region and people, but not the entire Yorùbá race. While you focus on the entire Yorùbá race, I'm being specific about the Òkèògùn region and people that have never got any definition or identity before either in the distant past or in the recent now.

How can I be talking about seeking for definition or identity for the entire Yorùbá race when everyone knows and accepts that the Yorùbás are one of the foremost races on earth with a unique, peculiar, special and different definition and identity?

But, can we cannot make the same vouch of self-definition and self-identity for Òkèògùn region and people as we have made for the entire Yorùbá race and some of the components of the Yorùbá race as I will soon mention?

You may not agree with me, but it doesn't change the fact that it is the truth that there is not yet any trace of definition and identity for Òkèògùn people and region.

The Ọ̀yọ́s, Ibadans, Ẹ̀gbás, Ìjẹ̀bús, Ìjẹ̀sàs, Oǹdòs, Ẹ̀kìtìs, Lagossans, etc have had their own identities which have been definning them for decades now. But, over the years, the other Yorùbás have classified Òkèògùn people and region as part of the Ọ̀yọ́s and that's not unique enough because we are not Ọ̀yọ́ people. And, if truth needs to be told, no matter what, the Ọ̀yọ́ will never accept us as part of them. From time immemorial, they have been seeing us as their slaves and they are willing to oppress us if they have the opportunity like "ará ilé ọ̀ọ́kán"! Up till today, the are still seeing us as slaves and people they can continue to oppress if we allow them.

By way of emphasis, I like to repeat that we are not part of the Ọ̀yọ́s. Such generalisation has not helped us in the past and it will never help us as Ọ̀yọ́ people will never accept us as part of them. If they don't accept us, why should we be accepting them as our lords?

Politically, if there is an opportunity to have a state, Ọ̀yọ́ will never support Òkèògùn to have its own State, no matter how we try. Ọ̀yọ́ will want to have the "New Ọ̀yọ́ State" with headquarter in Ọ̀yọ́ town to keep Òkèògùn under as the case has always been.

Then, for God sake, if they want to give Òkèògùn a senatorial district, let them give us a senatorial distinct senatorial district. Why would they pack ten local governments together from Òkèògùn with three local governments from Ògbòmọ̀ṣọ́ as strange bedfellows; and, for some years now, it has been the three local governments that have been determinning where the pendulum of our politics has been swinging toward in Òkèògùn as far as the senatorial district is concerned.

With all these, can I ask if we need a definition and an identity or not? Or, we should be comfortable with our definition and identity as slaves or the biblical hewers of woods and fetcher of water.

Anyone who is a student of history will recall the number of years it took our region to manage with modern school education when the other Yorùbá regions like Ìbàdàn, Ẹ̀gbá, Ìjẹ̀bú, Èkìtì, Oǹdó, Lagosian, etc had been graduating students in their secondary schools before our people were able to fight for secondary schools and brought Boys High School (BHS), Ṣakí (1958) which was mophied into a coeducational school to become Baptist High School (BHS), Ṣakí (1968); Ìsẹ́yìn District Grammar School (IDGS), Ìsẹ́yìn (1964) and Òkehò/Ìgànná Grammar School (OIGS), Òkehò (1965).

Baptist Academy, Lagos (1855) was the oldest secondary in Nigeria. CMS Grammar School was established in 1859. Methodist Boys High School, Lagos was established in 1878.

[Bravebold]

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Find below the names of more early secondary schools in Yorùbá land, their locations and the years of establishment:

1. Saint Annes School, Ìbàdàn (1896).

2. Old Wesley College, (now Wesley College of Science, Ìbàdàn) - (1905).

3. Abeokuta Grammar School, Abẹ́òkúta (1908).

4. Kings College, Lagos  (1909).

5. Alhuda College, Zaria (1910).

6. Ijebu-Ode Grammar School, Ìjébú-òde (1913).

7. Eko Boys High School, Lagos (1913).

8. Ìbádàn Grammar School,  Ìbàdàn (1913).

9. Government Secondary School, Ilorin  (1914).

10. Ondo Boys High School, Ondo (1919).

11. Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta (1923).

12. Queen's College, Lagos (1927).

13. Ìbàdàn Government College, Ìbàdàn (1927).

14. St Gregory's College, Lagos (1928).

15. Igbobi College, Yaba Lagos (1932).

16. St. Teresa's College Ibadan (1932).

17. Christ's School, Ado Ekiti (1933).

In Òkehò In History written by Prof. Ségun Gbádégesin, I read that the foremost pioneer in the pursuit of education outside of Òkehò was Mr. Ògúnṣọlá in 1951 who attended N. A Primary School, Òlèlè, Òkehò.

What this suggests is that when other regions of Yorùbá land had been enjoying secondary to education, it was primary and modern school education that Òkèògùn and her people were exposed to and, for want of answer, the question to ask is: why?

In addition to this, we recall the number of years that our elders went out to different cities and towns in other parts of Yorùbá land to attend secondary school, grade 11, NCE, school of nursing, school of hygiene, other professional education and university. And, is is not surprising that, till today, Òkèògún is the least when it comes to higher institution and our people are still going out to seek for higher education outside their region as they were doing in the past?

Let me ask again, does all that I have been saying present a people with definition and identity? Or, we should continue to be deceiving ourselves that we already have identity and definition?

May be I should do a test on this platform to know how many people had their higher institution education in Òkèògùn. Don't be afraid, I won't use the "ẹ dìde, ẹ jókòó" style to administer my test.

So, if I ask for those who attended their higher institution in Òkèògùn I'm so sure that more than 99% will say they had their higher education outside Òkèògùn. If this is true whoc is, should things be continue like that?

By my calcution, I'm not sure the time Òkèògùn Polytechnic, Ṣakí became autonomous was up to five years now. I don't the level of patronage by our people because it is one thing for us to have higher institution, it is another thing for our children to want to attend their higher education in Òkèògùn.

My recent experience has shown me that the mentality to go out of our region after secondary education which had been etched into our brain when there were no higher institutions is still affecting us. Our children want to go out even if they have the higher institution close their noses. Their argument is: how can I go to primary school in Òkehò, Ṣakí or Ìsẹ́yìn to use some towns for example and still go to higher institution in the same town?

It is such mentality as this that has been affecting some of the few higher institutions that have been brought to us like College of Health Science and Technology, Òkehò that started in 2015, but is  struggling to live as a result of low patronage from our region.

From what I have gathered so far, I learnt that the patronage from our people for the National Open University, Òkehò and Kìṣí Study Centres have not been encouraging. The Director of NOUN, Òkehò Study Centre told me that most of their students are from outside Òkehò and Òkèògùn and the question I kept asking is, what is wrong with our orientation? We were clamouring for higher institutions and we got them after serious unquantifiable investments, yet our young ones will prefer to go to private higher institutions outside our region to pay higher costs for their education when they can get the same thing in their doorsteps.

I learnt there is a college of Nursing or something like that in Kìṣí, I don't know what level of patronage that school is for experiencing, but I have a strong conviction that the experience will not be far from being the same.

Now, with all the pictures I'm painting and the facts I'm dishing out, can we conclude that we are a people with definition and identity with all these? Has that been the way the other Yorùbá regions been defining their identities?

Last week, we commissioned the Faculty of Agricultural Science and Renewable Resources of Lautech in Ìsẹ́yìn and we thank the good gesture from the Governor.  While we celebrate the Governor for looking at our side, we should not forget to keep reminding ourselves that that Faculty is not a full-fledged university and we should not rest on our oars till we have a full-fledged university in Òkèògùn. Where it is sited should not be our major concern like it is sited because wherever it is sited, it is going to be university for Òkèògùn people like the Faculty of Agric Science and Renewable Resources is an Òkèògùn campus of Lautech University.

Many people may say "half bread is better than none" to satisfy their sense of self-satisfaction, I don't subscribe to that kind of self-satisfaction because those who have been eating full loaves of bread for many years don't have two heads and they are not better than Òkèògùn people.

Looking issues of development holistically, it is good to mention that having a university is not the only thing to measure how a people can be defined or identified. There are other things to consider, but the bad news is that Òkèògùn has not got any of them.

For instance, Òkèògùn lacks infrastructural development, it lacks good economy because there are no businesses and entrepreneurial activities.

In Òkèògùn, there are no industries to create wealth and jobs for the teeming youths whose common bus stops have always been the city centres where they are being exposed to menial jobs like Ọ̀kadà riding, bus conductors, food restaurant attendants, selling of herbs, hot-drink and other items of substance abuse, etc when they could have become self-employed if things are going the way they ought to go for our region.

Again, can we say, with all I have mentioned above that we are people who don't need to discover our identity and define ourselves? For me, we urgently need to discover our identity and define ourselves in order to turn around the destinies of our region and our people.

For those who can recall, the closest to definition or identity we have had as a people was when the other Yorùbás were derogatorily addressing us as with names like "ará-òkè" and "ọmọ kẹn náà la jọ mọ". This may be derogatory and abusive; but, when we hear them, they generate a kind of spark and bond among our people. Isn't it?

But, there is no hiding that, for a very long time, the other Yorùbás don't respect us as they are doing among themselves. They have been using us in elections to count their votes. After elections, they used to forget us till the next election and they still follow the same pattern up till today which is why we have been crying that they are marginalising us! It is the same reason why we can be molested the way it happened in Ìsẹ́yìn few days ago!

However, to pursue the goal of defining and finding our identity, the bitter truth we have to start to tell ourselves is that the way they have been looking at us has been the way we have also been looking at ourselves too.

How have been looking at us is the next question to answer? And, my answer is that, they have been seeing us as grasshoppers and, in the same manner, we have been seeing ourselves as grasshoppers too. What a pity!

They have been marginalising us; but, the worst is that we have been marginalising ourselves more than they have been doing to us. And, with all these, do you still think that we don't need to explore how to pursue self-discovery, self-identity and self-definition?

As I try to present some other strong points, I like to say that my set out goal for writing this article is to see how, after reading it, it would change of mindset, mentality and perspective of our people to let us work together to pursue how to define ourselves with a unique and peculiar identity that God had in mind before He formed us in our mothers' wombs and brought together ane people with one destiny.

Another point many of us may not want to agree with is that a typical Òkèògùn person has this feeling of inferiority complex and except for those of us who have fought our own low self-esteem or lack of sense of self-worth, growing up, nearly all Òkèògùn persons must have had the common experience of timitidy and inferiority complex.

I don't know if it has happened to any of us before, but I have experienced it that there were many situations that I knew the answer to a question in a class situation but I didn't have the courage to lift up my finger and indicate that I knew the answer. I have heard many of us who have shared their similar experiences with me of how they were unable to indicate they were able to answer the questions in their classes too.

But, Òkèògùn people are brilliant and intelligent people, no doubt! The best way to confirm this position is to access the performance of Òkèògùn people in school examinations that used to have timetable and examinations of life that have no timetable.

The problem with an average Òkèògùn person is not that he is not brilliant and intelligent, but many of us don't have confidence to speak up and make a statements when it was most necessary to do so, an attitude that has robbed us individually and collectively in time past.

If you will agree with me, I can say that, till today, majority of our people are still fighting their low self-esteem and feeling of inferiority complex, sense of intimidation and, sometimes, pathological fear thereby slugging it out with a life of average, mediocrity and complacency which is a life that reminds me of what T. D Jake described with a powerful statement in his book that he titled "Can You Stand To Be Blessed" where he said: "many who supposed to rock the world are sleeping in the cocoon of obscurity waiting for their own time".

Pitching this statement with our agelong experience in Òkèògùn, the only statement that has been fighting its way into my stream of consciousness is that "Òkèògùn has been sleeping in a deep slumber" and it needs to be woken up.

Therefore, I like you to see my message in this piece as a wake up call to rise up and let us work together to discover who we are (self-identity), why we are (purpose) and what we have (potential) so as to rewrite our history and change the narrative of a defeated people to a victorious people.

Again, with all I have been saying, does anyone still think where we are and what we are experiencing does not call for a kind of introspective  self-examination that will lead to self-discovery and self-definition?

Whether we want to believe it or not, Òkèògún people and region have got no identity and definition up till now and this is what has been accounting for the lack of progress and development of the region unlike the other regions where the Yorùbá people are from.

Permit me to say that, like they have been having among the other Yorùbá people, there has never even been someone that we can point to, either in the past or now, as Òkèògùn leader and, I don't expect any of us to say that such regional leadership is not important.

So, I want to believe that it is lack of this unique personality who have been serving as a rallying point at leadership level that has been responsible for the lack of vision, direction, definition and identity which, in turn, has been adversely affecting the growth, progress and development of the region.

The Niger Delta people had a similar experience in the past, but they fought it. They deployed violence to get what they wanted. Today, they have Ministry of Niger Delta and, with a Stwte like Bayelsa with just eight Local Governments which is less in size and population compared to the ten Local Governments of Òkèògùn region, earning a bigger allocation coupled with many other policy considerations from the federal government.

However, we may not use violence to get what we want like the Niger Delta people because we are not naturally violent people, but we can deploy our wisdom and native intelligence to rewrite our history and define our identity. And, the earlier we started to pursue this the better.

Thank you and God bless you real

[Bravebold]