Oba Olabisi's Four (4) Years on the Throne: More Wins than Losses//Femi Oyedemi

The famous Russian writer,Leo Tolstoy, observed that the world's two greatest warriors are time and patience. There's nowhere this contradiction works out well other than the Yoruba language. With these statements such as: akoko n lo,ko duro denikan, meaning,time is fast going without waiting for whose ox is gored and onisuuru ni yoo jogun aye, meaning- only the patient shall inherit the world,the world as veritable atmosphere of contradictions is unveiled. While some may argue that it's too early to begin to pen about Oba Olabisi's sojourn on the Okere obaship had better pay heed to one the statements above and the saying too that a minute is a long time in politics let alone four years in the life of a community. I was a part of the collegiate form of voting where we wanted to elect a Chairman for the old Ifedapo local government in one of General Ibrahim Babangida's transition labyrinth in the old teacher's college at Abata Ogun. One of the political juggernauts of the time from Irawo apparently working for the progressive block saw that electoral loss was imminent and the delegates had been camped in the hall where the voting was to take place. By then,there was no phone and any forms of communication with the delegates had been suspended. He devised a means of smuggling his rolex wrist watch into the hall to the head of the delegates from Irawo and other adjoining towns. If this move was not over ruled by the conservative wing headed by the highly cerebral Nafiu Ashiru and Alh Lateef Giwa,both of blessed memory,the election results would have swung in favour of the progressive wing. This is to underscore the import of the statement: one minute is a long time in politics. It is therefore no out of place to attempt an appraisal of the Oba Olabisi's reign in Saki with a view to portray what the Oba stands for in terms of his vision and mission in transforming the town into a budding city in the comity of towns and cities in Oke Ogun,Oyo State and Nigeria at large. This little attempt would also assist in placing events in proper perspective and help to restrategise ,if need be,or consolidate the Oba's self assured sure-footedness as he marches on in the superintending of the Akinbekun dynasty established over six decades ago.

Oba Olabisi is a Dogged Fighter: Pride is not a crime if one is sure of the niceties that would come with it. A great Sheikh of Islam who established the Arabic learning behemoth at Agege,once a suburb of Lagos once remarked that he didn't regret being dubbed a stubborn scholar as long as his stubbornness yields the expected results. Oba Olabisi has a clear and clean vision for the obaship. He came well prepared for the job. He is a typical of the one who had been an Oba before becoming the Oba, equivalent of what the Yoruba would term Atobatele,ko to wa joba. One of the apparent heir to the Okere Kitoyi Dynasty once remarked that Oba Olabisi carries on more like a businessman than a monarch. My terse reply was that it's always difficult separating a man from his antecedents. What is only left is for the Oba to leverage on his entrepreneurial cohorts home and abroad to transform Saki into a business hub of his lofty dream. The current negative brand of the town as not being investment friendly must be thoroughly thrashed. Kabiyesi should work with other critical stakeholders in the town like the Saki Parapo to nip in the bud recalcitrant elements that thwart investment efforts.There is a body that promotes and encourages rich Nigerians in the diaspora to invest back home. But if a good sense of investment security is not engendered, this would be a forlorn hope. A good friend based in Canada had once lamented that our people who have made a large quantum of legal money had always thought of coming home to invest but were mostly discouraged by inclement home environmental occasioned by unscrupulous elements back home.

Oba Olabisi and infrastructure: One area where the Okere has a good score card is in the area of infrastructure. Aside Okere Otiti who located the palace from Ogigigbo Ile in the year 1700,no other Oba had made deliberate efforts to give the palace the facelift it deserving of a modern palace. Oba Olabisi transformed the palace into an ultra modern edifice and this is commendable. He did this without removing the pristine state which some aspects of the palace required. If not for the modernity and the long period of interegnum between 1964 and 1972 when Saki had no Oba,the whole of the fowl market and the portion of the road lying in front of the gate of the palace were originally part of the palace during the reign of Okere Ladosu. One would remember, with nostalgia, the giant mud house that served as the gate house for the palace lying between the new gate and the exterior of the Adabo market up to the roundabout. In the downtown Toronto in Canada, there's the modern city hall side by side with the old city hall and this affords the younger Canadians what technology looked like in the earlier times. The old gate house was so tall to accommodate the Okere and his entourage while straddled on horses, remember Oba Ladosu with his equistrian skills. So,the idea of completely demolishing old for the new doesn't help preservation of our cultural heritage at times. If you go to Oyo Alaafin,an old section of the palace is retained to serve as relics of the great Oyo empire. In some cases, architecture is about the old thinking as an elixir for modernity. The Okere aggressive drive for infrastructure has led him to commission a mansion recently in Ibadan named Asabri Cottage as a means of etching the name of the town in the global domain. This serves as a model for patriots of the town to immortalise the name of Saki and her appurtenances.

Oba Olabisi and the Pursuit of Educational Goals: Another segment where the Oba towers high is in the area of education. He does this in tandem with other meaningful people in the community. The idea of turning the large expanse of land under utilized by the Vetrenary sector of the state ministry of Agric has been pencilled down for the Saki town's Community University. For this reason,recent bid to allocate the land for residential purposes had been stalled. A committee to work on the feasibility study and eventual realisation of the dream is being furtively empanelled by the Okere himself. There are also efforts to restrategise and reposition the Saki technical college in line with the aims and objectives of the Oyo State government regarding the need to rethink technical education. This is aside reinvigorating the Saki Parapo education committee. Proprietors of private universities have variously been promised free land with a proviso that a significant percentage of the workers would be Saki indigenes. I do not know how else someone can be described as a lover of education. The Oba also liaises with Universities outside Nigeria for possible future foray into Saki. One good example was a West African University that conferred on the Oba a doctorate degree which was urged to establish a multi lingual University in Saki over time.

Okere and Love for the Youth: Oba Olabisi is aware that the future of a community lies with the quality of training for the teeming youths. There has not been a youth program organized in the town where the Okere has not been physically present. He also organizes annual career talk in his Alma mater with a view to replicating same in other schools in the old Ifedapo and Oke Ogun at large. All these efforts are meant to guarantee quality life for our youths in order to place them in good stead for future challenges.

Some of the Losses: An Oba whose image looms large has been well supported and promoted by his subjects. Equally,if a leaders suffers popularity deficit, don't look too far from the homestead. Eeyan ni mu ni niyi, gbogbo eni to te, Ile ni won ti te lo. At times once source of strength may also be once area of weakness but with love from the subjects, it's difficult for anyone to rubbish an Oba. History has it that Oba Ladosu waited magestically for the political icon Obafemi Awolowo in the early days of Egbe Omo Oduduwa which later transmogrified into Action Group. That was in the 1950s . The Okere monarchy is deyond what an occupier of a temporary office can defy. However,there might be need for more magisterial comportment on part of the Oba. Other notable internal cracks are infinitesimal and not beyond what Kabiyesi himself can address leveraging on patriotic elements in the town. In the fullness of time,there may be many more to write on the highly pushfull and cerebral land merchant turned Oba. 

Here's wishing the agile superintendent of the Saki monarchical trajectory a happy birthday, blissful sojourn in the newly commissioned Asabari Cottage and remarkable reign in Saki kingdom. Many more of these feats.