What Abraham Adesanya, Frederick Fasheun Told Me About Obasanjo- Wahab Shittu
Chief Olusẹgun Obasanjo goes by the sobriquet: Ẹbọra Owu, a moniker of Anlugbua, the progenitor of the Owu race, which he appropriated to himself.
That way, Ọbasanjọ sees himself as the soul, the symbol and the voice of the Owu people spread across over 50 communities in about seven states.
As the reincarnate of Anlugbua, the original mystical personage known as the Ẹbọra Owu and credited with so much awe, invincibility and invisibility whenever there was any danger lurking around the Owu homestead, Obasanjo loves to dwell in troubled water.
Although Anlugbua is no more, Obasanjo has more or less assumed the spiritual powers and authority of the ancestral deity.
These two qualities came to fore on Friday at an event in Iṣẹyin, Ọyọ State where an obviously livid Ọbasanjọ reprimanded the more than a dozen traditional rulers present over their breach of protocol for not standing up when the Ọyọ State Governor, Seyi Makinde, arrived the event venue. Ọbasanjọ had to order the kings to stand up (to observe the protocol) and then sit down (e dide, e joko).
The audacity of Obasanjo to order those kings to their feet with military precision added to the mystery of the strange occurrence. I will provide an explanation.
The late activist, Dr. Frederick Fasheun, was detained for over 30 months from October 2000. His arrest was effected after he made a private visit to the then President Olusẹgun Obasanjo at his Ọta Farm in Ogun State. Acting as his counsel, I was able to secure his release after two and half years in detention.
Shortly after his release, Dr. Fasehun paid another visit to President Ọbasanjọ and asked what his offence was for Obasanjo to have detained him immediately he left his Ọta Farm and for Obasanjo not to have even asked to see him throughout his 30 months detention. President Ọbasanjọ feigned ignorance about Fasheun’s detention and claimed he thought he traveled out.
A bewildered Fasehun, who was detained alongside Aare Gani Adams and late Saka Saula (of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Ìyànà Ipaja branch in Lagos State) headed to the home of the Afenifere chieftain, Chief Abraham Adesanya, to report Obasanjo. I accompanied him on the visit.
Pa Adesanya after listening to Dr. Fasehun chuckled and narrated his own experience with Ọbasanjọ, the Ẹbọra Owu.
He told Fasheun how Obasanjo as a sitting president bumped into his birthday party at his Apapa, Lagos home uninvited.
Again, he narrated to Fasehun how President Ọbasanjọ mysteriously showed up at one of the Afenifere meetings held at the Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State home of Adesanya.
If the Afenifere members were shocked at Ẹbọra Owu’s puzzling appearance at that meeting, then were yet to see anything. Pa Adesanya told Fasheun that after that visit by Obasanjo, the Afenifere held about five meetings at the usual Ijẹbu Igbo venue, but none of the meetings could take off as each time they were about to commence, there would be sudden heavy rainfalls that had hitherto not formed any cloud or showed any sign of rainfall.
When this same weird occurrence persisted for about five consecutive times, the Afenifere elders sought traditional ways of unraveling the mystery.
The revelation was that a mystery being (ẹbọra) had stepped into the venue of the Afenifere meetings and so there can be no convergence anymore on that space. If any happens, there would be no consensus reached.
The elders of Afenifere knew where the fingers were pointing and had to carry out certain propitiation rites to cleanse the venue before normalcy returned. That is the current Ẹbọra Owu mystical powers.
Or who else could have ordered an assembly of Yoruba obas to stand up and sit down as we saw in Iṣẹyin, Oyo State on Friday.
. Shittu is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
