Ijebuland’s Ancestral Fire: Why Politics Cannot Usurp the Sacred Awujale Succession
The serene hills of Ijebuland, cradling a Yoruba kingdom forged in trade and defiance, now host a keen contest between timeless tradition and the long arm of state authority.
Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, the Awujale whose 65-year reign from 1960 ended with his passing on July 13, 2025, at age 91, left an indelible mark: schools rebuilt, roads carved through verdant expanses, and the Ojude Oba festival transformed into a global cultural beacon that fuses heritage with economic vitality.
As the Fusengbuwa Ruling House steps forward under ancestral mandate to select his successor, repeated Ogun State interventions have frozen the process, drawing a fierce rebuttal from Otunba (Dr) Abdulfalil Abayomi Odunowo, National President of SPEAKUP Collectives Nigeria (SCN): the Awujale stool endures as the ancestors’ sacred trust, impervious to political override or imposition. Oba Adetona’s legacy stands as the unassailable benchmark for what Ijebuland demands in its next paramount ruler.
From the Gbelegbuwa line, Adetona ascended amid post-colonial flux, channeling personal fortune into educational endowments that schooled generations and infrastructure projects linking isolated hamlets to booming markets — echoes of Ijebu’s historic dominance over coastal trade routes tracing back to Ile-Ife migrants.
His stewardship elevated the Ojude Oba from communal homage into an international draw, blending agbada-clad pageantry with investor summits, while advocacy for Ijebu State autonomy navigated Nigeria’s civil strife, oil wealth swings, and democratic rebirths. Quietly authoritative, he championed community upliftment, embodying the wisdom that fused commerce, culture, and resilience.
A successor, Odunowo insists, must rise through this same crucible: not gubernatorial decree, but the deliberate, oracle-guided deliberations of the Council of Afobaje kingmakers, ensuring a leader crowned by communal will and divine favor.
This sacred machinery of succession rests on Ijebu’s 1957 Awujale Chieftaincy Declaration, mandating strict rotation among four ruling houses — Gbelegbuwa, Anikinaiya, Fusengbuwa, and Fidipote — to forestall any single lineage’s dominance and honor equitable origins.
With Gbelegbuwa’s tenure fulfilled by Adetona, Fusengbuwa received formal notification in December 2025 to vet over 90 eligible princes, sifting them via transparent rites, ancestral consultations, and consensus in dimly lit chambers where libations invoke forebears.
The Afobaje, hailed by Odunowo as “unwavering guardians” and “beacons of integrity,” enforce this with fidelity, rejecting skips absent rare historical consensus like the “Abidagba” precedent.
Ijebuland’s ethos, born of merchant equity that built an empire repelling foes, positions the stool as the realm’s pulsing core — no mere prize for boundary negotiations, territorial claims, or administrative leverage, but a heritage held in trust for generations unborn.
The rupture came sharply in December 2025, when Ogun State authorities suspended Fusengbuwa’s proceedings, invoking petitions over alleged vetting irregularities and procedural gaps.
Security cordons encircled the Awujale palace, activities ground to halt, and the chill spread through Ijebu Ode’s vibrant markets, stirring memories of colonial encroachments.
Reports pointed to Governor Dapo Abiodun favoring contenders like Hon. Ademorin Kuye, met with Afobaje defiance: vacancy preferable to coercion.
The Department of State Services, (DSS) summoned nominees, amplifying perceptions of siege and evoking Ijebu’s defiant annals — the 1892 Battle of Imagbon, where Awujale Tunwase’s forces thwarted British trade monopolies, or the 1949 concessions to Native Authority amid unrelenting pressure.
Odunowo distills the collective anguish: force may hush voices briefly, yet it cannot obliterate a civilization’s etched memory.
A fragile January 2026 clearance allowed Fusengbuwa resumption, only for renewed halts by January 20, with official denials of discord fueling #IjebuAgbeWaO campaigns across social media, markets, and diaspora outposts from Lagos to Atlanta.
Odunowo’s manifesto resonates as a clarion for restraint and resolve: “No monarch, however elevated, holds mandate to compromise ancestral heritage or territorial integrity for transient gains.” Ijebu progeny — salt traders at Waterside, academics in Igbo, professionals in Abuja — embody a legacy of self-determination, never yielding to dictation or rush.
Patience supplants expediency; legitimacy, haste. This standoff reverberates beyond Ijebuland, challenging Yoruba stools from Benin to Oyo where godfathers loom, offering a template: root in custom, insist on due process, let ancestors adjudicate.
History chronicles each juncture; spectral throngs at Ojude Oba observe.
As Fusengbuwa weighs character over clout, hope persists for an Awujale mirroring Adetona’s grace — a true son of the soil, strengthening Ijebuland’s unity amid Nigeria’s fissures.
In this crucible, the ancestors’ light burns undimmed, a flame no shadow of politics can quench. Ijebu rises, dignified and unbowed.
Ijebu a gbe wa o!
