Oba Olusanya Adegboyega Dosunmu, the Olowu of Owu Kingdom, Abeokuta,a pastor turned oba has seen it all. He has come out to talk about the reasons why he still do rituals as a traditional head.
He said “When the government had approved my candidacy, Chief Gbenga Daniel who was the governor then asked me if I would go to the palace to perform the ritual of staying in the palace for 90 days in seclusion. I said I would. He said he thought I was a pastor. I asked him what that had got to do with my being in the palace under seclusion for 90 days. He said it was because of the rituals they would need to perform. I asked him what rituals meant.”
The uncle said that wasn’t the kind of rituals he meant. “He said he was talking about the one they would need to put marks on my head and do this and that. I said it wasn’t a problem but I would still need to ask them why they would need to perform such on me. If you are going to dress me up, I would need to look at what you are wearing. If you are wearing rags, I wouldn’t allow you to dress me up. If somebody wanted me to do a ritual, I would need to ask questions and ask why they would want me to do it that particular way they are talking about. So I told him I would go to the palace and I wasn’t going to throw anybody away. I had a few things going for me. I didn’t do the rituals and not because I was a Christian, no. Christianity has its own rituals. In my house, between the hours of 1am and 3am, I and my wife would get up and pray. Is it not ritual?”
He added “The kingmakers came to my house around 1am one night. They knocked and they said they were the ritual kingmakers. I invited them in. I didn’t have to condemn them, that was what they knew. What I know is different from theirs; my exposure is different. I believed they could benefit from my exposure and that was why I went and said I would be in the seclusion of the palace for three months, alone from 8pm to 8am the next day. Nobody was supposed to come there. I even saw it as a good time for me to pray. I had been praying from 1am to 3am long before I became an Oba. Then I would read my bible. There should really be a time you detach yourself and stay on your own.
