Sitting majestically and still basking in the euphoria of the anniversary celebration, the monarch barred his mind on how Erimo has fared in the last 10 years under his kingship. The strategies he has deployed in achieving the laudable projects that he has executed in the past years and all that. Kabiyesi also spoke extensively on his next plan to harness potentials of his town for more developments and benefits of his people. It was quite interesting session with the Elerimo. Enjoy the excerpts.......
Let's first of all congratulate you on the celebration of your 10th anniversary as the Elerimo of Erimo-Ijesa. It's quite amazing how far you've progressed in your developmental plans for the people of your town. Could you tell us what the experience is like in this past years? Has it been encouraging or otherwise?
Well, when you are on the path that God has appointed for you everything becomes encouraging. Nobody has the power to determine what he wants to become. This journey is a divine call for me, and so, I would say it's encouraging. It's tasking, it's been challenging but very encouraging. And I'm where God wants me to be. So it makes me happy serving my people in this capacity. I give God Almighty the glory, and I feel elated. It's not been that easy. A lot of people don't really know what goes through with the king. All they see is the paraphernalia of the office but beyond that, there is a lot more. But what is important is one, to be sure that you are where you are supposed to be. Number two is that you are rendering services that will change the lives of the other people which is what I have tried to do in the last ten years. So I give God the glory, and there is absolutely nothing than to thank God.
How have you managed the challenges that come with the throne in the last ten years? Is there a particular strategy you have adopted?
As you know, I had my entire career working for international organizations in and outside Nigeria. So I would say that I have had quite a number of experience in the administration but that is not enough. When you become a king you are going back to school again to learn. Now we are talking about dealing with people. You can't get angry and fire somebody in the town. You have criminals, you have good people, you have elderly people etc. You have to manage all their expectations, all the issues and all that. I would say that it's only the wisdom of God that can see a king through. It's beyond human knowledge. And sometimes when I decide to do something people wonder where did this idea come from. I keep telling myself definitely it's from God because it's God who will just speak on the idea for you to serve his people. You know God is somebody who knows the end from the beginning. As result, even when you are on a journey and you don't know, God knows the expected end. I would say that it's important to have a feedback mechanism in kingship or any leadership position. When things are done you must have an arrangement where you can hear your people, not listening to your own voice alone. No matter who they are whether downtrodden, elderly, rich , old or young. That is why Yoruba would say "Omode gbon, agba gbon lafi da'le ife''. Meaning that you will combine the wisdom of a young, the youth who people believe doesn't have much resume but has a lot of knowledge with the wisdom of an elderly person who has seen a lot. And we are talking about a lot of changes in the world. As we are moving into every decade there are new changes. There was a time everybody was running all over the place. Suddenly Nigerians are now able to transfer money now. We are able to reduce the cash outlay. A lot happened after the Corona virus pandemic, it has changed the way people work. A lot of people now work from home. So many things have changed in the world, and life has to keep changing. So even though this is a traditional institution, it's an institution that has to be dynamic to give room for changes. You keep adapting to changes and keep determining the best way to reach out to your people.
Kabiyesi, you must have learnt a lot of new things in-between all these?
I would say I came in as a novice like you are getting into university like a Jambite. You really don't know much but you have your IQ. Something got you into that place. But you have to now learn how to live in that place within the circumstance. When I became king everything looked a bit strange to me. Even though, like I said earlier, this is a divine call. It's not my personal wish to be king. It's the will of God. God planned for me to be king. Long before I was born, the prophecy had been foretold that I will be king and so it just happened when the time was right. I have learnt how to relate more with people. I have learnt to understand that different people have different IQ levels, different expectations and different wishes. And so as king and as the leader, the Job of the leader is to harness all these which is a job of a manager in a corporate setting. To harness available resources to achieve expected target objective or aim. This is what a king has to do. In the olden days the kingship was more about war, taking over other kingdoms and things like that. Right now it's about developments. Two issues essentially, one, taking care of the welfare of your people. Number two, looking for how to develop your community because the government can't do it all. You whose relationship with your people is a bloodlines relationship now has to take that beyond the level where the government might have stopped. The government come to different communities they offer services to and they go. They owe that to so many other communities. But as Kabiyesi in Erimo my duty is now to look at what are things that my people need. And I don't have to wait for the government. This is why you would notice in Erimo we have gone out of our ways to erect, installed and drilled boreholes in almost every part of the town to ensure that people have portable drinking water. This is why when we had electricity issues, we had problem with our transformer. We repaired and replaced a transformer. We have bought a brand new one all through private, personal partnership efforts not through governmental effort. This is why when our market which is several hundred of years old became too old and not safe to use, we built a new market. This is why we are offering scholarships to indigent students who are intelligent and brilliant. So many things like that. These are not what government can do because the government can't meet everybody's needs. But I would want to because am interested in living legacy that the coming generation can see and build on and even do better.
So you can boldly say that you have achieved the targeted developmental goals you had when you became king?
From my background in the international corporation we always do a financial year plan. We do a five-year plan, we do a ten-year plan. When I became king first I had a five-year plan, next I had a ten-year plan and so on. Then I had the overall and universal plan. And so I have always had a concept of thinking big but starting small. The concept was what I brought into my kingship to say well, this is where I have met Erimo, this is where I want it to be. How do we do that? First of all, we have to improve on the infrastructure which we have done largely. As you can see a lot of tarred roads, even federal government road passing through Erimo and all that. Number two is electricity that have been built and improved upon. If you are looking for industrialization the facilities must be adequate. Then number three, education is the key aspect of my policy. My father was the first university graduate from Erimo and the environ. So it became like issue for me to ensure that every child goes to school. It's still difficult for many people to pay or attend school despite government's efforts. So what we have done is to identify those who are indigent but intelligent and then offer scholarships at the primary and secondary school levels. Over the years with the support of some of my Indigenes abroad, we have paid the NECO fees for our students. This year for instance, we have paid the JAMB fees to encourage our students to get to higher institutions. We have built the educational infrastructure through our relationship with World Bank, getting grands to improve on our facilities. Some of our schools are 70, 80, 90 years old and of course need constant rejuvenation in terms of rebuilding and reconstructing them. In terms of personal relationship, we have also set up the Arowotawaya Microfinance and in that we are offering interest-free loans to micro and small scale entrepreneurs. We have a Garri (cassava flour) processing plant here because there is a lot of cassava. My people are farmers mainly. We have large scale cocoa and because of that we have built Cocoa House which allows us to grade cocoa and get them ready for sale or for export as the case may be. We are rice growers too until certain incident made everybody avoid it. Now we are building it up gradually so that after a while we will be able to plant and produce rice the way we used to and better than before. So many other little little issues like that.
What are your next plans, having achieved all these in the last ten years?
Well, I want to thank God for the opportunity to be alive to be on the throne to celebrate ten years. I see the first ten years as a platform to move into the next couple of years. You know being a king is an ongoing thing. It doesn't have tenure like we have in politics. This is a lifetime and so it's a marathon race. Once you start it you have to be energetic enough to be able to continue and it should only get better and I pray that the next years will be better than past years. And the plan is that we now want to have a federal institution like a university. We have outlined the land for that purpose and we are seeking partnership. We are close to achieving that on the private sector but wouldn't mind the federal government coming to also invest in that area. That is a very paramount and key area. Of course, Erimo land is arable, available for farming, available for industrialization. Cheap serviceable human resource, tarred roads. You can see it's an expressway into Erimo. So it's available for anybody who is interested in building industry, easily accessible. There is a shortcut from here to Abuja, and direct express road to Lagos. So we hope that investors will begin to look at Erimo and explore potential that we have.
Has ever been a time you felt like you should just go back to the city, judging by the enormous responsibilities and challenges that come with the throne?
Let me put it this way, there are many times that there are challenges for a king, for me as Elerimo. But I have come to the realization that I am now at a point of no return. If you have been to Ghana, you know the Cape Coast castle. There is a point where once they get to the door, the point of no return. That means that they are not coming back. I have realized that being on the throne is a point of no return. I have nowhere else to go. So what I can do is to make the best of my situation. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade out of it. You make the best of the situation. This is what I'm doing. But I am glad because, like I said, it's a great joy for me to be in the midst of my people. Am happy. I'm content and satisfied that each time I see them smiling I'm happy. We have carried out several empowerment programs to support small businesses. We have supported farmers to the large extent with fertilizer and so many other things like that over the years. It has been like regular thing that we do every year. We have improved our medical facilities like complete renovations and overhauling. And then food package relief for people. So we can't get to a time when we'll say people are hungry. We have taken care of the needy, not just the disables but the elderly and widows. They are on special arrangement with me to look after their welfare and so on. And in other to support them further, we try to introduce a system where we can give out implements to improve their businesses. Women are given grounding machines to make little money everyday. Some tailors have been set up to be given tailoring machines to support them. Farmers are given things they need to be productive. All these have been ongoing for the past ten years. Now what we want to do is harness our agricultural potential. We produce the large number of cocoa, cassava, palm oil and so on. We need to harness it to another level. The problem with Africa is that we produce, we have all these at raw level but we don't add value. And so people would just come and buy them at unreasonable prices and they make all the money. That is something we want to correct from henceforth. That we want to begin a situation whereby we can work in partnership to add value. We don't want somebody to just come and carry our cocoa. We want somebody who can come and set up factory here, and then we'll know we have added value. This is from Erimo. We want to have partnership to have a university. We have the land available, the resources. We are ready to move. So we are hoping that the next years will be an opportunity for us to be seen. We are in the eye of the world right now. So we hope that we make the best of it in the coming years to get the best results.
How difficult or easy has it been sourcing for funds for these projects you have executed?
The truth of the matter is that when I took up this position I knew it was God who wanted me here. I was spending my personal savings initially. The second way or source of funding is that I have related, reached out to my friends, family and associates. So the funding has been between myself, friends, family and associates. It's because this is my life. I'm not a politician. I'm not trying to impress anybody. I'm just trying to do the best for my people, to make them happy. I see their needs. I'm there in their midst. I understand what they need and I try out of my little efforts to provide what is possible. We use all the resources available.
What normally encourage you in a challenging period?
The first thing is the thought that I have no option. People tend to make mistakes. When you find yourself in a situation whereby there is really no option, where am I turning to? Am I going to resign? Have you heard of an Oba resigning? Number two is that I have a family name to protect. I have pedigree and I have integrity that I need to protect and make it better. My father had done a lot in this town. And the least I can do is to harness on whatever anybody has done. Even the past kings, they have done their best based on their level of exposure. My own duty is now to take it to another level and then improve on it. So when I get to those moments I convince myself that, why am I deceiving myself? Where am I going? If am angry I will wake tomorrow and still be Kabiyesi Elerimo. So I better just enjoy it and make the best of it. Yes, as a human being there are times that I feel discouraged.
And the high moment, like during this my anniversary I was elated. I didn't even know what to do. I sat with the Ooni, he kept saying, 'O ga o Elerimo'. You know because he was surprised. People showed me love. No evil incident. People came and went back safely. KSA performed. And of course I launched tribute. Because I like to communicate in writing. So far I have writing eight books. It was five before, I have added three more. And essentially I try to just write on what I see around. Put the history of Erimo in proper perspective. The history of our mountains and all. If you look at the brochure of the anniversary you will see how full. Many people's messages couldn't even get in because of time. I feel that this is the sign of love, demonstration of love from people and I thank God for that. I wouldn't like a situation whereby am doing this kind of celebration and nobody is coming out to support me. If you were here you will see the way my people were all over the place. When all jam-packed that we had to request for people to excuse us, they stood up happily because they wanted everything to go on well. Old, young, everybody. Our Erimo Indigenes abroad with the Association of Erimo-Ijesa Diaspora Heritage were so happy to support us. Now I feel that we have rejuvenated the patriotic enthusiasm in Erimo. Erimo has been known for the land like a Jerusalem where people come to for prayers because of our powerful and potent spiritual mountains. Everybody has been here at one time or the other. It's a land of peace. It's a land with several potentials. Now we are trying to build the industrial base by encouraging potential investors to come, as well as getting the educational facility here.
What was your mood like in the morning of the day that you clocked 10 years on the throne?
I sat down on myself and praised God. I thanked God Almighty that am here. Even though it looks to me like it was just yesterday. That is what God says. He says, "when God turned again the captivity of Zion they will be like they that dream". I forgot all that I may have gone through. I was just happy. Happy enough because people may have spent six months and died. People may have spent less than a year. So many incidents may have happened. I'm glad that everything went well. We are not in any form of problem. We have things to count to say, we have done this and that. There is cause for celebration so I really thank God.
How do you manage the issue of religion and tradition that one don't clash with the other?
We are all the same. I know that there is only one God Almighty. Who is neither a Christian or Muslim or whatever. He's God Almighty. What is important is we have relationship with God. If you choose to have it through Christianity or Islam or Tradition, it's all fine. As king I belong to everybody. As king every religion practice in my domain is under me. As king I have to ensure peaceful co-relationship within all these religions, knowing that there is only one God Almighty. You can call the God Allah, you can call Him Eledumare, anything. It's just semantics. Because if we were to be in China what they call God will definitely be different to what we have in French. But it's still the same God we are talking about. So as for religion, we have maintained peaceful co-existent largely in Erimo. The large majority of Erimo Indigenes are Christians , and a little few are Muslims. In addition to that we have our own traditional festival. We are direct descendants of Obalufon Alayemore from Ife. Our forefather was Obalufon Ogbogbodirin who was the longest reigning king in Ife and possibly, the world. He looked so young, never died according to the history and he became..And his son Obalufon Alayemore mounted the throne before he vacated the throne for Oranmiyan. And then came to where he founded Erimo and some other towns. Eventually he had to be recalled back to Ife and became king again. So he was Ooni twice. His father was also Ooni. That's our history and so we can't forget our tradition. We have a festival which is celebrated in memory of the son of Obalufon, who was the first king, Agidanrinmusa. He was a warrior's son and so we celebrated it during the anniversary on Tuesday, 6th of August which happened to be the day that I received the staff of office after coming out of my hibernation and isolation period ten years ago.
A king is allowed to marry more wives, how is it with the Elerimo? How do you manage the women aspect?
If you go to church it's women you will find most. If you go to mosque even though we don't see them they are at the back, it's still women. If you go to the mountains that we have it's still women. Because they are the ones that God equipped with the energy to go round. Man can just be there. Like they say, 'Baba gbogbo aiye". Before answering your question, when we devoted more attention to supporting women empowerment we saw large improvement. In the case of the men, we saw that men were looking for marrying more wives. There was high incidents of domestic violence and so on. But in the case of women, no matter how irresponsible a woman is every opportunity she will look after the children, send them to school and take care of them. 'Obirin ni iyo aiye', there is no doubt about that. As you are talking about how am managing them. That is not the purpose of my kingship. I'm on the throne for a purpose. Every other thing is fringe benefits or just attachment. And I can't lose sight of why am here. Am not here because of women want to come around me. Even if I was not here, if I would love it women will still be there. That's not the issue. If I understand and I remember that am sitting on the throne because God wants me to be here, representing His interest to look after my people then I can't lose focus. I have to focus on what He expects me to do within my knowledge and within the support of the people. And I'm happy that I have very good and supportive chiefs, the Elerimo-in-Council, who quickly understand my plans and they assist to ensure that we execute it properly to satisfy our people and for the benefit of the town.
How do you feel looking at what you have achieved in the last ten years as Elerimo? Are you fulfilled?
Even if somebody is my enemy he or she will know that we have tried. People of my town know that we have tried. But we give God all the glory because without God we couldn't have done all this. I can proudly say among my peer that I have done so well. The results are there for all to see. This is not something done in secret. During the COVID pandemic, we raised money and ensure that everybody in Erimo was taken care of in terms of their welfare, food and everything. Even when people say what is Oba's business with transformer, as long as it's going to better the lives of my people, I'm ready to go ahead and do it. So I have no doubt that God has been good to us. And that is why my prophetic name is 'Eyinju Eledumare'.
Credit: City People
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