Oba Adeyemi ‘Professor of ancient, modern history’ meets Alesh Akeem, founder of ‘Artsassination’

The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111, is an enigma by every standard and a chance meeting with him is like an expository adventure through a school of history.
One enviable high-point in the life of the Alaafin is his deep
knowledge and high sense of recounting historic events with facts and figures, and with an accuracy that will beat the imagination of intellectuals and intelligentsias.
 The Alaafin, at his age, 79 years, still remembers events of over a hundred years old, and still writes his scripts unaided.
He is a consummate reader and would pass any day, for a Professor of ancient/modern history and archaeology.
Oba Adeyemi is a man at home with himself at all times, as he exudes confidence in all his dealings.
One enviable highpoint in the life of this great monarch is his deep
knowledge and high sense of recounting historic events with facts and
figures; and with an accuracy that will beat the imagination of youthful intellectuals.
Oba Adeyemi spoke when the popular Nigerian pencil artist,
Alesh Akeem, paid him a courtesy visit  as he prepares for his next project, ‘Celebrating 10 Kings’
The pencil artist who represents his art company ‘Artsassination, gained prominence after his much glorified artwork for popular American singer, Ciara – who he met during singer, Darey Art Alade’s musical concert in Lagos State.
Since then, Osama Bin Lakeem, as he likes to call himself on his
social media page, Facebook, has been in the spotlight, with many
prominent Nigerians and foreign artists having their portrait drawn by
this great sketch artist.
Alesh has presented his sketched artwork to foreign singers such as
Ciara, T. Pain, and Migos.
Oba Adeyemi asserted that the Yoruba, who number more than 30 million on the African continent, and many millions in their diaspora, inhabit  a world of myths, allegories, poetry, the love and wisdom of the Ifa divination system.
He said those are just a few of the components of Yoruba culture, the genesis of which is the ancient town of Oyo.
‘’The Yoruba constitute over 40 million people in total. The majority
of this population is from Nigeria, and the Yoruba make up twenty one
percent of the country’s population, according to making them one of
the largest ethnic groups in Africa’’.
On the largest Empire in Africa
The old Oyo Empire was one of the earliest and probably, the greatest
independent race in West Africa, south of the equator. At the height
of its existence, the old Oyo Empire dominated all Yoruba kingdoms
namely Ife, Ijesha, Egba, Ijebu, Sabe and Owu. The area occupied by
the Yoruba Kingdom in south-west Nigeria, is roughly enclosed by
latitude 5 and 8 degree North of the equator and Longitude 5 and 21/2
degree East. There are two versions to the origin of the Yoruba race – Migration and Aboriginality.
These two theories may not necessarily be contradictory in the sense that our oral tradition was handed down to
us by purely non-natives.
But this is a universal phenomenon because if you realise that at one
time in history, you have the whites in South Africa; the Eastern and
Southern Rhodesia, all living together on the basis of long
co-existence.
The same experience is also recorded in the case of migration, as
there are historical and empirical evidences documented in the famous
Lugard lecture series, as well as, in the researches of Saburi
Biobaku, (the world acclaimed historian) that the Yoruba race is so
large and wide, that it stands today as the greatest and strongest
empire ever, in the entire continent of Africa.
The reign of Oranmiyan marked a new phase in Yoruba history as it
witnessed the executive transfer of political power from Ile-Ife to
Oyo, and thereafter, Oyo become the political headquarter of the
Yoruba race, and that is where the Alaafin presides from.
According to historical studies, the Oyo palace is estimated to be
sitting on about 640 acres. We still have excavations of the old Oyo
Empire, and centuries after, some of the walls of the old Oyo Empire,
are still standing in its original form. That is a great testimony of
the architectural ingenuity of the Yoruba race.
The old Oyo Empire distinguished itself in the world; with three very
distinctive and unique models. First, it evolved a wonderfully
developed constitution, though unwritten. The average Yoruba man is
governed by strong convention. Secondly, the Yorubas evolved a
military system that allows them to develop weaponry.
The Yorubas are the first to smith iron and thus, they built foundries
from where they also produced agricultural implements to boost food
production. Thirdly, the Yoruba race evolved a very practical method
of administration, by adopting the cabinet system of governance. If
you are a good student of the evolution of British Constitution, you’d
know that the cabinet system came about in Britain only as a matter of
temporal expedience; it was not by design.
So, as far back as the 16th Century, the old Oyo Empire developed the
cabinet system of government. And from the Prime Minister, to the
Alaafin, and the various divisional heads, all tiers have their roles
and responsibilities clearly spelt out and adhered to with separation
of powers, and inputs for checks and balances.
The military command structure is so unique that the Aare Ona Kakanfo
as the generalissimo of the military led the Oyo war lords
successfully to many battles between the 13th and 16th century that
preserved the territorial integrity, of the Yoruba race. And during
this time, Oyo extended its territorial limits up to Nupe, Dahomey,
Abome, Wema, and other parts of Togo land. And today, these people are offshoots of the great Yoruba Kingdom.
The Oyos were not called Yorubas originally.
Other groups that made up the Yoruba race preferred at the time (centuries ago) to be called Egbas, Ijeshas and whatever name they desired. But by the 19th century, there was need to forge a common ground and have a standard linguistic form hence, the Oyo dialect was embraced by all Yorubas. So Yorubas are Oyo’s by origin.
On Ilorin and Oyo Kingdom. You see, water will always find its level, and history is very potent, no matter how hard we try to submerge it. It’s like blood and water;
and you know too that blood is thicker than water. Ilorin has always
been a Yoruba town. Afonja was sent there, as the generalissimo of the
Yoruba soldiers to protect that flank of the Oyo kingdom from the
invasion of the Fulani and the Nupes.
Somehow, he got too ambitious and invited the dissident groups to his
camp; cutting himself away from the major ethnic groups. Having
realized that he had betrayed them, the Yoruba stock organized a
palace coup and overthrew him.
The history of Ilorin is well documented. There’s nowhere in Africa
that you’ll see a Fulani man claiming possession of Ilorin. The
language, culture, nomenclature, and even tradition of Ilorin are Yoruba; and Ilorins are Yorubas. There is no dispute about this empirical fact.
On Culture
Nigeria is a heterogeneous society. Before colonialism, the territory known as Nigeria today was inhabited by different peoples, empires,
tribes and kingdoms.
 These peoples have different cultures, traditions and religion.
 The colonialists did not consider these divergent issues, but went
ahead and welded them together as one country.
It was gathered that until 1977, when the only cultural show was
performed in Nigeria (FESTAC), there had never been attempts to
nationalize Nigerian cultural heritage.
Consequently, scholars pointed out that whenever talks or plans for
globalization of the heritage are raised it is pertinent to start at
home or domestic level before internationalization (that is cultural
nationalization before cultural globalization).
Commenting on the issue, the Alaafin said Nigeria is a society with abundant rich
cultural heritage that are scattered within the diverse ethnic
nationalities.
He stated that these cultural heritages include language, marriage
rites, burial rites, birth rites, dressing, greeting, music, folklore,
religion, and other tangible cultural monuments, natural sites and
cultural landscapes.
Some of these cultures have died due to western cultural influence and
therefore needed to be revitalized and uploaded in the net if those
who know how they are performed are still alive. The paramount ruler
asserted, ‘’the advent of Information and Communication Technology
[ICT] have forced the developed world to operate in a context of
change which automatically affects the ways our cultural heritage are
documented, preserved and practiced. It has brought the culture,
folklore and heritage of western countries into our doorsteps, reading
tables, desktop or laptop with just a press of the computer keyboard
or a click of mouse.
Where is the Nigerian, especially Yoruba cultural heritage in the
world cultural arena? Efforts to globalize Nigerian cultural heritage
have not been fully discussed, evaluated or strategized by the
Nigerian government. There is serious lack of co-ordination of
Nigerian cultural heritage between the Federal government and the
Ministry of culture. Many Nigerians are not aware of their cultures
due to the fact that cultural knowledge and practices are not included
in Nigerian education curricula.
Western adventures made efforts to undermine the cultural heritage of
various peoples around the world through colonization, imperialism and
now globalization, as cultural imperialism left the colonized in a
state of cultural disorientation which is vulnerable to cultural
invasion. The most important far reaching effect of cultural
globalization is the commercialization of culture. Production
distribution and consumption of cultural goods and services have
become commodities along with the essentials of life. Music, food,
clothes, fashion, art, sports images, and so on now sold in the
market, imported and exported. This has a disturbing impact on the
people of Nigeria
To the Alaafin, as Africa continues to re-write its history and stride
into the Millennium,  there is urgent need for leaders in the
continent to begin a systematic documentation of what they have in the
name of cultural property.
These he pointed out should include objects made by our forefathers,
the monuments of the land and things created by us today that would
become of historic importance tomorrow.
 ‘’Africa is opening up herself to the world in a way that she had
never done in the past. We are no longer ‘’the Dark Continent’’ and
Africans are no longer ‘’the primitives’’ the civilizations that ounce
flourished in Africa have become the issue in the Art world today’’.
‘’The head-count of our cultural property should be properly and fully
documented . in this regard, our museums have the primary
responsibility to ensure that such National Registers are created.
These great cultural materials across Africa put together today,
belong to Africa and to humanity collectively.’
Stressing the importance of establishing proper documentation and
national registers of of historic places and objects, the paramount
ruler argued that while we cannot deny the advantages of rapid
expansion in our modern world, such progress on the other hand ‘’imperils  the irreplaceable heritage of nature and culture, essential to the equilibrium and happiness of mankind.
‘’This, in turn, leads to a situation where cultures vanish with the
disappearance of the economic and social systems which brought them
into being. Even human groups, the victims of thoughtless and too
sudden evolution, perish, and for the human sciences such as history
of art, archaeology, and anthropology, loss ensues, as well as
frustration and misery for mankind if all the objects and places of
historic importance are not appropriately recorded and documented.’’
Recalling  the award ‘’ICON OF THE AFRICAN ROYALTY ‘’ conferred on him
by the All- African Students’ Union [AASU] in his palace  as a great
joy mingled with humility, Oba Adeyemi noted  that  ‘’despite
accolades and several awards received in the United States of America,
 European and other countries of the world, this is the first time he
would be recognised for any award in Africa’’.
Said he,’’ I want to be a phenomenon. This award has further
re-enacted and re-engineered me to forge ahead in the promotion of
African cultural heritage. It is indisputable that the customs and all
traditional practices today in government, religion, and economic life
had the origins of the government of the Alaafin, though monarchical,
and so that of Old Oyo Empire which is based on precepts and concepts
such as separation of powers that supported and nurtured the ancient
culture and sophisticated civilization from time immemorial’’.