Orile-Owu prince: I want to succeed my dad because…

How would you describe your growing up as a prince and becoming apoliceman eventually?Prince Olumuyiwa Adejobi: Growing up in the palace was a great experience. Though I’m a Prince of Orile-Owu, I was born in Ile-Ife in the 70s. My father, the late Olowu, Oba Moses Olayioye Adedosun Adejobi and my mother, Olori Mary Olaitan […]

How would you describe your growing up as a prince and becoming apoliceman eventually?
Prince Olumuyiwa Adejobi: Growing up in the palace was a great experience. Though I’m a Prince of Orile-Owu, I was born in Ile-Ife in the 70s. My father, the late Olowu, Oba Moses Olayioye Adedosun Adejobi and my mother, Olori Mary Olaitan Adebisi Adejobi were both teachers before my father was appointed the Olowu of Orile-Owu. My mother retired as the headmistress at Baptist Day Primary School, Orile Owu which I attended. From there, I went to Orile Owu Grammar School after which I proceeded to the University of Ibadan, where I bagged  B.sc in Archaeology and Geography.  I went for my Masters in Art in Peace and Conflict Studies from the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. When I was rounding off  my Master’s, I obtained police form to join the force. I went through screening and interview and I was fortunate to have been picked as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police on  February 1, 2005 and then, I was sent to Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil, Kano, for 18 months training. Thereafter, I was posted to Ogun State Police Command. In Ogun, I was first posted to P and G in Sagamu.
Later, I was made the Officer in Charge of Anti Robbery Squad, OC Anti-Pipe Line Vandalization and from there; I was posted to the Ogun State Police Command Headquarter in Eleweran, Abeokuta as the Administration Officer, ‘B’ Department Operation where I worked with a very respectable police officer who is now a Deputy Commissioner of Police, J.B Kokumo. He is my mentor. Then, he was an Assistant Commissioner of Police. After that, I was picked as the command’s Public Relations Officers.
What is significant about  your town?
Prince Adejobi:  Orile-Owu is an ancient town   known as Owu-Ipole in 9th and 10th centuries located in Ayedade Local Government Area of Osun State,and it was the first settlement to be established after the cradle of Yoruba race, Ile-Ife. Oduduwa gave birth to Okanbi who also had seven children. Iyunade was Okanbi’s first child and she gave birth to Asunkungbade; that is Ajibosin. When Ajibosin was growing up, he always liked to play with the crown of Oduduwa (his grandfather). There was a day, he went to  pick the crown again, and was scolded by Oduduwa. Then, Ajibosin started crying. He cried for weeks. After consulting the Ifa oracle, it revealed that there was something precious to him which had been taken away from him and that they should give it back to him. They wondered what that thing could be.
Eventually, Ajibosin stopped crying immediately they gave him the crown. That was how the nickname Asunkungbade came on board. That was how Olowu got his crown directly from Oduduwa. Subsequently, people felt that it’s a taboo to have two people putting on crowns in the same palace. When the oracle was however consulted, Oduduwa was told to settle Ajibosin down in thick forest that is not far from Ile-Ife purportedly between two rivers which were River Asejire and River Osun. That is the location of Owu. And that was how the following songs came out: “Owu laakoda o, bee dokun, e beere wo. Owu laakoda o, bee de Ife e beere wo.  Owu laakoda o, bee dele e ka’tan wo”. This was not fabricated; it is historical, spiritual and just like that. So, after Ile-Ife, it is Owu.  We are still doing many archaeological research works on Orile Owu.
I’m doing my own. Others are doing theirs as well. Scholars from abroad too are now doing research on Orile-Owu. Professor Oluwole Ogundele of Archaeology and Anthropology Department, University of Ibadan is also doing his own research on Orile-Owu. We are still trying to have archaeological supports for our findings. We are getting them because we have some of these antiquities dated to as far as the centuries all the historical facts have been referring to. So, we are trying to correlate the archaeological facts that we have now, to the histories we have in the books and the correlations are okay for now. So, after the settlement, Owu started becoming great. As at then, towns like Ikire and Apomu were not as prominent as Owu-Ipole. Ikoyi was somehow related to Owu because Ikoyi-Osun still has link with Owu.
The only setback Owu had was the popular Owu war between 1819 and 1823 but before the war, Owu was great that people from Oyo, Ife, Ijebu and others paid tribute to Olowu. In fact, Apomu was Olowu’s market and the war was triggered by an incident that happened at the Apomu market.
Why are you insisting that you must succeed your father as Olowu of Orile?
Prince Adejobi: When my father died in an accident on March 15, 2011; he died with my step mum. The driver and the P.A. did not die. My step mum did not even sustain injury before she died. They said it was due to shock but before my father died, when he was being taken to hospital, my father was giving his words and saying what he wanted. He was saying that ‘my son must be the next Olowu’. He was also saying other things that I would not be able to say here. So, when the issue of successor came up after his burial, none of his sons showed interest. This is because we are having six ruling houses, Afelele, Akinjobi, Amororo, Otileta, Akinoso, and Lagbedu, So, it supposed to be the turn of Lagbedu if at all they want to rotate it. But there were so many things missing supernaturally. Those who know the meaning said the late monarch had taken those things away to heaven and those things are so germane to installation of the new king. These are not physical things, but they are saying the message is that no other person can climb the throne except the son of this man, because if you don’t see all these things, the son can still continue but if another person goes there, he will die. The kingmakers had appointed somebody before my own issue came because I didn’t have any interest initially.
I am a senior police officer, and my salary as a police officer is okay for me. But I started getting the signal when people kept coming to pray for me and asking if I am a king. So, the oracle was consulted and it was discovered that nobody has the right to the throne except the blood of the late king. Even at that, I never developed any interest until the final time that the people of the town asked me to do so. People started coming to me saying  I should come and become the Olowu.
That was how I applied for the kingship.
What has been your personal contribution to Orile-Owu?
Prince Adejobi: My contributions to the town cannot be quantified because some of them are intellectual contributions. I have helped many youths in the town to gain admission into higher institutions of learning. I focused more on intellectual empowerment by helping our youths to gain admission to schools, helping some of them to pay school fees, getting good jobs for some of them and some other things like that.
I’m already wooing some people to come and invest in the town. I can assure you that we will soon have standard hotels in the town and work has started on the project. There are other people who have acquired land for filing stations. We are making efforts to make the state government construct our roads. I had talked to the Osun State Road Maintenance Agency in Osogbo to  repair our roads. For now, Owu is at the center because there is a road from Ijebu Igbo to Orile-Owu, there is a road from Garrage Olode to Orile-Owu, there is a road from Apomu to Orile Owu, thee is a road from Ijebu to Orile Owu, there is a road from Gbongan to Orile-Owu and there is a road from Modakeke Ife to Orile-Owu, we have about six roads coming into Orile-Owu.
With all these, this town has great economy potentials which we shall harness very soon. We are also struggling to have a separate local government council for Orile Owu which had been a District Headquarter for a very long time. In the 60s, we had our own separate government, we are not under anybody but suddenly, they merged us with another local government council and it is not supposed to be so. We are going to work on that and God will help us. So we are imploring our people to come home. We have children who are very rich, one of them just came back home from Kaduna recently. So, by the time we harness all our available resources in human, social and political, things would be better.