S
hockingly, ancient Alagba
passed away last week in Og-
bomoso! He was more than
a turtle in status. The gen-
erational occupant of Soun’s
palace departed without premonition,
throwing the royal dynasty into deep
mourning. The Kabiyesi lost a dear
friend in Alagba, an agelong compan-
ion whose revered abode suddenly
became vacant in the exalted prime-
val castle. It was a queer tale in Og-
bomoso. The Yoruba race lost a leg of
their prized oral history. Scholars and
custodians of the Yoruba culture and
tradition missed a singular histori-
cal opportunity for documentation.
They procrastinated, failing to run a
documentary on the antique symbol
of longevity while he lived. They as-
sumed that Alagba was crafted in an
immortal carapace, having existed for
an incredibly long period of 344 years.
They took him for a god. Justifiably so,
perhaps! But they committed a faux
pas. Alagba must die like every living
creature.
Alagba was not a myth or fiction. He
was real, sick for a few days, we were
told, and then the end came. Only God
is immortal. Alagba was the oldest
living being in Africa, nay the world.
Some sceptics in Nigeria are ques-
tioning his acclaimed old age. They
should tarry awhile to first investigate
the authority and validity of oral Af-
rican history and literature. Our oral
history is remarkably impeccable. The
whites can say whatever they like. The
real concern is why some of us Nige-
rians could be discrediting an integral
part of our own history! Such hard-
liners should prove oral tradition’s
disapproval anywhere. They trust the
whites but distrust themselves. They
believe European history but discred-
it their own African history rooted in
oral tradition.
That was what spurred Duro Ladipo’s
research on Oba Koso. Though a good
Christian, believer and choirmaster,
born in the church and sired by a pop-
ular Reverend in Osogbo, south-west
Nigeria, Duro Ladipo thirsted to find
out if truly Africans lacked the knowl-
edge of God before the whites came
with their tragic colonialism. Using
his exalted position as director, play-
wright and principal actor in his Duro
Ladipo National Theatre Group, Lad-
ipo decided to investigate the reasons
some people worshipped ‘orisa’ in
Yorubaland. He examined the lives of
great Yoruba leaders who died before
the advent of Christianity and chose
Sango as the focus of his research.
He wrote “Oba Koso” which told
Sango’s story succinctly. He travelled
widely to collect facts on the story,
visiting the Alaafin of Oyo whose pro-
genitor Sango was. He interviewed the
Timi of Ede, interviewed the Ooni of
Ife, the Alake of Egbaland, the Olowo
of Owo, the Osemawe of Ondo and
other people of importance that could
assist him with a flawless Sango story
in Oyo. On completion of the assign-
ment, he staged the preview edition of
the play in Alaafin’s palace in Oyo, un-
der a charged atmosphere. The perfor-
mance turned out to be a great revela-
tion. “Oba Koso’s performance in Oyo
marked a new era in the theatre in-
dustry in Nigeria”, Duro Ladipo said.
“It was when the history of a town
was put on stage in the presence of
the personalities on trade in the play,
exactly on the spot of happening”, he
further asserted. All the characters
featured in Oba Koso appeared live
as spectators in the palace during the
preview. The Timi was in attendance,
the Alaafin was there, the Oyomesis
were there, Gbonka was there, as well
as other warriors who featured in the
play. Watch the documentary!
Sango was a very good and pow-
erful king in Oyo. Rather than allow
his forefathers’ legacies to be corrupt-
ed, he decided to abdicate the throne
and embrace suicide by hanging. For
such selflessness and forthrightness,
those who believed in his philosophy
started worshipping him. But to avoid
derision from outsiders, the people
quickly turned the bad news of his
suicide around and claimed that their
king did not hang, “Oba ko so”. That
is one major Yoruba history, our her-
itage. We don’t have to worship San-
go to keep the history. What is ours
is ours. And the whites don’t have to
like it.
They may even want to rubbish our
Alagba story. It doesn’t matter. But we
know that we had Alagba in Soun of
Ogbomoso’s palace for donkey’s years.
That is the story for the world, bigger
than that of Jonathan, the Giant Tor-
toise at St Helena on the British Island.
O digbose, Alagba. Kabiyesi Soun, e
ku ara fera ku. But remember Kabiye-
si, to keep Alagba’s body for posterity
as you promised.
