Leaders must sacrifice for their people before preaching sacrifice, he says
From Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
He’s a seasoned educationist; a respected administrator who, for many years, spread knowledge across the South West.
He’s a past principal of his alma mater, the prestigious Wesley College, Ibadan. He was the pioneer principal of Ago-Iwoye Grammar School, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State. He’s the founder of Ado Grammar School, Ado-Ekiti. And he’s one of the few royal fathers in Nigeria to have clocked 100 years on the throne. He’s Oba Jacob Fatuanse Ala, Okunoye II, Alaaye of Oke-Ayedun Ekiti.
The community, situated in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State, was agog recently, as the town celebrated the 100th birthday of its revered ruler.
Moderation as creed
At 100, many would expect the centenarian king to be holed up in his royal room, in a vegetative state and suffering a myriad of health challenges, his family members and subjects earnestly praying for his death. But you would be shocked.
Oba Ala remains very physically active and mentally alert. He still walks around his palace unaided and participates actively in events in his community.
“As a child, my mother told me that for a period of four months after I was born, I was neither here nor there. The face showed life but I was all skeleton. I survived it. I also had smallpox alongside many other young children in the community. Many people died, but I survived it. There were so many ups and downs of life, but I survived them all,” he enthused during a chat with the reporter in his palace.
So, what has been the secret of his long, healthy life? He responded: “Moderation in all things, that’s it. I don’t eat anything after 7pm. I never eat heavily anyway. I’m very active and I don’t sit down for too long. I move around a lot. God has helped me with a very sharp memory.”
He also spoke about his childhood, which he said was quite challenging. “There were times my parents doubted if I would ever go to school. I was always getting sick, and infant mortality was quite high in those days. There was a time I was very sick for four months, and I almost lost my life. But once I recovered, I have been remarkably healthy ever since.”
My typical day
Asked how his typical day was like, the monarch intoned: “I don’t sleep for too long. I wake up very early and I have my cup of tea. I walk around and later receive visitors. On days I have council meetings, I attend. Whenever I feel tired during the meeting, I come back home, eat and go back to the meeting.
“I take a nap in the afternoon, and once I get up, I continue receiving visitors and having meetings. Then I walk around again. There is always something I do to remain active.”
A teacher’s life
Born in 1916, Oba Ala had his elementary education at Oke-Ayedun Ekiti before proceeding to Wesley College, Ibadan for his secondary education. He thereafter went to the Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone.
“My days at the Fourah Bay College were challenging. My father had saved some money for my first year before I went there. But once I got in, my father’s business collapsed and I was left to sponsor myself. I had to take up a part-time job in photography alongside schooling to pay my fees. It wasn’t just easy but I had to struggle through.
“I took to teaching because that was the most honourable thing to do at that time. Many went to school then and gravitated towards teaching. There were very few engineers, lawyers and doctors. We were mostly teachers. I had studied Latin and Classics and had to come to the class to teach. That was how I accepted teaching as my profession.
“During my secondary school in Wesley College, it was quite a unique experience. They allowed us students to take decisions ourselves. That is different from today when decisions are taken for students.
“But when I became principal there, the social environment in the school had remarkably changed so there was a limit to how much one could introduce those ideas into the system. Ago-Iwoye and Ado Grammar schools were schools the communities were eager to start and so, the support of the communities was very critical and that influenced a lot of how the schools were managed. There was tremendous support from the communities. Sometimes, they would have built a house for the principals and other teachers before we took up our appointment. That helped a lot and it also helped in instilling discipline into the students and staff.”
Coping as a king
Ekiti people could be very stubborn. How has he been coping since he became a royal father? He noted: “As stubborn and principled as we are in Ekiti, we also recognise the truth. Once we have the truth, it is difficult to contest it and in no time, everyone recognises it. We are always on the side of the truth and it always makes us succeed in whatever we do.
“The people chose me to rule in Ekiti. Personally, I didn’t have interest in becoming a monarch. But I was made to understand that if I was offered, even while on my dying bed, I should not refuse it. That was how I accepted it.”
Oba Ala, who established the Methodist Church at Ado-Ekiti as well as the Inland Club in the town, said he never desired the throne of Oke Ayedun-Ekiti. “I wasn’t even thinking I was a candidate of any chieftaincy title or anything in that regard. But my people called me. When I came, it was like I was put in a boat on a sea, rudderless. There was nothing to steer my course. I was to steer the boat and I was to locate my direction. There was no building of any sort; my predecessors used their sitting rooms as meeting places. There were no records. I charted the course for writing records.”
A Christian king in a traditional town
How has this Christian monarch coped with the traditional rites in his community? Oba Ala admitted that it was quite challenging in the past. “But I easily managed the situation. In my own case, you are asking me to come along and sit on the throne to administer. That has nothing to do with religion. I have to face nothing more than my administration. What you are doing is religion. If I am not interested, that’s all, keep me out. You cannot force me and say because you’re the oba, you must come and join us. Look, if it is that, I will go back the way I came. The traditional people would want to come out anytime and disturb people because they must not be seen in the dark. I said okay; let us work out a compromise. You Christians that want to hold vigils, get to your church not later than 9:59pm and remain there till a minute after 5 o’clock in the morning. Even if you finish your service earlier, sleep there. You that belong to the dark, don’t come out to the open before 10 o’clock. And don’t stay until a minute after five in the morning. That was how that problem was solved. Today, there are just a few people who can come out and say that they belong to a secret society in this town. I didn’t force them. I only showed them example that we can live without that sort of thing.”
Why I’m happy and grateful to God
Oba Ala was already in his 70s before ascending the throne. At that time, many had expressed fears that he might not last beyond three years. “That was the main objection to my nomination; that I wasn’t likely to live long. God knows exactly how He plans His things. Today, I’m already in my 27th year of my administration and 100th year of my life. Why should I not be cheerful and happy?
“In July 1930, over 30 of us, who were youngsters in the church, came together to form the Egbe Omo Ogun Krístì. Today, I am the last surviving member of that group. Then 15 of us were enrolled into Standard 1 class in 1931. Six of the 15 finished Standard Six in 1936. I topped the class with distinction. I went to Wesley College to be trained as a teacher and 21 of us had admission. One didn’t report. Of the remaining 20 that reported, seven were rusticated at the end of the second year, while 13 of us finished the course. I am not sure if I can remember one or two of the 13 who are still living. Why am I spared? Among those of us that left Fuorah Bay College in 1951, I don’t know of any other that is alive today. I’ve been a primary school teacher, tutor in a training college, an administrator for primary schools, an administrator for the agency of my church, Methodist Church. I was the foundation chairman of Ondo State Broadcasting Corporation, after my retirement. After I finished my contract there, I was still brought back by the then governor, Chief Michael Ajasin, as a commissioner in the Civil Service Commission. I’ve been all over these places, hale and hearty. God granted me that. My only deformity is that I can’t hear with one of my ears. And in my family, it’s a normal thing. I’m not totally deaf. I’ve lost my right eye to cataract. But I write my own cheques and I read and sign documents. Rain or shine, I can walk around to anywhere I want in my premises, on my own. The only thing is that I don’t drive. My children seized my driver’s licence a long time ago when I was in the Civil Service Commission at Akure.”
Oba Ala said he had always taken his Christian faith seriously, noting that he took Christianity to everywhere he served, including as vice principal at Offa Grammar School, which was a predominantly Muslim environment.
How to keep your home happy
Oba Ala is one of the few Yoruba monarchs, who abhor polygamy. Why was he married to just one wife? “What do I want to do with polygamy? You want to play manhood and show her what,” he queried.
Oba Ala had married one of his students while he was a teacher. He explained how his marriage was very successful. “She knew my rules. My rules are very simple. I bring up issues and we both agree. It is the woman, who takes care of the home. Don’t hide anything from your wife. If you hide anything from your wife, the day she discovers that you’re hiding certain things, you get into trouble. Be very plain. I had one or two children out of marriage. I didn’t hide it from my wife. I let her understand that I fathered them. But I said, since you came on board, that’s the end. If anybody comes along when I pass on to say that he’s younger than the baby of the family, disown him. My baby of the family is already 51 years. So, if anybody younger than that came along and claimed that I fathered him, tell him that he is a bastard. He doesn’t know his father. “Until my wife passed on, not a single occasion did people come to my house to settle quarrels for us. If we had any disagreement or certain feelings about certain things, we settled it in bed. That’s the way to live. Please her and she will please you.”
Life as a trader’s son
Between 1926 and 1930, Oba Ala went with his father, who dealt in textile materials, on the old man’s trading tours. “In those days, we sold on credit,” he recalled. “But if I wanted my money from you and you told me you didn’t have my money, you must find it. The day I set my eyes on you and I want my money, you must get it for me. In fact, many people would tell the debtor that unless you give this man his money, he will kill himself. There were several episodes of that. We operated in Kogi and in other towns. I was very harsh. I would say that sort of business got me immune to hardship because rain or shine, you had to think of the next market and you would be there. All you have to think about is your ware. I went on like that for five years. When my father was sick, I would do the job of collecting any money and I wouldn’t alter any figure. That was what I did before I went to school.
“After my primary school here, I taught for a year as a junior teacher. Then I went to Wesley College, Ibadan, to train as a teacher. Then I came back to teach here, went to Kogi to teach in a primary school. After three years in primary school, I went back to my alma mater to teach. A lot of people passed through me between 1945 and 1948 and then again between 1975, when I finally retired from service and 1979 when Ajasin came on board. Teaching was my profession. When I was a pupil teacher in the primary school, I was a flogger. When I wanted to give you six strokes of the cane, I would tell you to stretch out both hands because I couldn’t waste my time raising my hands six times. The two hands must be there and you must keep steady otherwise I would begin again. My wife was one of the many students I treated in that way.”
I’m a disciplinarian
Did any of his children find his strict ways too difficult? The monarch shook his head.
“How could they find it difficult when they were brought up that way? You have rules. This is how the child is going to be fed. You let them go to school at the right time. Give them every opportunity that they want to go to school. They come back, you give them their meal. I don’t normally eat in the evening. In those days, I had complained to a nurse, Mrs. Solaru, that I was having constipation. She recommended light meal in the morning, very heavy meal, if you like, in the afternoon and very light meal, if you must have anything, in the evening. I have kept on to that. My children kept on to that. I had a rule in the family; if your last meal for the day had not been finished with by sunset, you would go to bed on an empty stomach. You cannot be in the kitchen later than 7pm. You must have eaten your meal and the rest of the day you can play or watch television. They can play table tennis or whatever they want. Their friends could come to meet them here, but if they were not suitable friends, I would send the friends away.”
Reasons for a successful reign
How has he been able to remain successful as a monarch? He said he had been applying his skills as a teacher and counsellor. “First of all, you must be friendly in order to know where their problems lie and so on. I was not going to be dogmatic. I would show you the way to do it, and you would rejoice that you are doing it that way because you’ll see that it is beneficial for you to do it that way. That is it. You can’t force people; you will fail. First of all, you come down to their level and then find their soft spots and through their soft spots, you approach them.”
A single regret
What were his regrets on the throne? “The only regret I think I have in this community is that the youngsters of today don’t want to learn. They run away from education. They like copying; they like stealing. I was shocked when I read of a university student in Ondo State who was more or less at the tail end of his course still playing pranks with the computer system and stealing people’s money. That’s disastrous. If you are studying mathematics and you are in the third year, how many more years have you to be on your own and you will be free? But you took your phone to be pinching people’s money?
“I once spoke to Dr. Kayode Fayemi when he was governor. I said, I don’t like this your idea of the laptop you gave to the children and so on. The teacher now is teaching and the children are not interested because of the laptop. They have everything on the laptop. That’s my own belief. They are not interested in learning; they are interested in money. It doesn’t matter by what means they get it. But you are going to leave all that. Before you cross the proverbial Jordan, you will surrender everything.
“I watched my father as he was passing on. He was talking to us and suddenly he started fading away like that. He opened his mouth, he couldn’t talk. He opened his hands until the last breath. He was only 74 when he died. I watched my mother-in-law, it was just the same way. I remember Sam Festus Eda, who later became Okotie-Eboh. He was the Minister for Finance at the time Balewa was Prime Minister. When he had the second term to be in the federal house, he dressed up like the usual Itsekiri man with the shirt over an Ankara material, 22 yards, with the straw hat and ostrich feathers, on the floor of the National Assembly. In 1966 when the coup took place and he was involved, they dragged him all along, more or less naked. So, amass all the wealth you can, it is not yours. Why do you take delight in amassing wealth? You should take delight in how you can touch the lives of one or two people. Get money in a clean way. That is the type that will last. That’s my own doctrine. What I can do to build you up, I will try to do it. That is what will outlast me, not the amount of money that I amass or the number of wives or the number of houses that I build.”
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To celebrate his centenary, his community is building a new palace. Oba Ala said the land on which the palace is being built was part of his father’s cocoa plantation, which he donated to the town. He said there were lessons in that for the leaders of the country.
“I told the community, take this land. That’s how to show the way. You must serve the people before they will serve you. You must love them before they love you. You must sacrifice for them before they sacrifice for you. You show the way, and the people will follow you.”