Pastors and Imams will now be installing Obas in Ogun, no more ‘Ipebi’

The Ogun State House of Assembly said it wanted to modernise the method of installation of Yoruba Obas in the state. 

Those era of keeping a to-be Oba in Ipebi (seclusion) for three months would become a thing of the past. 

With a bill before the assembly, Pastors and Islamic clerics will start installing Yoruba Obas and perform their burial rites, depending on whether the Oba is a Christian or Muslim.

According to them, they want to make the traditional institution attractive to people of higher classes who are running away from it because of the fetish traditional rites. 

Daily Post reported that the bill has passed second reading and may be passed into law anytime because all of them are united in the bill. (https://dailypost.ng/2020/03/04/ogun-assembly-moves-to-stop-traditional-rites-for-installation-of-obas/)

They said anybody who wants to be king can be installed and buried according to his religion, be it Christianity or islam. 

But on Sunday, traditional worshippers in the state said the bill is a misplaced priority.

I think the lawmakers have very important things to deal with, instead of dabbling into the traditional institution.

Of what importance is that bill to the state? Has anybody complained to them? Are they not pleased with the peace we have been enjoying this state? Or are they doing this to please the Awujale and the Osile? 

It’s not by force for anybody to become a king. If you know the traditional institution is not in tandem with your religion, you will quietly stay clear of it. 

We know of a town in a Yoruba state where residents attacked the Oba for failing to lead them in a traditional procession. Is that what these lawmakers want in Ogun?