From South to North: How Nigerian traditional rulers are losing their mystical powers to kidnappers

By Adeniyi Kabeer On Feb 17, 2024

South ,North, traditional rulers , mystical powers , kidnappers — From South to North: How Nigerian traditional rulers are losing their mystical powers to kidnappers

Peter Aremu, the Olukoro of Koro in Kwara State, was sleeping in his palace on February 1, when unsuspecting kidnappers breached protocol, killing the monarch. They also kidnapped his wife and two others.

Two days earlier, a group of armed men ambushed three traditional leaders along Oke-ako road in the Ikole area of Ekiti. While two of the monarchs – Onimojo of Imojo, Olatunde Olusola, and the Elesun of Esun Ekiti, Babatunde Ogunsakin were killed, the third king, Alara of Ara Ekiti, Adebayo Fatoba, narrowly escaped death.

One would have thought that Alara of Ara Ekiti was more fortified than his late colleagues but that wasn’t the case, he ran like a common grass-cutter fleeing a bloodthirsty trap with his agbada, hiding in the bush for hours until he was sure the armed men had left.

Speaking with Awikonko TV on his experience, Fatoba said they were on their way to inspect a reported incident of attack in Aiyedun when the deadly assault happened.

“I was reading something on my phone when the driver suddenly matched the car brake. As we looked up, we saw guns pointed at us by kidnappers, who asked us to get down and raise our hands. They had machetes, an AK-47, a pump-action gun and a locally-made one,” the monarch narrated. “I heard gunshots, but God didn’t allow the shots to hit me. By the time I looked back, my colleagues were on the ground. I don’t know how that happened. The attack came as a surprise. I wish I could show you my body, you would have seen the cuts, and I still feel pain.”

Are traditional rulers losing their mystical powers?

In Yorubaland particularly, traditional rulers are regarded as second to gods. Infact, they are seen as the representatives of Sango, Obatala, Orunmila and others. But the circumstances surrounding the death of monarchs lately show that these venerations and reverence have today died natural deaths.

Could it be because traditional rulership which came from the method of priest selection turned to political selection and for fees, some kings bypassed sacred rituals necessary before their ascension to the stool? Was it the reason why Oba Jimoh Omoola, the traditional ruler of Oso-Ajowa in Ondo spent seven days in kidnappers’ den without disappearing until his family raised ransom from different households and Ajowa-Akoko indigenes abroad to secure his release?

While former chairman of Imo state council of traditional rulers Eze Samuel Agunwa Ohiri, regained his freedom two weeks after he was abducted in January, Eze Joe Ochulor, the traditional ruler of the Otulu community in Ezinihitte, was killed in November 2023.

Also, Eze J. N Nnamdi of the Nguru Nweke community was killed in July of the same year by armed men who drove into his palace.

Last December, Etiyin Maurice Edet, a traditional ruler in Cross River was also abducted in his palace after an aide to the traditional ruler was shot dead for attempting to resist the kidnap of his principal. In Zamfara, the district head of Ruwan Rana in Bukkuyum of the state, Magaji Makau and five others were abducted in October 2023. Also, his colleague, Hamza Kogo of Tsafe Emirate in was killed in December 2022 after an attempt to kidnap him failed.

According to a report by SBM Intelligence, an Africa-focused security intel gathering and strategic consulting firm, over 50 traditional rulers were killed in various violent incidents across Nigeria between 2011 and 2021. Also, most of the killings were said to have occurred in the second half of the decade in review.

Roles of traditional rulers

Prior to the colonial era, traditional rulers played the roles of administrators of the local councils as governors of their villages. They relied on their chiefs, community elders and family heads for easy administration, and they are likened to deputies of the gods, as mystical and spiritual powers were attributed to them.

They later served as agents of British colonialism. While the Obas and Baales in Western Nigeria were agents of indirect rule, the Emirs in the North and the Warrant Chiefs in the East exercised delegated powers. Even as Nigeria practices democracy, traditional rulers are still respected in many communities.

They mediate between the people and the state, enhance national identity, resolve minor conflicts, and are responsible for preventing robberies and kidnappings in their domains.

While recent happenings across the country have shown that monarchs are fast losing their acclaimed enormous spiritual and physical powers, a historian and custodian of traditional culture, Ifayemi Elebuibon, lamented that many monarchs had abandoned traditional means of protection, thus rendering them vulnerable to physical attacks.

“We do have traditional means of protection in Yorubaland. It is just that the foreign religions that were embraced by Yoruba traditional rulers have rendered them powerless.

Most of the monarchs did not go through the necessary rites and rituals, and therefore, they lacked the necessary protection like charms that could make someone disappear and reappear, charms that can free someone from clutches when held. They only rely on foreign religions for protection.”