Living in darkness amidst light: How Egbin Power Plant impoverished our people -Obateru of Egbin
Ayodele Olalere
Egbin Kingdom is one of the ancient towns in Lagos State. Situated in Ijede Local Council Development Area of Ikorodu, Egbin is the home of Nigeria’s and West Africa biggest power plant, the Egbin Power Plant.
The power plant generates light to 70% of the country. In spite of its importance to the country, the people in Egbin town do not enjoy electricity as well as the full benefits of having such a large company on their land. For them, it’s a case of living in darkness amidst light.
In this interview with The Nigerian Xpress, the traditional ruler of Egbin Kingdom, Oba (Dr.) Adeoriyomi Abdul-Akeem Oyebo, spoke on issues, affecting the town, his ascendancy to the throne and arrest by the police.
When did you ascend the throne and what were the circumstances that led to you becoming the King of Egbin?
There are really no circumstances other than the former traditional ruler here in the person of Chief Ifegade Katola passed away in 1994. While he was on the throne as the ruler of Egbon, he was the one that was pushing for the restoration of the Obaship of Egbin. He was at the Justice Oshodi tribunal in 1991
However, before he ascended the throne, one of our forefathers, Obateru Akingbade, passed away in 1965. He was the one the British dropped from the position of an Oba to Baale because of the size of the community and the economic situation of the community then. My own great grandfather, Oba Obateru Oyebo, on whose throne I am sitting today, passed away in 1935. Since 1959 when Oba Akingbade was relegated, the people of the community have been trying to make sure the Obaship was restored.
In 1995, my dad called me and said since Baba Katola had passed away, it was his turn to become the Obateru of Egbin. So, he told me to come and become Baale of Egbin. I was reluctant but eventually agreed. Fortunately by April 4, 1999, they consulted Ifa oracle though I was not present there and Ifa picked me.
Before the process started, in 1997, they got information through a letter from the state government that the Obaship status had been restored. I was told about becoming a Baale in 1995 but by 1997, the white paper came. My father’s brothers, who didn’t show interest in becoming Baale now started showing interest when they learnt the Obaship status had been restored.
They started causing issues among themselves. So, when I realised they had started dragging the throne and petitions started coming from everywhere against my candidacy, I just ignored them and moved on with my business. I was running a printing press in Surulere and was very popular around Lagos at that time. I was working for several advertising agencies. So, things were okay with me and I was not really interested in becoming an Oba.
In 2007, I got a divine message from the church that I needed to go back home to serve my people. Then I was living in Abuja and was a Christian. I was one of the prayer warriors in the church and the message came during one of our prayer sessions. Later God also spoke to me that I had to come home. So, I came back, called my siblings and father and told them I was ready to become the Oba. It was a difficult task for my father to convince his brothers to step down for me but eventually they succumbed.
In the process of becoming the Oba, I escaped an air crash; I was involved in so many ghastly accidents. In 2010, I became the traditional ruler of the Egbin kingdom and since then things have really changed for the better. If I want to buy a Limousine or Rolls Royce today, I can buy them but I don’t have the flair for such things.
You said you were spoken to in the church to become a king. Are we going to get to a point in our land where the God of the Christians and Muslims will be choosing kings?
We may and may not. There is only one God but God Almighty has created the world in such a way that even if you are under the water, God knows you and you can communicate in the language He has given to you. God will never send a single messenger to the whole world. In Egbin, the people called me the messenger of God to Egbin because of the things I have been able to achieve for them. So, they see me as a prophet, bringing light to them.
Before I got to the throne, I loved artistry so much because of my training in school. Lots of things are in Africa but not developed and Ifa is one of them. All these deities we call Orisa are not really Orisa. The real Orisa is God. When there was calamity in Oyo, God brought out Sango to be the saving grace. So, all these deities have come into the world like every other messenger. Some people have failed in so many ways by failing to obey the word of God through the deities and they perished.
Everything in life has some levels of spirituality in it. There are lots of things we Africans are missing, especially the Yoruba. Go and ask Pastor Enoch Adeyoye about his background, not academic but about what happened when he was leaving lecturing for pastoral work. The elders of Ifewara asked him to build a house in Ifewara, his home town before he would build a church. It was after he did it that God opened the way for him to be successful in pastoral work. What he did was to answer the call of his ancestors. I didn’t have a child until I got to the throne. Our tradition is more superior to the Christian and Muslim religions.
During the time you struggled before you were enthroned, what lesson did you learn within that period which government and some communities can learn from?
When you talk of the government, you are referring to the people. When I was coming on board, the late Ayangburen of Ikorodu told the regent of our town that he should not bring somebody that can be bought with money. It must be somebody that has experience about life. Academic background also mattered and the person must have the fear of God.
These days, what you see is people with questionable characters becoming kings. The government and the people have to put a lot of things into consideration in terms of the person’s behaviour. Once you are given the position to lead people, you must do the right thing to the people. Everyone has their own ‘eleda.’ If you do good to the people, their ‘eleda’ will pray for you. All the little things I do for the people, God has been blessing me because of it.
The people in government should have the fear of God in discharging their duties. The Bible says you should love your neighbour as yourself. If that principle is applied everywhere, this world would have been better. We have to go back to our traditions.
Some people do come to me saying they want to become king in their town and I always ask them if they have consulted the oracle. At times, you might be looking to go this way, but your way is on the other side. From the day God created you, you are coming to the world with your own destiny of what you are going to become in life. Even if you face challenges, if you follow the right path, you will get to where you are going. The most important thing is don’t do evil things.
People believe the town of Ikorodu should be better than this but it’s not. What do you think are the causes?
It’s the people that create development. Development starts from the leaders. Lagos State has five divisions; Ikeja division has 33 Obas, Badagry has 29, Lagos has 17, Epe has over 30 but in Ikorodu, there are just seven Obas. Ideally, development should start from the traditional institution. Is it only seven communities that we have in Ikorodu? We have over 100 communities. Government should start by increasing the number of traditional rulers in Ikorodu. This is one of the things I have been advocating for.
Is the government conscious of this disparity?
The government is aware. Last year in November when we were with the governor for a meeting, the governor acknowledged the fact that Ikorodu has just seven Obas. If 27 Obas are demanding something, it will be more forceful than if seven Obas are demanding the same thing. If the government wants to give cars to all Obas in Lagos, some divisions will be taking 33 while Ikorodu will take only seven. In terms of politics, it’s the only Ikorodu division that has one local government. Other divisions have three to five in their divisions. In the House of Assembly, we have only two representatives whereas the Lagos division has about four. In the House of Representatives, the Ikorodu division has only one representative compared with other divisions that have more than one. These are the things mitigating against us. It is only in this division one Oba will be working against another town to produce an Oba.We are the minority and we are not in the opposition, we are in the system.
You established a school in Egbin. Can you tell us about it?
What inspired me is the desire to give back to my people. The school is free, just bring your child. The books, uniform, and shoes are also free. I had to demolish my house to build the school. I print and buy books that they use. At times, I will not have money to feed my family but I am not bothered. As Nigerians, we should learn how to bring ourselves down before God. Some people will speak and behave as if they are second to God. It is not about flaunting wealth. Individually, I power all the street lights in this town with solar.
Egbin is home to the largest power plant in Nigeria, yet the community is not enjoying light. There are allegations that the community people are wasting the light, which is the reason operators of the power plant are not supplying them light. How true is this?
We have some houses in Egbin that are just four rooms and the people living there don’t even have television or any other electronic gadget. So, how have they been misusing the light? There was a time I told the owners of the power plant we are not going to pay any electricity bill in this town. Do you know how many hectares of land was forcefully taken from our people to build the power plant because they were not literate? 623 hectares of our land were taken, the size of which is more than a town. The land was fenced and we cannot assess it anymore. Those who had land for farming or fishing could no longer do so because their land had been taken and they no longer had a source of income to pay bills. Where do they want them to get N5,000 monthly for their electricity bill? What’s the essence of bringing a power plant here? There should be a Community Social Responsibility, CSR, from the company to the people.
As at the time this land was acquired, there was no written agreement between the community and the company and that is what I am trying to correct. I have made several efforts. I have told the governor that the company is not performing its responsibility to the community. Performance is not about you bringing me a car because you are celebrating five years of taking over the company. I left the car there where they packed it; I didn’t touch it till date for the past three years. I told them to go and do something meaningful that the entire community can benefit from. It was when they did not do it that I decided to build a school at all cost. I am starting secondary school in September. Many of our leaders went to school on government scholarship but they have failed to replicate such to these young generations.
Your palace and the community is like a tourist site. In five years time, what is your projection?
I am looking forward to all the good things in this life and development of the town. Before now, there was no jetty in Egbin but I have created one. I have a friend who is bringing about 10 boats for the jetty. I am into dredging. I have given people employment. About 60 people are working in the palace and the school and I pay their salaries apart from those working in my other companies. I decided to put up this palace because of its closeness to the sea. I am presently reclaiming land to create a beach and turn it into a tourist site. I want to expose the traditional life of our people to the world like they do in Cuba.
In Nigeria, people claim to go to church or mosque but 70% of them go to traditionalists underground. We are only deceiving ourselves.
Few years back, you were detained at the police command and spent some months in prison custody. What led to such a humiliating incident?
On that day, I was about to leave the palace for Marina for a media interview at the then Daily Newswatch newspaper. I was already in my car when the police Area Commander came into the palace and said the then Commissioner of Police wanted to see me. I told him I would come to the Command after leaving Marina.
I had earlier written a petition to the Commissioner of Police that the fracas happening then at Mowo, a community around us, was caused by the police and some landgrabbers, and the burden is on me, as the traditional ruler to wade into the matter because the people in the community are traditionally related to us.
When I got to the police command in Ikeja, the Commissioner told me some people wrote a petition against me. I was shown the petition and I told him I knew nothing about the issue in the petition. He asked me to write a statement but I refused. I called my lawyer but he could not come because it was late. I was detained and ended up spending 17 days in detention.
When the pressure was much on the police to release me, they charged me to court. From court, I was taken to Kirikiri medium prison and spent another 35 days there. After I came out, I followed up the case at the Magistrate’s Court. The court judgment stated I knew nothing about the issue likewise DPP’s advice exonerated me. I later sued the Nigeria Police at the Federal High Court and got a judgment against them to pay me N5million damages and publish an apology in two newspapers.
The whole case was orchestrated by the police and one notorious land grabber, Saki Oluwo, in Ikorodu division because I was fighting the course of the people. The police have refused to pay the damages and I have sued them again and the matter is presently in court. The land grabber had the support of the police but now he has been declared wanted.
