By Steve Olugbolahan KUKU
In a publication of the Lagosian Magazine, an article authored by Barr. Wale Ojo-Lanre has sparked a global debate among the Yorubas and other traditional enthusiasts!
The departed Awujale of Ijebu land; HRM Oba Dr. Sikiru Kayode Adetona was laid to rest ACCORDING TO ISLAMIC RITES on Monday July 14, 2025. Debates poured in! Both for and against. In this article, I will briefly attempt to dispassionately analyse both sides and end with my own submission.
In a dissertation titled “WHY TRADITIONAL RULERS MUST BE BURIED BY TRADITIONAL RITES. OUR TRADITIONAL RULERS CAN’T EAT THEIR CROWNS AND SPIT ON TRADITION”, Barr. Ojo-Lanre made a passionate arguement against the concept of traditional rulers seeking to be buried by anything short of the same rites that brought them to the throne. When African kings are installed, there are traditional rites that authenticate their oath of office. Call it an initiation into ancestral realms or consumation with the gods! In Yoruba culture in particular, our traditional rulers are not called “alase ekeji orisa” (ie deputy deities) for nothing! There are levels of covenants they enter into with the powers of the land they are about to preside over. The same tradition dictates similar rites for the burial of the king when he transits to (finally) “join his ancestors”!
There must be reasons why Traditional Rulers do not want to be burried according to “Traditional Rites”! I am already afraid of what I might dig up if I painstakingly research into this matter… So, let us not go there!
In my family whatsapp group, this depate sparked and my response thereat inspired this article. An unknown commentator gave his own equally passionate arguement in favour of the Awujale’s wish to be buried according to Islamic rites! Wahala…
This anonymous commentator highlights the rights of the deceased to be buried according to his faith and preferences. And for the family he left behind, such an important wish of their deceased must be respected! Most importantly, the Ogbagba himself had strategically prepared for this debate, and he killed it 4 years before his transition! Kabiyesi S. K. Adetona himself, while he was Chairman of Ogun State Traditional Council sponsored a legislative bill titled “OBAS, CHIEFS, COUNCIL OF OBAS AND TRADITIONAL COUNCIL LAW OF OGUN STATE BILL 2021”, which addresses respect of human dignity and promotion of “modernity” in the installation and burial of traditional rulers. Plese see
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/505041-abiodun-signs-controversial-ogun-cheiftaincy-bill-into-law.html?tztc=1
This bill when passed was received with mixed feelings! While the Muslim Community received it as a welcome idea, the traditionalists described it as “tactics of an influential monarch in the State to dabble into tradition and rearrange it to suit his personal interest”!
I have said that I would be on the fence and make my opinion known without bias… So let me try!
Define Tradition: The Transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of (anything) being passed on in this way.
Define Religion: The belief in a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods. Institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs and pactices. The service and worship of God or the supernatural.
By the above definitions (there are more…), “Tradition” and “Religion” are each both a noun and a verb. Each of these terms describes the substance and also the action of practice in the substance, therefore should be independent of one another! Perhaps our confusion lies in the nomenclature of the religion of our fore-fathers! “Traditional Religion” as we call it in Africa ties a belief system that our fathers practiced to our customary ways of life. Now that most of us have jettissoned those belief systems for Christianity or Islam, does that mean that we no longer have traditions?! Big question!
Can TRADITION exist without the RELIGION that our ancestors practiced?
Must the religion of our ancestors remain “traditional” ie we have no liberty to modify where necessary?
Are we permitted to or can we decide to apply “modernity” in traditional matters?
If the simple meaning of tradition is ideologies or cutoms passed down from one generation to the other, why can’t we choose what customs to practice and pass on and the ones to drop?
What is wrong if we practiced our traditions regardless of the choice religion of the participants?
Between the community and the immediate family of a transited Monarch, who holds higher authority over his remians considering the said wishes or instructions of the king on the matter vs the rights of the community over their king?
While I leave each reader to answer these questions, I proceed with my comments…
When a traditional ruler is installed as king, he should have the liberty to choose in which religion his installation rites should be! That will from the beginning set the tone as to how the end will be! What do these installation rites consist of anyway? I don’t know in details, but I guess most of it is “prayers” for the new king and the land he is about to preside over! So, why can’t we install an Oba “In Jesus Name” or “Insha Allah”, while the way of our ANCESTRAL RELIGION would still be valid for those who so prefer!
So while we try to make a distinction between tradition and religion, the practices that cause religion and tradition to inevitably cross paths must be carefully dealt with to avoid complexities! Most monarchs who are not of the ancestral religion live their entire lives on the throne worried about how their transition would be – as a Christian or Muslim! This is unfair to them, therefore the factor of choice comes to play! When a traditional practice requires PRAYERS for example, the subject person should be allowed to choose in what religion should the prayers be said, just as we get to choose by which Holy Book we swear in court! (But the courts do not give ancestral worshippers the choice of their own religion! Another topic…) If the ancestral worship adherents are true to their claims that they also worship Eledumare throught their various deities, they should also be liberal enough to allow the Monarch’s choice religion. But then, we also have the Christians or Muslim adherents who without the understanding of the parallelity of tradition and religion would not want their religion mentioned in traditional matters. So, it is a complex imbroglio…
Therefore considering the possible parallelity of religion vs tradition and the possible dynamism of tradition itself, methinks the king-elect should have the liberty to CHOOSE IN WHICH RELIGION HIS KINGSHIP INSTALLATION AND BURIAL RITES SHOULD BE CARRIED OUT! I call the concept of parallelity and dynamism of religion and tradition a possibility because we are not there yet! A lot yet has to be done to gradually lay this impasse to rest…