ORDINARILY, the news of the fire incident that gutted a portion of the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, deserves lamentation as another manifestation of the spate of fire incidences lately in different parts of the country. It is yet another indication of the need for concerted efforts and policy to prevent and tackle fire outbreaks, particularly during the dry season. However, the attention being accorded the Alaafin’s burnt palace by the presidency stirs up curiosity, as it should not be the duty of the Federal Government to rebuild a palace for any monarch. For the presidency to delve into such matters is to open itself to similar requests for presidential intervention in many routine tragic incidents. That will not augur well for the dignity and responsibility of the presidency.
Shortly after the ill-fated incident, in which part of the palace was burnt, it was reported that the Olugbo of Ugbo kingdom in Ilaje Local Council of Ondo State, Oba Fredrick Obateru Akinruntan, who reportedly led a presidential team of sympathisers, claimed that the president would provide necessary assistance for the reconstruction of the burnt area of the palace.
Any indication that the Federal Government would help in rebuilding the burnt portion of the Alaafin’s palace proves from the outset to be a worrisome and unhelpful gesture. If it is true, the president should jettison such a plan. When did the business of the presidency extend to building or rebuilding burnt palaces? In what capacity does the president wish to help in reconstructing the palace? Is it in his capacity as a personal friend of the Alaafin or his subject? Or is it in his position as the president of this country? Or as an ordinary sympathiser who empathises with the Alaafin?
Whatever the intentions of the presidency, this gesture is misleading, untidy and ill-advised. It is susceptible to all forms of wrong interpretation at a time the country’s polarized multifarious national existence is in dire need of harmonious resolution. In the minds of political pundits, this gesture may also be misconstrued as a gimmick conjured to score cheap popularity, or as a dubious technique of political philandering preparatory to the election year.
It is unfortunate that the revered traditional ruler and royal father of Oyo suffered the loss of not only personal belongings but also of irreplaceable artefacts that are emblematic of the Yoruba culture and identity. But the Federal Government, or the Presidency, has no business rebuilding palaces for any traditional ruler, in the same sense that it has no business expending tax payers’ money on projects beyond constitutionally defined provisions.
The right thing to do is to encourage and mobilise individuals, cultural institutions and interested state governments, friends and subjects of the Alaafin to support efforts to reconstruct the palace. Some governors of the South West and supporters of the Yoruba cause have already done this, appropriately too.
Meanwhile, to ensure that a reconstructed Alaafin’s palace gets the pride of place and aesthetic quality it deserves, and therefore becomes a befitting heritage of the Yoruba people, precautionary measures should be taken to forestall future occurrence. Trained safety managers should be part of the housekeepers of the royal court. Furthermore, managers of the palace should take out the requisite property insurance on all buildings and valuables in the palace.