Oba Kamoru Sansi
Oba Kamoru Sansi, the Obelu of Esure, Ijebu Mushin in Ogun State, foremost veterinary doctor, and a former Director of the Nigeria Institute for Trypanosomiasis Research in Kaduna, ascended the throne 25 years ago. ADEOLA BALOGUN got him to talk about his life.
How does it feel like to be on the throne for 25 years?
I thank God for lasting so long on the throne. Initially when I was asked to become the Oba, I had refused. Even all of my friends were opposed to the idea. They thought that with all my education and exposure, I would not be able to cope. But, somehow, I gave in to the request. I saw it as a call to service and I never like to shun such calls. Well, I went through the elementary school here and I knew my people in and out. When I was in Kings College, I used to come home every holiday, except when I visited other parts of the country. The longest time I was away from home was when I was a student in Britain. In those days, it was not always easy coming home regularly. But when I returned and I was working in Ibadan, I used to come home for the festivals. so I had been in touch with them. They knew me, I knew them. And immediately I retired I became a member of Esure Community Development Association. That was in 1980. Then I was in Ibadan and I was coming home every Saturday. So far, people have been nice to me and I have not had any problem with my people.
Did you ever dream of ascending the throne or was it foretold that you would become the Oba?
Well, if you are a prince, you don’t need a revelation; even though not every prince will become an Oba. My grandfather was an Oba. But the way the people used to greet me whenever I came home on holidays appeared strange to some of my friends who I used to bring home at the time. You would see old people bowing down to me and others kneeling down. My friends who were surprised used to ask me why they greeted me like that and I would say I didn‘t know why. I believe that it was what God destined to happen because I had been away from home for sometime and I never thought I could still be called upon to ascend the throne.
Were you initially ruling your people from outside the kingdom?
No. Like I told you, before I became king, I was already a member of the community development association and we were meeting every Saturday. In fact, I was in Ibadan when they made me Oba-elect. On the second day, the people lined up and said they wanted to see the Oba. I started wondering because I was the same person that they saw a week earlier. I don‘t know if it was something mystic. The old and young, even students, lined up to see their king. In fact, my cousin, who was the head of the family and the father of Archbishop Alaba Job, came here, removed his agbada and prostrated before me. When I said ‘No Papa’, he said, ‘No, you are now my father’. I didn‘t find it funny. Each time we went out in my car, he would not want to sit with me at the back. He would prefer to sit in the front seat and I would say ‘Papa, I am your son, what is all this?’ Our people see you as a venerated person once you become a king.
Maybe you were treated that way because of your level of education.
I think it is the system. It is their belief that the Oba is full of wisdom and so should be respected. And it has gone on for so long. This is why you find out that it is difficult to abolish the kingship system among the Yoruba. Whenever they have any problem, their first point of call is the oba. If they quarrel among themselves, they come and we settle it for them. No policeman is dragged into it and no money is demanded. Yet, the decision arrived at at such meetings are binding and respected. They are reconciled and happier when they leave, but that is the opposite of what happens when people take themselves to the police or to court. You know people say you cannot go to court and become friends. But it is the opposite here. And that is the basis of the peace we have here. Keeping the peace is a difficult thing and how many policemen do we have around here? Yet we have peace because of their belief that the Oba and members of the Council of Chiefs are people who care for them, who will listen to them and try to give judgement to the best of their ability without coercing them with any form of force.
You just mentioned Kings College. We heard that it was a place for a privileged few.
Not in those days. I went there from this place. From the village here, I passed the entrance examination. We went there at the provincial level. We had 24 provinces at the time and I came in through Ijebu Ode province. They would select two people from each province and that was about 48. Another two was added to make it 50 people from the colony. We went to Kings College for the interview and out of 50 candidates, they selected 25 of us. There were four full scholarships and I got one of the scholarships. I knew nobody and nobody knew me. In fact, I did not wear shoes when I went for the interview. In those days, we used to wear something we called Popoti, the local slang for hand-woven clothes. You washed it and pressed it with a bottle filled with
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